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Judith Collins, leader of New Zealands opposition National party, has been toppled after months of poor polling and a shock move to strip a political rival of his portfolios.

MPs voted to end Collins leadership at a crisis caucus meeting on Thursday. The meeting was prompted after Collins demoted Simon Bridges, a former party leader and one of her rivals. Late on Wednesday night, she stripped Bridges of all of his portfolios, citing an inappropriate comment made by Bridges in 2017 in front of a female colleague where Bridges says he discussed old wives tales about how he and his wife might produce a female child. Collins described the comment as serious misconduct.

Collins confirmed her resignation via social media. Its been a privilege to take over the leadership of [the National party] during the worst of times and to do so for 16 months. It has taken huge stamina and resolve, & has been particularly difficult because of a variety of factors, she said in a statement. MP Dr Shane Reti will take the helm of the party as interim leader, with a replacement to be chosen next week.

While the conflict with Bridges sparked Thursdays vote, Collins leadership has been troubled for some time, and the last few months have brought a series of disastrous leadership polls. Known as the Crusher for both her tough style of politics and for her responsibility for a historic policy which saw the cars of boy racers physically crushed, Collins struggled to win over New Zealand voters.

Support for the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour party has been dropping over several months, as the country grapples with a Covid outbreak but Collins failed to capitalise on that, with many votes instead redistributing to the libertarian Act party. While support for Labour has slipped in recent months to around 41-47%, support for National has languished at 21-28%. In a 1 News Colmar Brunton poll released in November, Judith Collins was sitting at just 5% in the preferred prime minister stakes, compared to Arderns 39%.

The difficulty for the party has been a lack of viable alternatives: no other National MPs surpassed Collins popularity, and Simon Bridges was sitting at just 1% in that poll. Nationals stiffest competition has come from its right flank: David Seymour, leader of the right-wing libertarian party, typically a small player in New Zealands parliament, was at 11%. Chris Luxon, a former chief executive of Air New Zealand, will be in the mix as a possible Collins replacement, polling at 4%. But he has spent only one year as an MP and has not yet built a high public profile. Another possible candidate is Whangaparoa MP Mark Mitchell.

On Thursday afternoon, Bridges expanded on the nature of his comments. He said they had occurred at a function where a group were discussing their wives and children. I have two boys and I wanted a girl and I engaged in some old wives tales about that and how to have a girl, he said. He would not expand further on the phrasing he used.

MP Jacqui Dean was present for the remark, and subsequently complained to leadership. Bridges apologised.

I entirely accept and am regretful of that day because I acknowledge that some of what I said was clearly inappropriate, Bridges said. He said he had reiterated the apology, and would not rule out a run for the leadership on Tuesday.

In a statement, Dean said, About five years ago, Simon Bridges made remarks that upset me at the time. They were not about me, but they were inappropriate and not something I wanted to hear, she said.

At the time there was an apology, but subsequently it has continued to play on my mind and with the recent reviews that have occurred in parliament the feelings have been brought back up.

What matters to me is that all of us have a clear understanding of what behaviour we should expect in a modern workplace environment.

Simon and I have spoken a number of times over the past few hours and he has reiterated his apology.

Collins said in her statement: I knew when I was confided in by a female colleague regarding her allegation of serious misconduct against a senior colleague, that I would likely lose the leadership by taking the matter so seriously. If I hadnt, then I felt that I wouldnt deserve the role.

The late night Wednesday drama has brought rumblings of discontent within the party to the fore. Collins announcement of his demotion blindsided many National MPs, with a number complaining about how the situation had been handled. It came at a moment when the government is under increasing pressure for its Covid response and prominent National supporters expressed irritation at the party once again becoming embroiled in internal politics rather than focusing on its policy platform.

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New Zealand opposition leader Judith Collins ousted after move to demote rival backfires - The Guardian

SACRAMENTO As someone who tries to evaluate specific public policies based on their merits and adherence to my long-held libertarian philosophy, Ive been increasingly dispirited by the crazypartisanshipthat has consumed our political debates. These days, were supposed to simply pick a team and cheer as it runs up the score on the other team.

Dont you know thatpolitics is binary? conservative friends would ask whenever I criticized some misbegotten Trump administration policy (e.g., tariffs). In their view, Republicans always are better on balance than the Democrats, so I need to join their side and fight even when they promote idiocy. Topartisans, its always about winning the next election.

When I call balls and strikes those Supreme Court justice nominations are great, but trying to steal an election endangers our democracy Im apparently a sellout. Even though I routinely criticize Californias Democratic politicians, Im thrilled on the rare instances that they advance sensible ideas such as when Gavin Newsom signed a package of long-overduepolice reforms.

The end goal is good public policy, and it shouldnt matter who champions it. But when we view politics as a grudge match, we lose our leverage to change the way that our allies operate. Perhaps holding both Republicans and Democrats accountable for routinely violating their statedprinciplesmight push them to reconsider the positions they take. Well, hope springs eternal.

