Restored Funds Seen as Catalyst of new Saudi Financial Services Economy Dec 11, 2017  -  The detention of Saudi princes along with a big slice of the rest of the tycoon class in a simultaneous round up has rather greater consequences for Australasia than was originally imagined.  This is because the tentacles of the detainees reach deeply into commercial life in Australasia.

Local Government Commission Instead Should be encouraging Collaboration Dec 7, 2017  -  The Lions service organisation called on management consultant Derek Williams, a specialist in mergers, to become a platform participant in its community forum programme designed to achieve a wider understanding among voters of the pending referendum on the amalgamation of local bodies in the Wairarapa.

Without fear or favour Peter Isaac tip toes through political correctness and our Five Questions Dec 24, 2017  - Where do you see the mainstream media now?In a rather stronger position than it appears to see itself. There are the revenue shifts in which their giveaway versions are flourishing especially in property advertising. Similarly the broadcasters have a solid localised radio backbone via carrying advertising for patent medicines, directed at those of mature years, their audience base.

United States new diafiltration ingredient ignited Canada’s secessionist milk powder keg Canada’s determination to protect its French-speaking dairy industry is emerging as the reason for its last minute defection from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade treaty.  The cause of this pre-signing ceremony pull-out is increasingly being seen as the other North American defector. This is Canada’s NAFTA partner the United States which is determined to push a new-technology milk derivative across the border into Canada.

UDC once among world’s biggest finance companies Dec 1, 2017  - The failure of the ANZ to consummate its sale of UDC Finance to China’s HNA Group is further evidence to the effect that it is one thing to sell an asset into this region. It is another thing to actually get paid for it.  There are now strong indications that the UDC sale is now back at the point of its departure, the signing ceremony.

Re-entry to Doomed Mine overwhelmed by politics Nov 24, 2017  -  The politicisation of the reopening of the Pike River Coal Mine, which materialised as the dominant moral cause of the recent New Zealand general election continues in spite of the understanding that the mine is more dangerous now than it was when 29 miners were killed there in rapid-sequence explosions in 2010.

Counter-intuitive labels date to Irish Famine & Repeal of Corn Laws Nov 23, 2017  -  New Zealand commentators remain confused by the terms neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism which they often confuse in relation to free trade and customs unions such as the Trans Pacific scheme. It was the conservatives, in this case the New Zealand National Government, which pushed for the original TPP scheme.

EU members swapped personalities Nov 21, 2017  -  In the years since Britain and France teamed up together in the Common Market both these unlikely partners appear to have undergone a national character transfer switch, a transposition, writes our travel editor Peter Isaac. The British have become pushy, brittle and quick tempered while the French have absorbed those once British values of tolerance, stoicism, and good humour.

Brought to NZ by National Business Review founder 20 Nov 2017 | MSCNewsWire | Truth never changes and neither does effective benefit selling. Only the techniques of transferring this information from the seller to the buyer change. Drayton Bird (pictured) regarded as the Westminster sphere’s greatest and most seasoned expert on direct selling is to tour New Zealand with this message.

Arabian oil reserves originally identified by New Zealander Major Frank Holmes 17 Nov 2017  - Canada’s indifference to a new Pacific rim customs union scheme can be ascribed in part to more tempting opportunities in the Middle East such as the possibility of the Toronto Stock Exchange becoming the keystone secondary exchange for the flotation of Aramco.  The Toronto exchange is viewed as being the halfway house between the London Stock Exchange and the New York exchange.

Series said to outstrip Game of Thrones   Amazon’s acquisition of the television rights of the Tolkien fantasies promises to wash up profitably on New Zealand’s shores. The objective is to create another television hit to rival Game of Thrones. Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate trustees has involved New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which was involved in Sir Peter Jackson’s Tolkien series. Having acquired the rights, Amazon is under no pressure to start production. So there is no indication yet the degree to which, if at all, Sir Peter’s various special effects enterprises…