Stuff reports:

A lawyer who smuggled contraband into prison for a convicted rapist and murderer, who she later married, is trying again to be readmitted as a lawyer.

Davina Reid (née Murray) was acting for Liam Reid in 2011, who is serving a preventive detention sentence for the 2007 rape and murder of deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew, and the rape and attempted murder of a second Dunedin woman.

Davina Reid reportedly continues to have a firm belief in his innocence.

Reid was struck off as a lawyer by the Lawyers Disciplinary Tribunal in 2015.

Lawyers can do something bad, be remorseful, and then be able to resume the law. I am a big believer that people should not be judged off the worst thing they ever did, and that mistakes should not punish you forever.

So if Davinia Reid realised how badly she behaved, and was remorseful, I would say 10 years of not being able to practice is enough.

But the reality is she has actually spent much of that time fighting and minimising the consequences of what she did. The timeline is:

• Struck off 2015
• Applied to be restored in 2022 on the basis her offending was minor and her “mana had been restored”
• Appealed to High Court
• Sought and declined leave to appeal to Court of Appeal
• Directly applied to Court of Appeal for quashing
• Appealed to Supreme Court

You need remorse for redemption.

Some great data from the ERO on student attendance. They find:

• Now nearly six in ten students (58 percent) are attending regularly, up from four in ten (40 percent) in 2022.
• Attitudes drive attendance, students are 1.7 times more likely to attend regularly if they think daily attendance is important.
• Almost a third of students (28 percent) report they never want to miss school – up from 15 percent in 2022
• Encouragingly, students in schools in low socio-economic communities show double the improvement in attitudes to daily attendance (12 percentage point increase compared to 6 percentage points for students in high socio-economic communities) and now have better attitudes to daily attendance than other students.

A long way to go, but getting attitudes right is the crucial first step.

Politico reported:

Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

Pretty vile stuff. What I find interesting is that almost everyone of those involved has faced serious consequences – generally losing their jobs.

Meanwhile the Democratic nominee for Virginia Attorney-General who seriously advocated killing the children of his political opponents to teach them a lesson, has not been unendorsed by the Democratic Party.

ERO has done a report on how the changes to literacy and numeracy are going. It is over 150 pages long, but here are some key extracts:

• 98% of schools report they have started teaching the refreshed English learning area and the refreshed curriculum for maths
• 88% of English teachers and 85% of Maths teachers say they have change how they teach their subjects
• Over three quarters of parents report their child’s progress has improved in English (77 percent) and maths (75 percent) since one hour a day was implemented.
• Almost half (47 percent) of teachers report improved student engagement in English, and just under three in five (56 percent) teachers report improved student engagement in maths.
• Teachers told us that structured literacy approaches have improved attention and behaviour in the classroom.

All good stuff.

The Herald reports:

King Charles has officially begun the process of removing all titles and honours from his brother, Prince Andrew, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Andrew will from today be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

“His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,” the statement from Buckingham Palace said.

“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.

Wow, effectively sacking your own brother from the Royal Family is no small thing. Have to say that while I am a republican, I have been pretty impressed with King Charles to date.

Shane Reti announced:

Following recommendations from the Science System Advisory Group, a single, independent board, called Research Funding New Zealand, will be established to make most funding decisions.

“The message from the science and research community has been loud and clear – the current funding system is too complex, too bureaucratic, and takes time and energy away from actual research,” says Dr Reti.

“So, this Government is simplifying the way we fund science, so our researchers can spend less time on paperwork and more time on discovery, innovation, and results that will grow our economy and benefit New Zealanders.

“Research Funding New Zealand will replace the multiple layers of decision-making, taking on the Endeavour, Marsden and Strategic Science Investment Funds – currently administered by three separate funding bodies.

This looks to be a very good move, not just because the Marsden Fund is removed from the uber woke Royal Society whose criteria for grants appears to have been how often an applicant could mention the Treaty of Waitangi.

I am a huge fund of science funding. Science is the key to discovery and why we are today so much better off than people 100 years ago.

But far too much of our science and health funding goes on political projects, rather than hard science. Hopefully this change will see a much greater focus in future on science funding going towards, well science!

The Herald reports:

The Government’s fees-free policy reset is at risk of following its predecessor in failing to incentivise tertiary study and only benefiting the more advantaged.