Writing about Democratic responses to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse in the Kenosha, Wis., shootings and a police shooting in the city, The Bulwarks Charlie Sykescomplainedabout The tyranny of ideological narratives. Thats a crucial observation. Indeed, both sides jump to tribe-based conclusions about specific events and their hot takes always are so banal and predictable.

Yet when everything is hardened ideologically, we lose the ability to make nuanced distinctions. We can never evenagree on the basic factsof any given situation (even if its caught on video) and end up advancing morally dubious and even clownish positions.

This self-imposed ideological tyranny leads politicians to spend their time posturing rather than governing. They mainly try to energize their base. They eschew reasonable ideas but seek only to heighten the partisan anger. Few politicians do this more consistently than the populist Republican Sen.Josh Hawley of Missouri.

During a speech to a conservative group this month, Hawley depicted a decline in masculinity as one of the nations foremost problems. I want to focus tonight on the deconstruction of men, not because men are more important, but because I believe the attack on men has been the tip of the spear of the Lefts broader attack on America. And because this attack on men is already far advanced, hesaid.

The populist right has long had a weird, almost adolescent view of manliness. Men are half the population and some of them always have struggled with something, so its goofy to depict us as the targets of some orchestrated attack. The politics ofvictimization, whether it comes from conservatives or liberals, has become so tiresome.

Theres a legitimate argument that, say, a rapidly changing economy, a government-run educational system that sees college (rather than trades) as the one-size-fits-all approach and the spread of government-assistanceprograms, has led many men into a life of idleness, substance abuse and despair. That pox has devastated some poor and working-class communities.

But instead of addressing a cultural/economic problem thats been analyzed for decades, Hawley is using it to bludgeon his opponents and accuse them of attacking half the population. He takes a serious societalconundrumand turns it into a political battle cry rather than a search for practical solutions.

Of course, leftists arent looking for solutions to any problem beyond their go-to answer of increasing governmentspending. When that spending leads to an easily predictable and painful bout of inflation, they stick to their usual ideological narratives. First, they told us there is no real inflation, then they cast blame on everything other than their own policies.

Now, with oil prices up 59 percent, meat and poultry prices up 12 percent and overall inflation up 6.3 percent, they cant ignore reality. They tell us that inflation actually isnt such a bad thing. Its the predictable product of the economys rapid recovery, and its cost have been offset, to a large degree, by robust wage growth and government policies,arguedMSNBC columnist James Surowiecki.

We obviously cant address an inflation crisis if were arguing that the erosion of Americans savings and their inability to buyhomesand cars actually isnt that big of a deal. But thats what happens when politics becomes totally binary. The inflation is OK crowd would no doubt make the opposite argument if the GOP team were in power.

Theres not much we can do other than commit ourselves to viewing the world more as arefereeand less like a cheerleader.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.

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Manliness, inflation and the scourge of partisan idiocy - San Bernardino County Sun

Michigan's road conditions deteriorated ashighways improved nationwide, according to a new report by the Reason Foundation.

Thestate ranked34th nationallyin highway performance and cost effectiveness in 2021, dropping 10 spots in the libertarian think tank's Annual Highway Report compared to the 2020 report, and landingin the bottom 10 states in several measured categories.

The report released Thursday looked at highway data from 2019 and congestion data from 2020, and gradesstate roads in 13 categories. Those include pavement condition, traffic congestion, bridge structures, traffic fatalitiesand spending per mile.

Michigan was one of only four states, includingNew Mexico, Ohio and South Carolina, to declinein the rankings by 10 spots or more in the same time period, compared with the 2020 report, which looked at 2018 and 2019.

There were1,219 bridges and more than 7,300 miles of highway in poor condition in Michigan, according to an August report released by the White House.

Since 2011,commute times have increased by 4.6% in the state andindividual drivers paid an average of$644 ayear in costs related to driving on damaged roads.

The report came days after President Joe Biden signed into lawthebipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which will include around $7.8billion in fundingfor highway and bridge repairs over five years in Michigan.

This is in addition to the $3.5 billion of bonds that the Michigan Department of Transportation was authorized to issueover fouryearsforthe repair and rehabilitation of 122 major highways, per the self-described "Fix the Damn Roads" governor,Gretchen Whitmer's request.

The fiscal year 2019 budget wasset by the Legislature under the Snyder administration.

"Our pavement is deteriorating more quickly than we can maintain itwith current funding levels," said Diane Cross, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transport, on Sunday."The governor's $3.5 billion Rebuilding Michigan plan, now complemented by the federal IIJA, will slow the decline but everyone agrees that long term, we need more and sustainable investment."

The Governor's Office said Whitmer is working on the roads and acknowledged more work was needed to "make up for the prior decades of disinvestment" and working with the Legislature and federal government for more funding.

After decades of disinvestment in the states aging infrastructure, Michigan has made a strong shift toward focusing on the type of investments that we need to rebuild roads and bridges across the state," saidBobby Leddy, press secretary for Whitmer.

