The Guardian reports:

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen went in opposite directions on Monday in an attempt to drum up support from new voters they need to win the final round of France’s presidential election in less than a fortnight.

Macron headed north, where he spent several hours talking to crowds at Denain, a former mining town once controlled by socialists but now a far-right stronghold, and promised he would listen to candidates “who failed to qualify” in Sunday’s first round of the election.

Le Pen headed south into northern Burgundy where the Paris commuter belt meets countryside and where she already enjoys support.

Both candidates need to convince the 49% of voters who did not support either of them on Sunday and the 25.1% who did not vote at all if they want to win the second round on 24 April.

Both will be looking to poach some of the 7.7 million-plus voters who supported the radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the only leftwing candidate to get anywhere near the second round with 21.95% of the vote on Sunday.

You might think people who voted for a far left candidate in the first round would never vote for a far right candidate in the second round, but it doesn’t work like that. Extremists tend to vote for extreme parties. At the real extremes, it is very difficult to distinguish between a fascist and a marxist – both are against democracy and freedom.

Macron got 28% and Le Pen got 23%. Who might go for Macron after voting for another candidate? The Republicans got 5% and the Greens 5% also. Add on the Socialists at 2% and 40% for Macron.

Le Pen starts at 23%. 7% voted for Zemmour. 3% for Lassalle and 2% for Debout la France. You have 35% for Le Pen.

That leaves the 22% who voted for Melenchon and 2% for the French Communists. Macron need to get at least 40% of their 24% to win.

I’d say he probably will manage it, but will be close.

The PM refutes that crime is getting out of control. Well let’s look at the official police data for violent offending:

Yep in the last three years, violent offences have increased 37% from 49,000 to over 67,000. That is an extra 18,000 people assaulted (or worse) so every day in 2021 50 more people were assaulted or wounded than three years ago.

By comparison, in the previous three years the number of violent offences rose only 7%.

And just to make things even better, they are about to change the law so repeat violent offenders will get shorter sentences and more parole.

Stuff reports:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board of directors as previously announced. The tempestuous billionaire remains Twitter’s largest shareholder.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news, which followed a weekend of Musk tweets suggesting possible changes to Twitter, including making the site ad-free. Nearly 90 per cent of Twitter’s 2021 revenue came from ads.

This is no surprise as Musk is not suited to the discipline of being a board member.

Musk purchased 9% of the company because he wants to make changes to it. He has a huge following with 81 million followers and he is opposed to Twitter becoming more of a censor.

The catalyst was Twitter suspending the right wing satirical site The Babylon Bee because of a satirical story announcing Rachel Levine as their Man of the Year, after she was named one of 12 Women of the Year by USA Today. Musk is a huge fan of the Babylon Bee and even did a two hour interview with them.

So he is now Twitter’s largest shareholder. I wonder if he might purchase a majority shareholding in the company. It is worth US$37 billion and 51% would be around US$18 billion. Musk is worth around US$274 billion so he could do it for less than 10% of his wealth.

I hope he does.

Universal suffrage is about whether a country allows all adult citizens to vote regardless of gender, race, religion, property, income, wealth or social status. We achieved this in 1879 for male New Zealanders and 1893 for female New Zealanders.

Equal suffrage is about each vote having equal power. If you had a law which said women only elect 20% of the MPs despite being 50% of the population, then you would have universal suffrage but not equal suffrage. It would be outrageous if women had less voting power just because they are women.

Another example of unequal suffrage is the old rotten boroughs in the United Kingdom. In the 1831 UK General Election, 152 electorates had less than 100 voters in them. This gave the residents of those areas hugely disproportionate political power.

Another example of not having equal suffrage is Fiji under their 1990 constitution. It said 37 seats are reserved for indigenous Fijians, 27 seats for Indian Fijians, and six for other races. The respective populations were 329,000 and 348,000 for the first two groups. This means the number of MPs per 10,000 population was:

• Indigenous Fijians 1.12
• Indian Fijians 0.78

So this meant the vote of an Indian Fijian was worth only 69% of the vote of an Indigenous Fijian.

This was universal suffrage, but not equal suffrage. It was widely condemned around the world.

This is what Labour and Greens have just voted for in Parliament. They have voted for a law change in Rotorua where the votes of people on the general roll will be worth only 39% of the votes of people on the Māori roll, for Ward Councillors.

They are ending equal suffrage in New Zealand. Despite this massive constitutional change, the media have barely reported on the issue.

You can submit against the bill here. If you don’t speak up now, it will be too late once this is established as a precedent.

The 47th Australian Federal Election will be on Saturday 21 May 2022.

