If the good Lord wanted us to be healthy, educated, housed and well fed, He would have - what? Built a healthcare system? Funded public education? Actually housed people?

Apparently not. Today’s New Zealand sees 100,000 essential workers walking off the job while bureaucrats bicker beside a broken service hatch and the government splurges on defence contracts.

This isn’t just satire. It’s a smoke signal. And the fire is public sector collapse.

When Palmer and Finlayson agree, you know it’s serious. A darkly satirical look at the coalition’s war on the Waitangi Tribunal and the democracy it was meant to protect.

We love the story of a welcoming Aotearoa - until migrants need more than a smile. This essay exposes how quiet exclusion, not overt hostility, undermines wellbeing and wastes potential. It’s a call to move beyond token diversity towards everyday practices of belonging - learning names, sharing spaces and choosing empathy over comfort.

For years, Mike Hosking styled himself as New Zealand’s conscience — a pulpit of endless “reckons” that too many mistook for journalism. But his cathedral of hot takes is shedding worshippers, with Mai FM overtaking him in Auckland’s breakfast ratings. Meanwhile, RNZ National is proving that facts still matter, growing its national audience in defiance of opinion-driven radio. Could this be the moment the cult of reckons finally collapses?

When Simeon Brown mistook nurses’ silent protest for a “warm welcome,” it became a perfect symbol of political delusion. With hospitals short 587 nurses per shift and patients left in corridors, the government’s denial is not just out of touch - it’s dangerous.

New Zealand’s government claims it can’t afford housing, healthcare, or food security - yet billions flow freely into prisons and policing. This article exposes the staggering contradiction of starving social services while building cages, and why it’s a moral and fiscal disaster.

New Zealand’s government claims it can’t afford housing, healthcare, or food security - yet billions flow freely into prisons and policing. This article exposes the staggering contradiction of starving social services while building cages, and why it’s a moral and fiscal disaster.

The repeal of wellbeing provisions from New Zealand’s Public Finance Act marks a chilling shift - people no longer count. Nicola Willis has buried social outcomes beneath fiscal spreadsheets, dismissing poverty, mental health and housing as “distractions.” This article unpacks why ignoring wellbeing is not just negligent - it’s misanthropic.

New Zealand’s local body elections have become a theatre of apathy, where turnout collapses and candidates from the “Universally Inoffensive Party” promise little while delivering less. Behind the beige slogans, communities face neglected infrastructure, rising rates, and councils repurposed as property speculators’ offices. This article asks the only question that matters: who actually gives a damn about the street we live on?

New Zealand is facing the fastest collapse of small business confidence in modern history. In the first half of 2025 alone, 1,270 businesses have gone under - 12% more than last year’s record. Behind the numbers are unpaid suppliers, lost jobs, and shattered communities. This is not the economic rescue package voters were promised - it’s a demolition job carried out in plain sight.

Christopher Luxon’s conference speech was meant to show empathy - but instead, it exposed a deeper disconnect. In this biting satirical analysis, we explore why leadership without lived experience feels like a spreadsheet trying to cry. A must-read for those questioning whether “optimism” is enough in today’s Aotearoa.

Imagine a New Zealand where governance begins with listening, not branding. This counterfactual explores a reimagined Aotearoa where solo mums co-design welfare, nurses lead health reform, rangatahi redefine civics, and wealth is finally taxed fairly. Trust isn’t taught - it’s shared.

When public services fail, the powerful don’t fix them - they educate the poor on why they’re wrong to be upset. This satire skewers the idea that New Zealanders just need better civics knowledge to rebuild trust in a system designed to exclude them. It’s not misunderstanding that causes distrust - it’s lived experience.

In this hopeful counterfactual, New Zealand turns away from fast-track deregulation and embraces a regenerative, inclusive future. Through co-governance, environmental stewardship, and citizen participation, the article outlines how Aotearoa could lead the world in balancing prosperity, justice and climate responsibility.

Recent reforms like the Fast-Track Approvals Act are enabling unprecedented environmental deregulation in New Zealand. Forests, rivers, and democratic safeguards are being stripped away under cover of urgency. This article exposes the coordinated legislative agenda threatening Aotearoa’s natural and civic heritage and calls on citizens to resist the sell-off.

What if New Zealand’s Government had stood firm in 2024 and upheld the Smokefree Generation law? This counterfactual explores a world where leadership meant protecting children, honouring Te Tiriti, and resisting corporate pressure. A powerful imagined future, one where clean air, public health and tino rangatiratanga were chosen over political convenience.

A scathing exposé on the New Zealand Government’s repeal of the Smokefree Generation law, revealing the political deals, corporate influence, and moral failures that led to a public health disaster.

Imagine if New Zealand treated its freshwater as taonga, not just trade. This counterfactual piece explores a world where the Government enacts bold reforms to the Overseas Investment Act -making water extraction subject to sustainability tests, iwi consent, and community benefit. Forestry gains real stewardship standards. The result? Aotearoa reclaims environmental sovereignty, balances investment with intergenerational wellbeing, and builds a legacy worth protecting.

In a move that defies public sentiment and ecological logic, the New Zealand Government is scrapping protections that once shielded our freshwater and forests from foreign exploitation. Associate Finance Minister David Seymour’s changes to the Overseas Investment Act will allow faster approvals for water bottling and loosen forestry safeguards — all in the name of global competitiveness. But who benefits when Aotearoa’s aquifers are up for grabs? This satirical article explores the consequences with humour, sharp insight, and local voices who’ve lived the fallout.

In a bold new chapter of local government reform, the New Zealand Government claims to be handing power back to councils, while quietly tightening its grip. This satirical analysis exposes the contradictions, confusion, and condescension at the heart of recent announcements. From hollow funding promises to bureaucratic finger-wagging, it's devolution in name and centralisation in practice.