Our politics needs an election-year health check
We're being shat on from a great height by a system that allows us to be treated like idiots in election year, reckons PAT
The full story of the Hipkins allegations
PAT PILCHER traces the way so-called revelations from a private Facebook page were seemingly designed to damage Labour's leader in election year.
How to use the COVID inquiry as a political weapon
PAT PILCHER assesses the Government's response to Phase 2 of the COVID inquiry as a giant deflection of the real issues.
India trade deal: a missed opportunity for Aotearoa
The proposed trade deal with India is a missed opportunity and a "bloody shambles" according to PAT PILCHER, who looks closely at the available
Government’s “move-on” plan is a disgrace
PAT PILCHER argues that the NZ Government's plan to get rid of the homeless from city centres around the country deflects from the real
Solar is the answer to NZ’s energy woes. So why is hardly anyone using it?
PAT PILCHER takes a good, hard look at why solar energy isn't getting the government and regulatory support it desperately requires in New Zealand.
A letter to aspiring political leaders in NZ
Frustrated at the lack of a clear and focused vision on how to fix Aotearoa's woes this election year PAT PILCHER writes a letter
No more hand-wringing – Choose 2026
Speaking for myself and about a quarter of a billion others, 2025 was a bit shit. A calendar of emergencies not of our making.
Trump’s Greenland gambit: What it could mean for NZ
If Trump goes full-tilt on Greenland, no country - not even "New Zild" - will be immune from the economic fallout, prophesies PAT PILCHER.
How to break NZ’s cultural and economic treadmill
In the third and final part of his analysis of New Zealand's economic decline PAT PILCHER prescribes a cultural reset that could save our
NZ’s economic rut and how to dig ourselves out
New Zealand is in one heck of a mess because we keep on doing things the same old way. PAT PILCHER provides a clear-headed
Even right-wing watchdogs don’t rate the coalition’s performance
It's a worry when a conservative pressure group comes out swinging at a government they would traditionally support, writes PAT PILCHER.
NZ’s health prospects threatened
The NZ Government's latest move to axe home economics from the curriculum is utter madness. PAT PILCHER explains why it's so dangerous.
Rumours, conjecture and lies (and a week of fires)
Have we really got to the point now where facts just get in the way of convenient lies and news really doesn’t matter, only
Ideas with bite for Wellington’s new mayor to chew on
What could Wellington's new mayor and city council do to revitalise the ailing inner city? PAT PILCHER puts on his thinking cap.
Why did John Peel fly to New Zealand?
When much-loved English DJ John Peel flew to New Zealand in 2002 many thought he was there for a Flying Nun party. But was
Random Cogitations: Downtown in the dumps
In the third of his diary-type Random Cogitations rambles, GARY STEEL finds himself at a loose end in Auckland’s CBD on a Sunday morning
The weighty truth about NZ’s obesity crisis
It's all bad news about NZ's big fat problem but are new meds the answer? PAT PILCHER begs to differ and offers some surprisingly
New Zealand’s Economic Stagnation: A coalition government in crisis
PAT PILCHER takes a deep dive across the various facets of New Zealand's problematic situation and the issues the coalition government urgently needs to
Random Cogitations: The importance of enthusiasms
In the first of a regular series of diary-type rambles, GARY STEEL ponders the things that make life worth living.
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