Articles by John MacDonald
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Here's how to really make life difficult for gangs
Thursday, 21 November 2024, 12:55pmToday’s the day when one of the most ridiculous laws we’ve ever seen in this country starts being enforced by the police....
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Cowboy hats and feathers? Yes. Bad behaviour? No
Wednesday, 20 November 2024, 1:02pmI can’t accuse NZ First MP Shane Jones of being pale, male, and stale. But he is male, and he is stale with these comments...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Don't point the finger at David Seymour for Treaty Principles mess
Tuesday, 19 November 2024, 1:27pmAn absolute circus is one way to describe David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill. Or you could say that the thousands at...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: No mention of money doesn't make today's apology hollow
Tuesday, 12 November 2024, 11:34amWhen it comes to apologies there are generally two types: a sincere apology and a hollow apology. And survivors of abuse...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Should the taxpayer chip-in for your solar panels?
Monday, 11 November 2024, 1:49pmIf you’ve got solar panels on the roof, you’ll be loving the blue skies. And a solar energy advocate is saying today that...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I'm not buying into the Trump hysteria
Thursday, 7 November 2024, 1:32pmI think I’m going to trust my gut instinct more often. Because yesterday, I didn’t like the idea of it, but my gut was...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: What my gut instinct is telling me about the US presidency
Wednesday, 6 November 2024, 12:35pmHistoric. Knife edge. Too close to call. That’s what they’re all saying about today’s presidential election in the States. What...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Boot camps must not add to our abuse shame
Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 1:04pmThe plan to give “use of force” powers to the people running the Government’s new boot camps for young criminals is getting...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: We need to ditch this obsession with uni degrees
Friday, 1 November 2024, 1:56pmI didn’t go to university and there’s a bit of a dad joke that I trot out about that now and again. I say that I’m a student...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: What's so wrong with slower traffic outside schools?
Wednesday, 30 October 2024, 1:01pmIf I say to you “30 kph speed limit area”, chances are you can think of one. I can think of one straight away - on the southern...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Hi-de-hi campers! Christchurch's campervan clanger
Tuesday, 29 October 2024, 12:48pmWhen I heard that a campervan park is going to be up and running in central Christchurch, near Latimer Square —possibly in...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: How do you feel about parenting lessons in school?
Friday, 25 October 2024, 2:58pm“There for the grace of God goes I.” We generally say it when something bad and we know that it could just as easily happen...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Performance pay's no bonus for the public sector
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 1:01pmI feel really uncomfortable about the idea of public sector bosses getting performance pay. Not that the Government is...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Here's how we could keep local councils on track
Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 3:57pmAfter saying just the other week that I don’t agree with central Government taking over local councils when things go pear-shaped,...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Here's how to get more people voting in local body elections
Monday, 21 October 2024, 1:16pmYou can call me a nerd, if you want to. But I reckon there is nothing like the performance of walking down to your local...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: ACC is in desperate need of treatment
Thursday, 17 October 2024, 12:50pmHere’s my perception of ACC: some people get ACC pay-outs at the drop of a hat and others have to fight, for what can be...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Has the Supreme Court got too big for its boots?
Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 12:30pmThe highest court in the land is too big for its boots. That’s what the guy who runs the New Zealand Initiative think tank...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Is this the future of airport security?
Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 1:35pmWhat’s the Government’s obsession with speeding things up? Today, it’s the queues at airport security that it wants to...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Less eyebrow raising, more glad-eye for foreign investors
Monday, 14 October 2024, 1:17pmI think we need to get over ourselves here in New Zealand when it comes to foreign investment. And it looks like we’re going...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: How’s that $20-a-week tax cut looking now?
Friday, 11 October 2024, 1:44pmHow’s that miserly $20-a-week tax cut looking now that we know the country’s budget deficit is $1.8 billion worse than expected?...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Call in the army for our civil defence future
Thursday, 10 October 2024, 1:19pmHow many reviews and reports do we need before we accept that we are nowhere near as good at emergency and disaster management...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I'm not anti international drivers, but...
Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 12:58pmThere are a lot of weird things in the world, but one of the weirdest would have to be the international drivers licence....
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Let's not keep running down our defence force
Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 1:56pmI think we need to see the New Zealand Navy ship sinking as a wake-up call. Not the sinking itself, but what it’s going to...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Chief exec's pay cut is a statement of intent
Friday, 4 October 2024, 1:32pmI don’t know whether Mary Richardson is a martyr or a mug. But, I tell you what, the acting chief executive at Christchurch...
