Local government has been the principal casualty of the Key-English fifth National government (2008-17). New Zealanders have long believed it their birthright that local government is genuinely democratic, egalitarian and led exclusively by popularly elected officials.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/money-iwi-pull-local-government-strings

Pollsters report National’s vote is sliding in Auckland. So far, the voters abandoning National are dispersing among a range of other parties, including the Greens, NZ First and Act, rather than taking seriously Andrew Little’s hopelessly confused pitch for power.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/weekly-hit-national%E2%80%99s-growing-auckland-problem

Parliament closes for the school holidays this week, and there’s an air of head scratching about the political scene. Election 2017 is open, certainly – in more ways than might first appear. That is even more so than is normal since the 1996 changes to the electoral system because the smaller parties are where the action is.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/order-paper-fringe-politics-green-shoots-and-rising-whiggery

We need the wild west back in New Zealand’s capital market. The market’s over-regulated and moribund. The regulation only protects the fat and privileged and the market is choc-a-bloc with ticket-clippers, not businesspeople. We have the madness of government financing start-ups and now the Takeovers Panel is recommending lightening the load for smaller companies. Why just small companies?

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/hidesight-let-wild-west-let-rip-again

Yes, winter is approaching. So, not a particularly great time to be launching a new convertible then. But really, if this is the convertible for you, the fact it offers up open-top motoring is possibly the sixth or seventh plus-point on the list. All the really vital indicators of just what sort of convertible this model is are buried in the middle of the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Cabriolet’s nomenclature. The ‘C 63’ part means one of AMG’s hand-built V8s is nestled under its taut bonnet.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/motoring-mercedes-amg-c-63-s-cabriolet-drop-top-attitude

Spain continues to lead the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. The index was first compiled in 2007 and analyses the performance of 136 economies. New Zealand holds its 16th placing while Australia is also at seventh. Europe – with five other countries in the top 10 (France, Germany, UK, Italy and Switzerland) – is once again the region with the most competitive economies and the highest regional average.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/carry-world-tourism-index-americans-premium-economy-qantas-wi-fi-and-more-ng-201908

TeamTalk is planning to replace at least some of its directors at this year’s annual shareholders’ meeting. At Wednesday’s special meeting which overwhelmingly approved selling 70% of the Farmside business to Vodafone New Zealand, a shareholder noted there had been considerable change in management ranks but none on the board.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/board-reshuffle-planned-teamtalk-jr-p-201884

The planned visit by Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, canned because of security concerns in Australia, would have been the ideal warm-up for the coming writers’ weeks around the country. Ms Hirsi Ali is a prolific author (not unlike her husband Niall Ferguson) and her latest is a slim book that seeks to add a new four-letter word – dawa – to the West’s vocabulary.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/editor%E2%80%99s-insight-tackling-islam-holocaust-denial-and-max-harris-project

BMW recently announced it plans to release 40 new or updated models on to the market over the next two years but interviews in the US automotive press with management personnel from both BMW and its rival carmaker Mercedes-Benz, suggests some so-called niche models might soon be for the chop. Both BMW’s global sales head Ian Robertson and Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche have said model culls would boost profits and reduce development costs within their respective organisations.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/car-torque-niche-model-cull-planned-bmw-and-mercedes-benz

A shortage of new houses might lie at the heart of New Zealand’s house problems – but don’t discount tax reasons. Economist Andrew Coleman, in a lengthy analysis of changes to the tax system, says changes as long ago as 1989 have had a lingering effect.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/tax-changes-savings-1989-helped-drive-housing-crisis-economist-says