Articles from ‘’ in ‘Opinion’

In what might be an alarming augury for the NZ government, I have noticed during the last few days that a number of the provaxx but science-qualified bloggers overseas like Drs Vinay Prasad and John Campbell have begun to ask variations of “What did we do wrong?”. Our government could ask similar questions of themselves. Time to change gear before it is too late How did our government policy and understanding become ‘stuck’, unable to take…

Today Jacinda Ardern had her booster shot and warned us all to do the same. If I was charitable I might say that she must be unaware of figures from overseas including Denmark, the UK, Israel, and USA which call the effectiveness of the booster into question. Even the CEO of Pfizer admitted to the media this week that his shot was all but ineffective. More than this, is she also unaware that boosters carry a greatly elevated risk of adverse…

The REINZ House Price Index fell 1% in December breaking a record 20 consecutive months of house price gains. The REINZ House Price Index fell 1% in December breaking a record 20 consecutive months of house price gains. Annual house price growth reached 23.3% at the end of 2021 from a recent record high of just over 30% in August. House price growth is forecast to fall fast in 2022. Sales too dropped in December; no doubt hit by rapidly…

D-Day for vaccinating 5-11 year olds is upon us. If as a parent (or a politician) you do a google search “Is Covid vaccination of 5-11 year olds safe?” you turn up a host of articles not only assuring you that it is safe and effective, but also urging you that it is necessary. First among these are the official NZ government information web pages. If you have doubts and persist by broadening your search criteria, the same kind of reassuring…

Today I reviewed my 2021 diary and correspondence and had an aha moment. Up until September most of my exchanges and the press articles I read involved discussion and interpretation of the relative merits of published scientific papers. After that the official dialogue reported in the media subtly changed and started to assert that ‘science’ was on the side of vaccination without actually citing research papers—the merit of vaccination had…

Yesterday morning I woke up to some unwelcome news. My best friend from university days has passed away. He was an active fit man looking forward to enjoying retirement. Early on he had a mild stroke, his heart became inflamed and the valves were damaged, unfortunately his immune system was too depleted to respond to treatment. His story is familiar in these Covid times and shared by millions, yet nevertheless a deeply personal tragedy for his…

David Lange is one of the most tragic figures of our modern political history. Highly articulate and entertaining, he was ushered into power in a landslide in 1984 during an economic and financial crisis. Feted as the youngest Prime Minister of the 20th century, he dazzled the nation with his wit and intellect. By the time he resigned in 1989, however, he was seen as a weak and malleable leader who had backed policies he would later regret…

In the middle of October, something astonishing happened: the Government and the National Party held a joint news conference to announce that they had agreed on the way to make housing more affordable. · According to many opinion polls, the ludicrous level to which house prices have risen in New Zealand is the issue which is of greatest concern to the New Zealand public. And that’s hardly surprising. Relative to incomes, New Zealand house…

trojan (n.) — Malware that misleads users from its true intent. Dr Bryan Betty, the Medical Director of the Royal NZ College of General Practice, has let down the nation massively these past 18 months by actively eroding the moral and scientific integrity of the once noble vocation of medicine. · Under the watch of this 'Big Pharma' loyalist, and a few others, we have seen the abandonment of evidence-based medicine; the loss of debating…

When Daily Blog editor, Martyn Bradbury, says Labour’s lucky the country’s currently distracted by the Covid-19 Delta Variant, he’s right. Were New Zealand safe and out of Lockdown, it would be in the midst of a dangerously divisive row about Oranga Tamariki, the Judiciary, Race, and the Rule of Law. · Given that the matters at the heart of this controversy aresub judice (i.e. under the authority of the court) I shall forbear from discussing…