When politics becomes a contest over who is the least unpopular, it is a sign of a system in decay. But are there signs of hope for the NZ left in the 2026 general election?

The Keen-Lens Macro Letter ⚡ Flash Letter New Zealand · Class, Labour & Election Politics · September 2026

The Keen-Lens Macro Letter ⚡ Flash Letter New Zealand · Political Economy · 8 September 2026

Jordan Williams and David Farrar have spent twenty years learning how one poll can move another. Their Taxpayers’ Union–Curia poll just did it again.

We are living under the most right-wing government this country has seen in over five decades.  In three short years, we have seen decades of work dedicated to protecting the rights of tamariki and…

A building industry and defence minister called a confidence vote he could not win, lost every portfolio he held within hours, and left behind more questions about who benefits than about himself.

Something is rotten in the state of Aotearoa. We like to think of our country’s politics as pretty clean, but is it? There is fundamental tension in our political system between democracy and money. I...

Atlas Network interlinked, these bodies aim to protect the right to be awful about or to targeted groups. New Zealand's version also appears to work as a "troll farm" for the government.

OPINION: David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill was defeated, but the campaign to weaken the place of Māori in public life did not end with it.

Yes to the universal cash supports, No to the racism and bigotry

Yes to the universal cash supports, No to the racism and bigotry

Why has the comfort of political and media survivors and rose-tinted nostalgia become such a powerful selling point in New Zealand politics right now? Between Winston Peters invoking a 1950s golden er...

In the homestretch of the coldest of political winters, we gathered. There was a defiance about this Mataariki – more than ever, folks were determined to come together, celebrate, farewell an…

Norman Kirk once said people do not ask for much: someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and something to hope for.

Almost a year after President Trump authorized preemptive law enforcement measures based on political or ideological beliefs, a wave of terrorism prosecutions against left-wing protesters has begun.

The same Tuesday ACT unveiled its newest star candidate, the Herald confirmed the party’s own former president had pleaded guilty to further sex offending. Coincidence, or convenient timing?

Forty-one years ago today, state-sponsored terrorism shattered the quiet of Auckland Harbour.

Same suits, new story — and everything National hopes you've forgotten.

A thought experiment for Labour: move the student loan book from one ledger to another and watch what happens.

and extinction

New Zealand · Conservation Amendment Bill · June 2026

Mark Mitchell built a career on the cosy traffic between cops and a political party. Now he is shocked — shocked — that Labour has done the same.

Budget 2026, the rise of oligarchy and the best government money can buy

Budget 2026 spends $503 million on expanding prisons. But 41% of the prison population are people on remand and more than half are released once their case is heard.

And how the poor have been systematically denied them

28 May 2026

The New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture is urging the Government to  reconsider proposed legislation by taking a broader view of

22/5/2026

Buyer beware.

The night an Aussie economics professor told Trump's bagman to grow the fuck up on live telly, and the rest of the planet quietly nodded along

10/5/2026

2/5/2026

Alt: The Terminator is driving a car and saying `` hasta la vista , baby '' .

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