It is likely to see Anthony Albanese become Prime Minister – the seventh since John Howard. Of the nine elections since 1993, the Coalition has won seven of them. But a fourth term for the current Government seems unlikely.

The Coalition has not led in any poll since January 2021. That is 88 polls in a row that hasn’t had them ahead.

The latest polls has Labour 8% ahead on two party preferred. That is a landslide under their electoral system.

Also an issue is Morrison. His net satisfaction is -12% compared to -1% for Albanese.

Also Albanese has overtaken Morrison as Preferred PM for the first time- rare for an opposition leader.

Of course the campaign may change things. If the Coalition can maintain a focus on economic issues, they worked for them last election. But it will be a big gap to close in just six weeks.

The Taxpayers Union point out:

An official information response shows the Wellington City Council has spent more than a million dollars on the Island Bay cycleway since its completion in 2016.

In 2016, the Wellington City Council installed a 1.7km cycle-way along The Parade in Island Bay. A lackluster consultation process saw the preferences of local residents shunted aside by a loud minority of lycra activists and the resulting cycleway failed to provide safety for motorists or cyclists.

Despite its completion, an additional $1,093,759 has been spent on the cycleway in recent years – apparently on consultation and planning. 

The cycleway is hated by many residents – it has actually made the road less safe for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists and destroyed some local businesses due to the loss of car parks.

I’m a fan of cycleways, when done right. The best example is the planned one between Wellington and Petone along the Hutt Road. It is going to be on the far side of the railway tracks and totally separated from the road. It will be safe, and it won’t be destroying current car parks which businesses need for their customers.

But for some people they hate cars so much, they don’t just want cycleways – they want fewer carparks. They want to make it harder for people to drive and park.

 Last November, the Council promised to spend $2 million to $14 million more addressing safety concerns arising from the cycleway’s poor design. Changes include painting the bike lane green and slightly widening the lanes with concrete ‘buffers’ between motorists and cyclists. The “improvements” mean motorists will lose 60-80 car parks on The Parade. The changes have been opposed by 66% of those who engaged with the brief three-week consultation, with 57% strongly opposed.

So rather than remove the Island Bay Cycleway, they will spend up to $14 million more on “fixing” it, which will means up to 80 fewer car parks for residents and businesses.

Meanwhile, Cycling Action Network, the lobby group that pushed for the installation of the cycleway, has been given $23,420 by the council since 2015.

Lobby groups should not be receiving ratepayer funding.

On average around 400 trips are taken on the cycleway per weekday. That’s just 200 commuters, or 2.9% of the suburb’s population. Based on the spending so far, someone who’s regularly commuted using the cycleway since its installation has enjoyed a $13,000 subsidy from ratepayers. Forking out millions more is madness.

$13,000 per cyclist!

James Hollings writes:

This week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern denounced Russia over the atrocities discovered in Bucha, and promised more support for Ukraine.

That support included a second round of sanctions, looking at importation controls, and getting “our people supporting some of the efforts”.

That comes on top of our earlier donation of surplus military equipment; a total of 1066 body armour plates, 473 helmets and 571 camouflage vests. All very nice-sounding, but compared to what many other countries are doing, pitifully small, even mean. …

But what could New Zealand send? Well, actually quite a lot. It has 105 armoured troop carriers, or light armoured vehichles (LAV3s). Back in 2020 Stuff reported that the New Zealand Defence Force was struggling to find a buyer for 30 of them that were surplus to requirements. My understanding is they are still unsold – the Defence Force will confirm only that there are “ongoing discussions around the sale”. Why not send them to Ukraine?

The LAVs are powerful eight-wheeled vehicles that would provide good protection to Ukrainian troops. They were used by our forces in Afghanistan and, according to the Defence Force, protected troops from bombs on several occasions. Described by the Defence Force as a “world-class vehicle capable of providing protected mobility to soldiers on the battlefield”, the LAV3 is “highly mobile, and comes equipped with a lethal arsenal of weapons and systems making it an ideal vehicle for combat, security and peace support operations”.

This should be a no brainer. The last Labour Government purchased more LAVs than we could ever use (one of the worst spending debacles in decades). Donating the surplus to Ukraine is a win-win.

Claire Trevett writes:

As a result, life can be tough for Labour Police Ministers, which is precisely why the job usually goes to MPs who can at least talk a bit tough: Those who sit on the right-hand pews of Labour’s broad church – people like Dame Annette King, George Hawkins, and Stuart Nash.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was trying something different by giving it to Williams, who is not tough on crime and can’t put on a convincing show of it – and was chosen for those reasons.

We have a Police Minister who doesn’t believe we should be tough on crime, and that is why she was chosen!

