CoveragePost
February 10, 2020
It is very telling that the biggest conflict around Waitangi Day this year was over whether National Party leader Simon Bridges should have given an overtly political speech on the Treaty Grounds on Tuesday. Regardless of the rights or wrongs of this, it illustrated how little conflict there was, but also just how depoliticised the ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The new depoliticised mood of Waitangi Day" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2020/02/10/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-the-new-depoliticised-mood-of-waitangi-day/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The new depoliticised mood of Waitangi Day">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 5, 2020
“We may never see his like again” wrote Richard Prebble following the death of Mike Moore in the weekend. Moore was certainly an extraordinary politician. He made some remarkable achievements, had an inimitable style, and was a mass of contradictions. Mike Moore’s place in New Zealand political history is complicated. He has been described by ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The extraordinary yet tragic political life of Mike Moore" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2020/02/05/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-the-extraordinary-yet-tragic-political-life-of-mike-moore/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The extraordinary yet tragic political life of Mike Moore">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 6, 2020
The verdicts are in on how New Zealand’s politicians performed last year. The end-of-year columns evaluating the MPs have been almost unanimous in their praise for Jacinda Ardern, who is seen to have navigated a difficult year superbly. But there are also some surprising verdicts. The Spinoff website has compiled their pundits’ picks for the ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Evaluating NZ’s politicians" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2020/01/06/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-evaluating-nzs-politicians/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Evaluating NZ’s politicians">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
October 9, 2019
When New Zealand First holds its annual party conference next week, the issue underpinning all the discussion and debate will be its survival. It’s a perennial problem, but one that is now particularly pronounced. With polling putting the party below the crucial five per cent MMP threshold for most of their time as part of ... <a title="Political Roundup: The pressure of survival shows for NZ First" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/10/09/political-roundup-the-pressure-of-survival-shows-for-nz-first/" aria-label="Read more about Political Roundup: The pressure of survival shows for NZ First">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 23, 2019
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Is Simon Bridges really trying to channel Donald Trump? Or is he taking his cue from Scott Morrison? Or is he looking to emulate Boris Johnson? Whatever the inspiration, there’s been a clear change in the National Party leaders’ political positioning and tactics in recent months that suggests he’s ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Simon Bridges and National go populist" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/08/23/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-simon-bridges-and-national-go-populist/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Simon Bridges and National go populist">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 21, 2019
Could the most interesting aspect of the current local government elections turn out to be generational change? At the moment, there is a surge of media and activist focus on younger candidates standing for office. It suddenly seems to be “cool” again to want to be a local body politician. Some are calling the apparent ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is a local government “youthquake” happening?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/08/21/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-is-a-local-government-youthquake-happening/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is a local government “youthquake” happening?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 5, 2019
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Earlier this year Greens’ co-leader James Shaw declared that if the capital gains tax wasn’t implemented then this Government didn’t deserve to be re-elected. With many other complaints at the moment about the lack of progress on important issues from the Government, and also the Greens role in government, ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Have the Greens done enough to be re-elected?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/08/05/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-have-the-greens-done-enough-to-be-re-elected/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Have the Greens done enough to be re-elected?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 23, 2019
The Greens may have achieved their sought-after mainstream credibility, and scored some wins in government, but commentators warn this will not necessarily result in more votes. On the contrary – it might even result in a loss of enthusiasm from their own side. This can be seen in the fact that much of the praise ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Are the Greens in danger of being rejected as too moderate?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/07/23/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-are-the-greens-in-danger-of-being-rejected-as-too-moderate/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Are the Greens in danger of being rejected as too moderate?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 9, 2019
There’s increasing doubt about how transformational the Labour-led Government is turning out to be. In all sorts of public policy areas the new administration is struggling to make the changes and produce the outcomes it promised. Perhaps expectations are too high? Maybe voters and commentators are too impatient? Or, could it be that the political ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: How to achieve transformational change in politics" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/07/09/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-how-to-achieve-transformational-change-in-politics/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: How to achieve transformational change in politics">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 26, 2019
I was in Ontario for a week in May. The premier of Ontario is Doug Ford, leader of the ‘Progressive Conservative’ party; brother of the late (and somewhat notorious) Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. Ford is indeed the leading right wing personality in Canadian politics. The chart shows what we in New Zealand would call the ... <a title="Keith Rankin’s Chart of the Month – First-Past-the-Post in Action: Ontario 2018" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/06/26/keith-rankins-chart-of-the-month-first-past-the-post-in-action-ontario-2018/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin’s Chart of the Month – First-Past-the-Post in Action: Ontario 2018">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 22, 2019
Should Trevor Mallard remain as Speaker of Parliament? It’s a legitimate question, given the current accumulation of concerns about his bullying and bias, and the heightened public concern about the health of this important democratic institution. Certainly some of his past conduct and allegations against him make for sobering reading – including physical assault, attempts ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Trevor Mallard – the bullying, biased boss of Parliament" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/05/22/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-trevor-mallard-the-bullying-biased-boss-of-parliament/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Trevor Mallard – the bullying, biased boss of Parliament">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 30, 2019
The Greens were going to be the principled core of the Labour-led Government, but instead are regarded by many as having been largely ineffective and submissive in power. This is leading supporters and others on the political left to ask some difficult questions about the direction the Greens are going in, and whether they will ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What happened to the Greens’ dream?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/04/30/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-what-happened-to-the-greens-dream/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What happened to the Greens’ dream?">Read more</a>
