Peter Munz News Today

The School Strike 4 Climate march in Christchurch. OPINION: The climate strike last week made me reach far back into my memory files. I tried to put myself in the striker’s shoes. What made me feel fearful as an adolescent? It wasn’t climate change. Nor Bastion Point or abortion debates, issues du jour when I was 16. No, if I’m honest there was only one fear, the ballot for military service, and that had passed by the time I was the striker’s age. It was abolished in 1972 by Big Norm...

Jock Phillips’ autobiography, Making History The battle lines have been drawn over how New Zealand history should be taught in schools. On one side, fighting a rear-guard action, is Michael Bassett, whose reputation as an historian has produced as many critics as those of his political career. He is backed up by lay opinion-makers such as The New Zealand Initiative’s Roger Partridge and Chris Trotter’s Bowalley Road website. All three see a danger in a curriculum based on th...