The warning is included in a Ministry of Education-led analysis, which found the “deadweight” policy to be so poor that it recommended axing it and spending the money elsewhere.

But keeping it in amended form – for the final year of study instead of the first year – was part of both the National-Act and National-NZ First coalition agreements.

Having the final year fees-free rather than the first year, is a better policy. But both versions of the policy basically transfer money from all taxpayers to students who will over time earn $1.5 million more on average than non-students.

National next election should campaign on abolishing fees-free altogether. We have a very generous student loan scheme, and the fees-free policies do not help poorer families go to university – it just transfers money to more well off families.

Michael Littlewood of pensions policy fame has written a novel about his great great great grandparents – William and Tiraha. The blurb is:

Paihia, 1823, and William Cook is injured, abandoned by his whaling ship. He is nursed at the Mission by Tiraha, whāngai daughter of the great chief Nene.

Fifty years later, this couple’s grandson meets his grandparents for the first time and hears the story of their long life together.

Abraham senses long-buried secrets as his grandfather tells how, abandoned once again, this time with a young family in the isolated deep south, he and Tiraha drew on the knowledge and skills of both their cultures to survive, and to escape.

Pioneer shipbuilders on remote Stewart Island, and making ingenious use of scarce resources, William and Tiraha eventually cross the Tasman with their growing family to deliver a new-built vessel for the Weller brothers. They return, finally, to the Bay of Islands to witness the coming of British law, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the Flagstaff Wars. Despite the tensions from their own divided loyalties in these turbulent times, William and Tiraha grow to understand each other and the new country they are helping to shape.

A first-person story inside a nineteenth-century memoir, constructed as a novel – Michael Littlewood has taken historical evidence and family lore and produced a compelling work of biographical fiction for adventure-seekers, seafarers and anyone intrigued by the earliest days of Pākehā–Māori relations.

As a big fan of historical novels, I’m keen to read it.

It is a good interview.

Radio NZ reports:

The New Zealand Media Council has upheld a complaint from the Brewers Association of New Zealand against Radio New Zealand (RNZ), citing a breach of Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance in its reporting on alcohol consumption guidelines.

The complaint centred on two RNZ articles published in July 2025, which reported that Canada had officially lowered its recommended alcohol intake to two drinks per week. The articles, part of a broader series on alcohol harm, relied on documents obtained under the Official Information Act and included commentary from health experts and advocacy groups.

Dylan Firth, Executive Director of the Brewers Association, argued that RNZ inaccurately presented the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction’s (CCSA) recommendations as official government policy. In reality, Health Canada had not adopted the CCSA’s proposed limits, and the official guidelines remained unchanged. Despite being alerted to the error, RNZ initially amended the 14 July article only partially, leaving misleading information and graphics in place for two weeks.

You could possibly forgive Radio NZ for the initial mistake. But they took two weeks to correct their mistake, which was very significant. The entire thrust of their article was that NZ was lagging behind Canada as Canada had changed their guidelines. And the reality is that Canada has not at all changed their guidelines.

The Taxpayers’ Union released:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through Official Information Act request that the Ministry of Social Development is spending $2.8 million on a youth wellbeing survey that included sending brownie boxes worth $7,544 to schools to encourage participation.

The Ministry confirmed that research firm Ipsos, which is contracted to deliver the Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey, sent brownie boxes to 170 schools and 14 kura at $41 each including postage – bringing the total cost of the survey to more than $350 per response.

The survey is an excellent one, which provides a lot of great data. However it should not cost $2.8 million to get 8,000 responses – in my opinion.

1. The Charter School model is about improving opportunities/outcomes for “underserved” communities. The schools currently being approved in the NZ system would not be internationally recognised as Charter Schools.
   
2. The Charter School agency has spent 30% of the funding on themselves. The current CEO is being bumped so good things may happen.
   
3. The Alturm School is being significantly challenged re the apparent NZ Initiative conflicts of interest in the approval process. I am hearing that there are significant legal challenges about to be lodged.
   
4. David Seymour has announced two schools that are attempting to have a different provision angles – but is appears that Seymour, and the providers, do not understand the law re Charter Schools.
   