"Since taking office, Governor Whitmer has fixed more than 9,000 miles of roads and secured additional funding to fix 100 bridges in serious or critical condition without raising taxes. And the governors Rebuilding Michigan plan is creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs to fix our states roads and bridges with the right mix and material to ensure the repairs last longer."

Michigan's best rankings in the Reason Foundation's report were in the rural fatality and overall fatality rates on highways, 7th and 14th respectively.

On the other end of the findings, thestate's worst rankingswere in urban Interstate pavement condition and congestion, with commuters spending 42.07 hours a year in rush hour traffic. Drivers in onlyfour other states in the country spend more than 40 hours in traffic, according to the report; New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Illinois.

"Despite not having a metro area that ranks in the top 10 for population, Michigan has the fifth worst traffic congestion in the country, said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the reportand senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation.

Compared to nearby states, the report found that Michigans overall highway performance is worse than Wisconsin,Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but better than Illinois.

"Michigan is one of the few states that could benefit from spending slightly more on its highway system to improve the overall condition," continued Feigenbaum.

Michigan spends around $92,500 per mile of state-controlled road.

The country's most cost-effective highway systems, according to the report, were North Dakota, Virginia, Missouri, Kentuckyand North Carolina, while the worst combination of highway performance and cost effectiveness was found in New Jersey,RhodeIsland, Alaska, Hawaii, and New York.

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How do Michigan roads rank in US? Libertarian think tank crunches the numbers - The Detroit News

* Price cuts have so far come a year after market launch

* Lobby group VFA: retroactive rebates pose incalculable risks

* Ban on price increases over time to remain in place (Adds market size, key players, reaction from lobby group)

By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Germany's prospective three-party government plans to cut prices retroactively for recently-launched prescription drugs to keep healthcare expenses under control, the coalition agreement showed on Wednesday.

Pharmaceutical companies have only been free to set prescription drug prices in Germany, Europe's largest pharma market, for the first 12 months following approval by the European Commission.

This respite allows for an elaborate benefit assessment and price setting procedure that was introduced in 2011 and which typically results in a discount.

Instead of taking effect after negotiations are wrapped up, the new price will be enforced with a retroactive reimbursement from the seventh month after market launch, if the coalition plan is passed into law during the four-year parliamentary session.

The agreement will install Germany's first federal coalition between Social Democrats (SPD), libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens, and bring the curtain down on the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The negotiated reimbursement price is to take effect from the seventh month after market entry," said the coalition document.

Pharmaceutical sales in Germany rose almost 7% to 49.5 billion euros ($55.4 billion) last year, according to market researcher IQVIA.

Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb are among those with the largest market presence in the country, while Bayer , Merck KGaA and unlisted Boehringer Ingelheim are the biggest Germany-based drugmakers.

The German association of research-based pharma companies VFA said the plan may discourage drugmakers from seeking an immediate launch because backdated rebates posed an "incalculable risk".

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"The traditional strength of the German system, the fast availability of new medicines, is needlessly put at risk," it added.

The coalition document also said drugmakers would continue to be banned from unilaterally increasing drug prices over time, keeping current rules in place.

($1 = 0.8929 euros) (Reporting by Ludwig Burger Editing by Emma Thomasson and Mark Potter)

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UPDATE 1-Germany's government-to-be eyes backdated drug price cuts - Yahoo Finance

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) A year after suffering a huge election loss, New Zealand's conservative opposition leader Judith Collins was ousted Thursday by her caucus.

Collins was in the role for a tumultuous 16 months. She never polled well as leader of the National Party, even after liberal Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's popularity began to fade somewhat in recent months as a coronavirus outbreak took hold in Auckland.

Rumors about a possible move against Collins had been circulating for weeks. But she ended up making the first move on Wednesday night by stripping former leader and potential rival Simon Bridges of his portfolios.

Collins said she made the move because she had found out for the first time that Bridges made inappropriate comments to female colleague Jacqui Dean about five years ago at a function.

But other National Party lawmakers weren't impressed with the move by Collins, pointing out that Bridges had apologized at the time.

The new National Party leader will be chosen next week. Possible contenders include Bridges, former Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon and former police officer Mark Mitchell. Collins plans to stay on in Parliament as a lawmaker representing the Auckland district of Papakura.

Collins said it had required stamina and resolve to take on the leadership during the worst of times.

I knew when I was confided in by a female colleague regarding her allegation of serious misconduct against a senior colleague, that I would likely lose the leadership by taking the matter so seriously, Collins wrote on Twitter. If I hadnt, then I felt that I wouldnt deserve the role.

Dean said that Bridges apologized at the time but the incident "continued to play on my mind.

Ardern last year won a second term in a landslide of historic proportions. The popularity of her Labour Party has slipped since then, but most of the gains have gone to the libertarian ACT Party, while Collins and the National Party have continued to languish in opinion polls.

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New Zealand opposition leader Collins ousted by caucus - Plainview Daily Herald