The mother of a just-turned-17 year old who died alone in 'emergency accommodation' says it appeared there was "wilful blindness" on the part of professionals in health, education and social welfare, who were so focused on affirming her daughter's transgender identity, but did not pay the same attention to the eating disorder which would kill her. This story is just one of many that we have heard – of the chilling effect and the harm that this ideology and the ‘conversion therapy’ ban is doing to young people, to families and parents, and to counsellors and pastors who want the very best for people.

New Testament theologian NT Wright has held a variety of both academic and chaplaincy posts at Oxford, Cambridge, and McGill University, Montreal. He was Canon of Westminster in 2000, before serving as Bishop of Durham between 2003-2010. He is currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary’s College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. But in his latest podcast, he has confused the pro-life issue, and it needs to be corrected.

There’s a new book on the shelves - a memoir from former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – entitled “A Different Kind of Power”. There has been no shortage of coverage from certain major news outlets in both NZ & overseas. This episode of McBlog is not focusing on the author and her responses in the various interviews (which you may be relieved to hear). What we are going to examine and call out is the woeful lovefest from the so-called news media which is supposed to be the 'fourth estate' – but now is predominantly a cheerleader for the left. Their interviewing of Jacinda Ardern proved just how pathetic they have become. It will also show why Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allen, Sean Plunket and FOX News never stood a chance of being granted an interview.

#familyfirst #familyfirstnz #mcblog

This week there’s the so-called ‘Pride’ week in schools – ‘pride’ in extreme sexuality indoctrination and gender confusion – and there’s also Samoan Language week – celebrating a culture. We can learn the words and greetings that are important to Samoans in their language OR we can indoctrinate ourselves with terms such as asexual, bisexual, cisgender, heteronormativity, intersex, non-binary, pansexual, sex assigned at birth, transitioning, transsexual. Not really a tough choice, is it.

A new research report published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research charts new findings in how divorce is not a temporary bump in the road for children. It has long-term, negative effects far into adulthood. This is not a new finding overall, but this important new study does chart some important new ground. We speak to Glenn Stanton, director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, about this new study.

Have you heard about the terrorist group comprising those who hold a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers, focusing on raising children. They’re called tradwives. But the cultural left & the media are very concerned about tradwives. Even Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call expressed concerns about this terrorist group of women – and a couple of months ago the NZ Herald really panicked about it. So much so that they even did a podcast on it. For some light humour, we’re gonna to have a listen to some excerpts.

The five-year review of Jacinda Ardern’s radical extreme abortion law which opened the door to late term abortions was quietly released by the Ministry of Health last month. It’s unapologetically pro-abortion. It celebrates more abortion – not less. It refuses to acknowledge the risks and harms to the women. It makes no recognition of the unborn child – despite other health messages which encourage women to consider the health of the unborn child such as drug use, alcohol use during pregnancy etc. There is no consideration of the benefits of reducing abortions. We do not have a Ministry of Health. It’s a Ministry of Ideas. Dangerous ideas.

An op-ed in the New York Times and reprinted in the NZ Herald this week points to a cultural tipping point. Those who argued that pornography did no harm are now admitting that conservative Christians were probably right. The radical left and libertarians are only now connecting the dots between the role that pornography plays and the harm that it does to attitudes and actions.

UNICEF have released their latest report card on the wellbeing of children and it surveys 43 countries that are members of the European Union (EU) and/or the OECD – high-income countries. Our suicide rate is the highest - almost three times higher than the average for high-income countries. We have the second-worst rate of bullying. Our teens have the 6th lowest rate of 'life satisfaction'. The problem with UNICEF and these reports is that they can identify the problem. That’s the easy part. They just can’t – or won’t – point to the obvious and time-tested solutions. But we will.

One of our longest serving politicians and current Deputy Prime Minister says that our House of Representatives has become a "House of Chaos" due to bad language and bad behaviour. Has this been a recent trend - and can the standard be raised again. We speak to Winston Peters.