An independent anti-corruption commission: who keeps blocking it?
Four parties have demanded one for three decades. Journalists and watchdogs back them. So why does an anti-corruption commission never survive a coalition negotiation?
Grant McLachlan
3 hours ago11 min read
Pegasus Brief — Digging in
The petition passes 13,700 signatures. Golf New Zealand takes the field. The mayor confirms a buy-back consortium is at the table. And the developer’s $40,250 donation to the National Party reaches the mainstream record.
Grant McLachlan
1 day ago7 min read
Pros versus cons: Why Australia will likely never host a FIFA World Cup
The stadiums are built, the fans would come, and the sums could be made to work — the obstacle is the bidding process itself.
Grant McLachlan
1 day ago8 min read
Why does the press conference now come before the disaster?
Prediction is the riskiest science in public life — but the political rewards for fronting a forecast have never been higher.
Grant McLachlan
3 days ago11 min read
Who polices the Police Minister?
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.
Grant McLachlan
5 days ago4 min read
Why does one poll count and another vanish?
When TOP recently cracked five percent, the newsrooms that live off polling looked the other way — just as they do when a rival wins an award.
Grant McLachlan
5 days ago6 min read
Is New Zealand really the most beautiful country in the world?
We sell the world a postcard and then punish anyone who turns it over. The published record — and our own talent — tells a harder story.
Grant McLachlan - Column
6 days ago4 min read
Should Trump pardon Kim Dotcom?
A president who built his second term on the word “lawfare” has freed a parade of crypto convicts. The man who fits his own logic most cleanly is sitting in New Zealand, waiting to be put on a plane.
Grant McLachlan
Jun 67 min read
Why are New Zealanders turning on their politicians?
Two attacks in a year are a symptom. The disease is a political class that no longer feels within reach.
Grant McLachlan
Jun 44 min read
How to takeover TVNZ and RNZ with pocket change
Stuff was bought for $1. Newshub’s TV news operation was absorbed into it. NZME was infiltrated by Jim Grenon. Is TVNZ and RNZ next?
Grant McLachlan
Jun 310 min read
Pegasus Brief — Strength in numbers
Last night’s public meeting at Pegasus Bay School drew more than 450 people inside and another hundred or so outside, as well as media.
Grant McLachlan
Jun 35 min read
Is New Zealand the best democracy money can buy?
We are almost certainly not the most corrupt country in the world. We may simply be the cheapest to influence — and the least likely to check the receipts.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Jun 26 min read
Pegasus Brief — Holding the high ground
The story breaks into the national mainstream. Residents are organised. Wolfbrook stays silent. And the public record on the people behind Wolfbrook is worth a closer look.
Grant McLachlan
Jun 27 min read
Is the Crown really the villain of this story?
Liam Ratana aims his King’s Birthday anger squarely at the monarch. The historical record keeps pointing somewhere closer to home.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Jun 16 min read
The Bullshit Budget: who actually believes these numbers?
Arbitrary cuts, heroic forecasts and no map to the surplus — a Budget engineered to win a week of headlines before anyone does the maths.
Grant McLachlan
May 313 min read
Who is the state really housing?
How New Zealand’s great housing experiment turned from sheltering the poor to subsidising the people who profit from them.
Grant McLachlan
May 3010 min read
Shield or weapon? Why the new stalking law arrived already broken
Today, 26 May 2026, a new stalking offence comes into force. The bar has been lowered, the police given new powers to dispose of complaints without a court, and the records kept selectively. What could possibly go wrong?
Grant McLachlan
May 269 min read
The kids who lit matches in the mine
A motorway extension, a mortgagee golf-course sale, a $40,250 donation and a rezoning bid — all inside the same fortnight. Horncastle and Brooks aren't the canary in the mine. They're the kids who lit matches inside the underground network Auckland built.
Grant McLachlan
May 247 min read
Pegasus Brief — Read the room
The Pegasus story breaks into the national mainstream. Residents are organised. Wolfbrook stays silent. And the public record on the people behind Wolfbrook is worth a closer look.
Grant McLachlan
May 236 min read
Pegasus Brief — The two rejected bids
Two groups bid to keep Pegasus operating as a golf course. One had local skin in the game. The other had twenty years of golf-industry expertise. The receivers preferred the bid that erased the course. Why didn't anyone put the two bids together?
Grant McLachlan
May 225 min read
