Word of the day

Filibeg – kilt.

Sowell says

The whole environmental extremist movement is based on doing Good Things, in utter disregard of costs or diminishing returns.

— Thomas Sowell Wisdom (@TheThomasSowell) November 22, 2023

Highland Cathedral

Another taste of Scotland for St Andrews Day:

The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

A toast for St Andrews Day:

May the best ye’ve ever seen
Be the worst ye’ll ever see
May a moose ne’er leave yer girnal
Wi’ a tear drap in his e’e
May ye aye keep hale an’ he’rty
Till ye’re auld eneuch tae dee
May ye aye be jist as happy
As we wish ye aye tae be

 

Did you see the one about . . .?

Never again is now – Oliver Hartwich

On the 50th anniversary of the DPB – Lindsay Mitchell

Medical schools must protect free speech by making space for controversial views – Gabrielle Redford & Patrick Boyle

Identity politics and the retreat from reason– Brendan O’Neill

Simply unfit for office – Caleb Anderson

My experience of censorship and what it tells us about the new culture of journalism – Karl du Fresne

The Road to He Puapua – Is there really a Treaty partnership?- Elizabeth Rata

Abolishing NCEA science – Michael Johnston

Underperforming in education harms national income – Bryce Wilkinson

The puzzling push for te reo in public – Graham Adams

They’ve got a little list

The National-led government has an action list for its first 100 days:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today.

“The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous future,” Mr Luxon says.

“New Zealanders voted not only for a change of government, but for a change of policies and a change of approach – and our Coalition Government is ready to deliver that change.

“We will be a government that gets things done for New Zealand and we will start straight away, with a 100-day plan that includes a range of actions we will take to improve the lives of New Zealanders.

“Our Government is starting the way we mean to go on – ambitious for New Zealand. With 49 actions to deliver in the next 100 days, this plan is hugely ambitious but we will be working as hard as we can.

“Our 100-day plan is focused on rebuilding the economy, easing the cost of living, restoring law and order and delivering better public services. These are things that New Zealanders voted for and expect us to deliver.” . . 

The 49 actions are:

Rebuild the economy and ease the cost of living

1. Stop work on the Income Insurance Scheme.

This was effectively a tax on the many to help the few, many of whom would have been able to afford personal loss of income insurance.

2. Stop work on Industry Transformation Plans.

3. Stop work on the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme.

An expensive boondoggle.

4. Begin efforts to double renewable energy production, including a NPS on Renewable Electricity Generation.

5. Withdraw central government from Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM).

6. Meet with councils and communities to establish regional requirements for recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent major flooding events.

7. Make any additional Orders in Council needed to speed up cyclone and flood recovery efforts.

8. Start reducing public sector expenditure, including consultant and contractor expenditure.

9. Introduce legislation to narrow the Reserve Bank’s mandate to price stability.

The dual mandate was partly responsible for runaway inflation.

10. Introduce legislation to remove the Auckland Fuel Tax.

11. Cancel fuel tax hikes.

Fuel taxes are inflationary, adding costs to all goods and services with a transport component and hitting the poor hardest.

12. Begin work on a new GPS reflecting the new Roads of National Significance and new public transport priorities.

13. Repeal the Clean Car Discount scheme by December 31, 2023.

This was expensive greenwash which had no affect on emissions because of the way the ETS works.

14. Stop blanket speed limit reductions and start work on replacing the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022.

15. Stop central government work on the Auckland Light Rail project.

16. Repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation.

There is nothing fair about these agreements.

17. Introduce legislation to restore 90-day trial periods for all businesses.

18. Start work to improve the quality of regulation.

19. Begin work on a National Infrastructure Agency.

An excellent idea that will encourage much-needed long-term thinking for long-term projects.

20. Introduce legislation to repeal the Water Services Entities Act 2022.

That’s Three Waters gone.

21. Repeal the Spatial Planning and Natural and Built Environment Act and introduce a fast-track consenting regime.

This Act was far worse than the RMA it replaced.

22. Begin to cease implementation of new Significant Natural Areas and seek advice on operation of the areas.

23. Take policy decisions to amend the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to make it easier for build-to-rent housing to be developed in New Zealand.

24. Begin work to enable more houses to be built, by implementing the Going for Housing Growth policy and making the Medium Density Residential Standards optional for councils.

Right house, right place. denser housing is practical in some areas but not all.

Restore law and order

25. Abolish the previous government’s prisoner reduction target.

Fewer prisoners because of less crime would be applauded. The previous government’s policy led to more crime by by not imprisoning criminals who ought to have been kept out of the community.

26. Introduce legislation to ban gang patches, stop gang members gathering in public, and stop known gang offenders from communicating with one another.

27. Give police greater powers to search gang members for firearms and make gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing.

28. Stop taxpayer funding for section 27 cultural reports.

29. Introduce legislation to extend eligibility to offence-based rehabilitation programmes to remand prisoners.

This is a crime prevention initiative, helping people to turn their lives around.

30. Begin work to crack down on serious youth offending.

31. Enable more virtual participation in court proceedings.

32. Begin to repeal and replace Part 6 of the Arms Act 1983 relating to clubs and ranges.

Deliver better public services

33. Stop all work on He Puapua.

34. Improve security for the health workforce in hospital emergency departments.

35. Sign an MoU with Waikato University to progress a third medical school.

36. By December 1, 2023, lodge a reservation against adopting amendments to WHO health regulations to allow the government to consider these against a “national interest test”.

37. Require primary and intermediate schools to teach an hour of reading, writing and maths per day starting in 2024.

38. Ban the use of cellphones in schools.

39. Appoint an Expert Group to redesign the English and maths curricula for primary school students.

40. Begin disestablishing Te Pukenga.

That’s the mega-polytech that cost multi millions of dollars and did nothing to help students or staff.

41. Begin work on delivering better public services and strengthening democracy.

42. Set five major targets for health system, including for wait times and cancer treatment.

43. Introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority.

44. Take first steps to extend free breast cancer screening to those aged up to 74.

45. Repeal amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations.

46. Allow the sale of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine.

47. Begin work to repeal the Therapeutics Products Act 2023.

48. Establish a priority one category on the social housing waitlist to move families out of emergency housing into permanent homes more quickly.

49. Commission an independent review into Kāinga Ora’s financial situation, procurement, and asset management.

This list is a commitment to undo some of the damage of the last six years and to take action to improve public services and people’s lives.

Sit back and watch the hysteria from the left – which includes many in the media – as they set about crying the sky will fall.