Williams is also relatively inexperienced as a minister and that is showing – and is a liability in a portfolio which has rapidly become very political.

Labour’s liability is National’s asset.

Before that was her odd decision to refuse Mitchell’s request to meet with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster or any of the district commanders after he became police spokesman.

The only reason Williams could come up with for refusing it was that she believed police were “busy.” She may regret it and it was possibly counter-productive.

It is unprecedented to block the Opposition Spokesperson from meeting the Commissioner.

An interesting interview with Louisa Wall by Audrey Young:

Asked if she had ever gone to Ardern and Robertson to ask what their issue was about her, she says she hadn’t directly asked them.

Their dislike of her must be pretty strong for them to arrange to roll her out of her own electorate.

“I love my party. I love our principles. I love what we stand for. I just think that some of the behaviour of the people in leadership at the moment is completely incongruent with who we are.”

I wonder who she could be talking about.

• Legalising marriage for same-sex couples, passed in 2013.

• Allowing regulation-making power to set up protest-free zones for women entering abortion clinics on a case by case basis, passed in 2022.

• Allowing the late Katherine Harris to be named on the birth certificate of her daughter, Paige Harris, who was carried by a surrogate, passed in 2022.

• Making it unlawful to post intimate digital recordings of another person, passed in 2022.

• Extending protection of journalists’ sources to investigative journalists. At select committee and will be taken over by Ingrid Leary.

• Setting out legal rights for various parties in surrogacy arrangements. Given to Tamati Coffey and is at select committee.

• Requiring that renewal of liquor licences under Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 must not be inconsistent with local alcohol policy. Awaiting second reading.

&bull: Requiring the Registrar-General to enter details of Diane Sullivan on the birth certificate of Rowen Sullivan.

• Recognising the status of Māori in New Zealand. Not approved by caucus in Opposition.

• Stipulating that housing is a human right. Not approved by caucus in Opposition.

That’s an impressive list, and a good reminder you don’t have to become a Minister to be an effective legislator.

The Herald reports:

The United Nations General Assembly has suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

The US-led push garnered 93 votes in favour, while 24 countries voted against and 58 countries abstained. A two-thirds majority of voting members – abstentions do not count – was needed to suspend Russia from the 47-member council.

Suspensions are rare. Libya was suspended in 2011 because of violence against protesters by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

No permanent member of the Security Council has ever had its membership revoked from any UN body.

Disappointing 24 voted against and 58 abstained, but still a good outcome that restores a bit of credibility to the UN and its Human Rights Council.

The March 2022 Roy Morgan is out.

Party Vote

• Labour 32.0% (nc from February)
• National 38.0% (nc)
• Greens 10.5% (-0.5%)
• ACT 9.0% (-2.5%)
• Maori 2.0% (nc)
• NZ First 4.0% (+2.0%)
• TOP 1.5% (+0.5%)
• New Conservatives 0.5% (-0.5%)

Seats

• Labour 42 (-23 from election)
• National 50 (+17)
• Greens 14 (+4)
• ACT 12 (+2)
• Maori 2 (nc)

Governments

• Labour/Green 56/120
• National/ACT 62/120

Direction

• Right 39.0% (-3.5%)
• Wrong 51.5% (+4.5%)

This is the fourth Roy Morgan poll in a row to show a change of Government if there was an election.

The most significant aspect is the decline in net country direction from – 5% to -12.5%. A year ago it was +34%.

Of great concern to Labour will be the gender breakdown of the direction question. In February women were + 8% but are now -6%. Men have gone from -19% to just -20% so the drop in satisfaction has been with women – a core Labour support base.

Stuff reports:

The Hutt City Council’s consent processing system is “broken”, with it taking up to nine months before applications are returned, developers and survey consultants say.

Under the Resource management Act, local bodies have 20 working days to return consent applications.

Kevin Melville​ is overseeing the conversion of a commercial building in central Lower Hutt into 40 new apartments. He said the delays weren’t helping anyone. The consequence of the lag was that projects were being delayed, and costs were increasing.

“It’s beyond a joke – it’s broken. It can mean it’s a year before we can start building, and the holding cost can add another 10 per cent [to the cost of a project].”

So the incompetence of the Hutt City Council might be adding 10% to the price of new houses.

Councils need to focus on their core responsibilities first. Under the law consents should be processed within 20 working days. Hutt City Council is missing that massively.

I like the idea once proposed that if a Council doesn’t process a consent on time, they don’t get to charge a fee for it. I bet you then they would manage it.

Geoff Chetwin​, director of Chetwin Surveying, said a consent he lodged in August last year came back in mid-March.