   Seymour has, with significant ignorance, promoted a Wellington Phoenix Charter School as NZ’s first sports academy with attached academics. He is wildly wrong as there are at least 100 entities that fit that description and Westlake Boys, St Kentigerns, Kings College, etc – excell in that area.
   
5. It seems that neither the New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa or the Sisters United Academy understnd that they cannot can put any requirements on who comes to the school.
   
   The Wellington Phoenix school and the Sisters United Academcy must accept applications from all students/families and cannot add any criteria.
   
   South Auckland Middle School was always over subscribed and we went to the police for balloting. It was tough as we had a waiting list of over 100 students and many people attempting to get preferential treatment.
   
   The new schools must do the same. The Phoenix school could/should end up with a whole bunch of kids who have never kicked a ball. The Sisters United Academy could/should end up with boys and girls from a range of demographics.
   
   Charter Schools do not have the privileges of Designated Character Schools. I sincerely hope that St Stephens/Tipene is not prioritising Maori students or rugby players … as it is clearly against the law.

Alwyn Poole
[email protected]

An interesting poll at Electoral Calculus, where a 2,000 person poll of the British Establishment was done. They found:

• 75% of Britain’s establishment voted for left-of-centre parties in 2024, compared with 54% of the general public
• Teachers, academics and culture workers (the “lecturing class”) overwhelmingly support leftish parties (81%)
• Three quarters of the lecturing class voted to remain in the EU, compared with 48% of the public
• Most of the establishment is left of centre except those working in the police and armed forces, who are right of centre
• Nearly half (49%) of the lecturing class thinks freedom of speech can damage society.

It would be interesting to do the same poll here.

Very telling.

Hating your country’s history!

A guest post by Lucy Rogers:

Access to a lawyer is a human right, as is the right to argue your case in court. Unfortunately, although these freedoms exist within Israel itself, it engages in the practice of administrative detention in the West Bank. I have spent the last two years of my life protesting the hypocrisy of anti-Israel protesters across the Western world, who generally do not acknowledge Israel’s side of the story. Accordingly, I feel a sense of obligation now to speak up once more for the Palestinian side of the story following Hamas agreeing to release the hostages.

At present, Hamas is overwhelmingly popular in the West Bank. Having talked with Palestinians at the weekly protests over the last few months (in fact, years) I am told that the reason for this is that the Palestinian Authority is failing to prevent rampant settler violence in the West Bank. The Times of Israel covered one such settler attack here: https://www.timesofisrael.com/afp-photographer-injured-in-settler-attack-during-west-bank-olive-harvest/

I have been told many firsthand accounts of settler misdeeds. For example, someone told me that his neighbour was held at gunpoint by settlers who forced him to hand over his car keys and they stole his car right before his eyes. This sort of thing apparently happens all the time. Stories of Palestinian children arrested and held in prison for months or years simply for throwing a stone I also find appalling. There is no concept of proportionate punishment.

When settlers are going berserk, setting fire to your villages and fields, shooting people, getting behind the wheel of a car and running down civilians, and stealing people’s property, and when Palestinians have zero civil rights and can be arrested without trial on the whim of an Israeli soldier, of course the Palestinians will turn to Hamas if the Palestinian Authority fails to stop this, because there is no other option.  

Worse, the settlers have the full support of the IDF. In January of this year, Katz ordered the release of every single settler held in administrative detention for crimes against Palestinians: 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/katz-says-settlers-in-administrative-detention-to-go-free-ties-it-to-palestinian-release

I think the Western obsession with the Israeli settlements is just a distraction from the main problems here. Sure, I think Israel should stop settlements immediately. But Israel’s supporters perceive Israel’s actions here as “just building houses” and it turns into a debate about who owns the land. Because the focus is on the settlements Israel’s supporters don’t realise the extent of the main problems. What is clearly and unequivocally wrong is killing Palestinian civilians for no reason, and that should be the focus of Western media.

I think a two-state solution in the near future is unrealistic. Israel cannot simply hand over East Jerusalem to the Palestinians because there is no geographical buffer zone to prevent repeats of October 7. I am also not so naïve as to think that Palestinian hatred of Jews is a purely proportionate response to settler violence. Hamas would hate Jews and Israel regardless. This amply illustrated by (say) the hatred of Hezbollah or Iran or the Taliban towards Jews despite the fact that they are not living in the West Bank.

