The Hound

Political colours

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable to the ridiculous, depending on what axe people had to grind.

True agenda

OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your old mate’s attention.

Badge of honour!

OPINION: This old mutt thinks New Zealand should take a bow after winning the ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at COP30 in Brazil over recent improvements to our methane targets.

OPINION: The Hound reckons the argument run by the ‘agribusiness elite’ that the market will punish our exports if we don’t fall into line with spurious targets like the Paris Accord doesn’t pass the sniff test.

Sugar hit

OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer shareholders as a 'short sighted sugar hit'.

Wrong focus?

OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at the expanse of food production, in this case - is that the Government starts throwing taxpayer coin at increasingly ridiculous ideas.

'Doomsday' overkill

OPINION: In a memo, rich guy Bill Gates didn't become a climate change denier, but he did give the world a dose of common sense, saying we should redirect efforts away from the campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and instead focus on other ways to improve human lives and…

SOE on the block?

OPINION: Did the Prime Minister hint last week that the sale of Landcorp assets could be part of the manifesto for the next election?

Picking winners?

OPINION: Every time politicians come up with an investment scheme where they're going to have a crack at 'picking winners' with our money, the Hound cringes.

Lost their way

OPINION: What are the unions for these days?

'Told you so'

OPINION: Your old mate hears some of the farmers involved in the Meat Industry Excellence (MIE) group ten years ago think the Alliance deal with Irish company Dawn Meats is “an absolute disaster” – and is the kind of outcome they predicted back then if nothing changed.

BSA BS!

OPINION: The Hound reckons the recent stoush about the old Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) expanding its brief – with no real mandate – from traditional broadcasting to internet platforms is a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’

Red faced

OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related protests – and that is to be expected, but the diplomatic efforts and wisdom of Winston Peters in this area should not be overlooked or ignored.

Cold comfort

One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact that, now more than ever, US farmers are being propped up by government welfare – a direct result of Trump’s hardline on its trading partners.

Peasants' revolt

OPINION: Media luvvies at Stuff, the Spinoff and the Granny Herald are spending more time than ever navel-gazing about why the peasants outside of their cosy little bubble no longer trust them.

Why so slow?

OPINION: Why does it take Treasury so long to turn around its figures on how the economy is tracking?

Quid prod quo?

OPINION: Ageing lefty Chris Trotter reckons that the decision to delay recognition of Palestinian statehood is more than just a fit of pique by Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

Deadwood

OPINION: A mate of yours truly recently met someone at a BBQ who works at a big consulting firm who spent a good 20 minutes trying to explain his role at the firm.

ECan circus

OPINION: The Hound wonders, is there some variety of idiot juice in the water in Canterbury? It seems so.

Political stunts

OPINION: Is the ECan regional council run by earnest, handwringing Greta Thunberg wannabes these days?

Zero, not hero

OPINION: If the comments about the deceased Tom Phillips posted on social media by keyboard warriors were representative of parenting standards in NZ, your old mate would be worried about our collective future.

Costs too high?

OPINION: This old mutt is loath to sound like Groundswell has been topping up his bowl with brisket off-cuts, but the ginger group makes a good point about the arguments raised in favour of toeing the Paris Agreement line.

Drop the Anchor!

OPINION: A few armchair experts have dumped on Fonterra’s $4.22b sale of its consumer business, but the more your old mate reads about it, the more it seems like a smart move.