“That was for a stock-standard four-lot subdivision, nothing tricky in there. When a council’s taking six months to get a consent back it’s just ridiculous. It’s not just Hutt City, other councils are under the pump, but they’re not taking six months. Thirty or 40 days is more reasonable – I’d be happy with 40.”

Seven months for a simple subdivision.

One News reports:

New data shows police response times around the country have become remarkably slower under the Labour-led Government.

The stats, obtained by National, show response times to serious crime have blown out in many districts since 2017.

In Auckland, officers arrived in 26 minutes or less 90% of the time in 2017. That time has now jumped out to one hour and 49 minutes this year.

That is appalling. You call 111 in Auckland and have to wait two hours for the Police to arrive.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the data left him “concerned” and he believed the public would also be concerned.

But Police Minister Poto Williams told 1News she wasn’t sure what was going on and had no plans to find out.

Williams said she was “not over the detail” despite 1News having sent the details to her office, and described it as an “operational matter to the police”.

It is not an operational matter. It is a public confidence matter. Good Governments and Ministers set targets for agencies. One of those targets can be (and has been) how long it takes to respond to 111 calls.

Newshub reports:

New Zealand is slapping Russian goods with a 35 percent import tax over alleged war “atrocities” committed in Ukraine. 

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced on Wednesday that the 35 percent tariffs will apply to all imports from Russia.

I support this.

I’m all for free trade with as many countries as possible. Tariffs tend to damage both the country that imposes them and that has them imposed on them.

But when a country is committing war crimes, then it is right to use tariffs as a tool to punish them for their behaviour. Free trade is great with friends, and good even with countries we disagree on a lot with, but isn’t appropriate for states that act as enemies.

Stuff reports:

Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard will face some scrutiny in a police watchdog review of the 23-day Parliament occupation, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed.

However, a full government inquiry has been ruled out.

The Independent Police Complaints Authority (IPCA) is running a year-long review of the occupation and police actions. Protesters were able to set up camp on and around Parliament lawn, growing from a few hundred to about 3000 people.

Ardern said how Mallard and the Parliament ground’s management team engaged with each other was also in its scope, but there were no other reviews planned despite National calling for a “deep and full scale inquiry”.

The media have reported this as fact, when the reality is, it can’t be true.

The IPCA is a creature of statute. It can no more inquire into the actions of the Speaker, than the Commerce Commission can.

The IPCA Act is here. Section 12 spells out their function is to receive and investigate complaints about the Police. They are not permitted to go beyond this remit.

Why do media report claims from the Prime Minister, without fact checking them?

Parliament (well Labour and Greens and Māori Party) voted last night to end the concept of one person one vote in New Zealand.

By 77 to 43 they voted for the first reading of the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill.

This bill over-rides the existing electoral law which requires wards to be roughly the same size, so that a vote in one ward is worth as much as a vote elsewhere. The same law applies at a national level with a 5% tolerance.

But what this bill does is legislate for 22,000 voters on the Māori roll to elect three ward Councillors and 56,000 voters on the general roll to elect three ward Councillors. This means the votes of people on the general roll will be worth 39% of the votes of those on the Māori roll – which is of course restricted to those who have had at least one Māori ancestor.

So Labour and Greens have voted for a bill that will, in Rotorua, reduce the votes of those on the general roll to 39% of those on the Māori roll. And the media deem this barely worth reporting on.

Make no mistake, if this law passes for Rotorua, it will eventually become the standard everywhere – for all Councils, and eventually for Parliament. Anyone who denies this is deluded. The Māori Party openly advocate for this.

This bill needs to be defeated. We need tens of thousands of submissions against it. You can make a submission here. This is not the time to sit on the sidelines.

John Tyler was was born in 1790. He became the 10th President of the United States in 1841. He died aged 71 in 1862.

He had 15 children. His first wife Letitia was the same age as him and she married him when they were 23 and died when they were 52. They had eight children.

John remarried Julia in 1844. She was born in 1820 so was 24 when she married the then 54 year old President. She was five years younger than Tyler’s oldest daughter. They had seven children from 1846 to 1860. Julia died in 1889 aged 68. John died in 1862 aged 71.

Lyon Tyler was born in 1853 to John and Julia. He also had two wives – Anne who he was with until she died in 1921 when he was 68.

Soon after that he married Sue who was around 33 and she had three children including Harrison Tyler who was born in 1928 and is alive today.

So John was 63 when he had Lyon and Lyon was 75 when he had Harrison and Harrison is 94 years old – which is how you have a grandson of the 10th President still alive!

• Writ issued Wed 11 May
• Nominations close Tue 17 May
• By-election Day Sat 18 June
• Writ returned by Sun 10 July