But if Israel will rein in the settlers and end its practice of detaining Palestinians without trial, then with the passage of time it is possible that for Palestinians in the West Bank practical self-interested concerns will supersede hatred of Jews. (In other words, a rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians may be more possible than people who are not actually having to live under Israel’s control.) Hamas’ plummeting popularity in Gaza gives me hope in this regard, because Gazans are realising that they don’t like being treated as human shields. If that day comes in the West Bank, then a two-state solution and the withdrawal of Israeli troops may become possible. Palestinians and Israelis do not have to like each other, just to live in peace. But whether or not it leads to peace, settler violence and imprisoning people without trial is wrong and must end. Thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails are being exchanged for the hostages, but sadly I don’t think it’s women and children imprisoned for throwing a stone whom 

The NZ Initiative has published a report looking at what changes we should make to MMP as it approaches its 30th birthday. I’m on a panel discussing the report at 2.30 pm tomorrow (Wed 29th) for those interested. The report will be made public at that time.

Radio NZ reports:

Labour has agreed to campaign on a capital gains tax (CGT) covering just property – excluding the family home and farms – to help fund three free doctor visits for everyone.

The policy was announced abruptly on Tuesday morning after RNZ was earlier leaked details over the long weekend.

The fact their tax policy was leaked is in itself significant. In government leaks almost invariably comes from disgruntled public servants. But an opposition policy doesn’t involve the public service. This means it was either leaked by a Labour Party MP, a senior parliamentary staffer or Labour HQ. This is a sure sign that not all is well. Readers will recall National in opposition had a spell of leaking before Chris Luxon became leader. A united caucus doesn’t leak. A disgruntled caucus does.

As to the policy itself, it is typical Labour tax and spend. They promised they’d keep spending to under 30% off GDP, below it out to 34%, and now want more tax and more spending.

The most important thing people should realise about Labour’s CGT is that it will be based on nominal, not real, increases in house values. This means the higher Labour gets inflation to, the more revenue it brings in, and the worse off you will be if subject to it. Here’s an example.

You own a second home worth $1 million. Let’s say inflation is 3% a year. In 10 years you sell that home for $1.3 million. You will be taxed at 28% so pay $84,000 tax.

However that $1.3 million in 10 years is equal to $968,000 in today’s dollars. So in real terms you have lost $34,000 on that house and Labour will tax you $84,000 on top of that $34,000 loss.

I would suggest anyone who has contact with Labour MPs asks them why they are going to tax inflation. They could have made their policy to only tax real gains, not nominal gains. It was a deliberate decision to maximise tax revenue.

Waatea News reports:

That the Te Tai Tokerau Electorate Executive be reset by way of a Special General Meeting, on the basis that the Electorate Executive is no longer functioning in accordance with Party requirements and the Kawa.

This is basically head office sacking the local electorate committee because they don’t support head office.

That the Te Tai Tokerau MP be suspended.

This is a step towards deselection.

Waatea understands that all four resolutions were passed by the Members present  (Agreed: Tāmaki Makaurau, Hauraki-Waikato, Waiariki, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, Te Tai Hauāuru) with one Abstenation (Te Tai Tonga).

So it is a 5-2 split.

Erica Stanford released the following data on new school entrants:

• 58 per cent of students were at or above expectations, up from 36 per cent in Term 1.
• 43 per cent of students exceeded expectations in Term 3, more than double the Term 1 rate. 
• Māori students performing at or above what’s expected have increased from 25 per cent to 43 per cent
• In high equity (low-decile) schools, children meeting expected levels has gone up from 18 per cent to 35 per cent
• Pacific students, from 27 per cent up to 43 per cent.

These are incredibly pleasing results, and so early on. We need to make sure Erica Stanford has another four years (at least) as Education Minister, so all this progress isn’t lost.

I got sent a link to this website about Naenae College.

I have no first or even second hand knowledge about Naenae College, except I note that it is about to implement an enrolment scheme, which usually happens because too many students want to attend.

What struck me about the website is how absolutely detailed it is. It is not uncommon to have criticism sites set up, but this one is incredibly detailed, even getting into faculty level details.

I’m somewhat puzzled by the motivation of the person behind it. If you’re a parent, you don’t tend to care once your kids are no longer there. My guess is a former long serving staff member, but I may be wrong.