Top 10 for Monday, December 18
Luxon's Te Reo lessons paid for by Govt; Te Papa planned to change Te Tiriti exhibit years ago; Reti benefited from admission programme he's been told to review; Christchurch opts out of density rules
TL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Monday December 18, including:
Scoops of the day: A Te Papa executive told protestors two years ago the disputed English version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi would be replaced. Stuff’s Ryan Anderson reports this morning. AAP’s Ben McKay reports via The Canberra Times this morning taxpayers are paying for PM Christopher Luxon to learn Te Reo.
Health Minister Shane Reti has been told by ACT Leader David Seymour to review the “racist” medical school admissions programme he benefited from, RNZ’s Ella Stewart reports this morning.
NIMBY story of the day: Christchurch City Council has formally asked to pause the rollout of urban intensification, The Press-$$$’s Tina Law reported yesterday.
Global scoop of the day: A Swiss commodities trading firm used legal loopholes to scrap an LNG supply deal with Pakistan to make US$400 million profit from higher gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move means a nation of 240 million people is now starved of energy and defaulting on its debt. Bloomberg Business Week-gift Stephen Stapczynski and Faseeh Mangi reported overnight.
Deep-dive of the day: Michael Thomas profiles CATL, the Chinese company that now makes 37% of the world’s EV batteries, via Distilled.
Column of the day: Michael van Drogenbroek, a rail, freight and public transport Consultant/Advisor at Heriot-Edievale, on why the Interislander decision poses an existential threat to Aotearoa-NZ’s rail network, via GreaterAuckland.
Thread of the day: Scoot Foundation via X on what’s stopping Auckland from taking full advantage of its new CRL.
Op-Ed of the day: Bellingcat’s Eliot Higgins on what to do about disinformation, via FT-gift and this X thread.
Substack of the day: Hamish McKenzie via On Substack on why the AI revolution is an opportunity for humans to write for other humans.
Cartoon of the day: Rod Emmerson via NZ Herald-$$$ and X on Shane Jones.
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Deep dive of the day
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