We used to talk about the Davos set. We need a new name for the circuit of political figures, tech bros, media glamour hunters, artists, authors and billionaires that scratch each other’s backs: The Epstein Set.

We call this the cockroach theory. There is never just one. Just as the exposure of Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris revealed a network of pigs at the BBC, and the errant priest was not a single bad apple in the church, we can be sure that Epstein is not unique.

When you have an enormously powerful global network of entitlement, you will have more. Many more. We know the cost of calling out entitlement is high and the benefits for those who play along are glamour, fame, wealth and power. Speaking out means ejection from the network, giving up your privilege, the deals, the celebrity invites, the networks that smooth the way to the next yacht, island, invite, pay-off.

The point of the network is to sustain privilege so people go along with it. If they went along with Epstein they are going along with others.

The Epstein files show we have created a world in which fabulously wealthy and powerful people have unlimited power to sustain their own clique.

We can see now what they do with that power.

Read Josie's column in The Post.

Josie joined Heather and Trish on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle to discuss the Fire and Emergency NZ investigation into the firefighter who got caught making a gesture after meeting the PM and the Epstein files.

Josie: the PM is at risk of being outperformed by his lecturn.

Around the world the centre right is being upended, but it’s mainly ethnic nationalists giving grief to conservative managers of the status quo,

I know you’re thinking NZ First and ACT, but they are not anything like the national ethnic identity parties overseas, ACT, the only party ever to write “property rights” on a billboard, wants big government to butt in and stop owners using land how they like.

The closest we have to an ethnic nationalists party is Te Pāti Māori. Strip away the word Māori and focus on its nationalism, its attraction to Russia, its disregard for establishment conventions, its vague and unserious promises of redistribution in favour of its supporters, and TPM would fit into the mainstream of radical right parties anywhere.

You can imagine a fracture on the right here. On one side, the pro-development nation-builders, who want to use the government to build houses, roads, water pipes and ferries. On the other side, the establishment, defending the rigged status quo.

The anti-establishment parties in the Western world find their strongest support among struggling workers. What if we are seeing the return of economic class as a fault line?

Josie's Post column is here.

Josie was on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle reviewing the PM's State of the Nation, and the election date announced.

Dear Aunty, What do you get if you put two members of Te Pāti Māori on a desert island?

Three parties.

I’m not saying JT, Debbie and Rawiri overplayed their hands by expelling Mariameno and Tākuta, but their hand includes a pair of twos, Mr Clown and an expired Snapper card.

Dear Aunty, What does it tell us about psychometric testing when the former deputy police commissioner managed to ace all of his at the same time he was doing the stuff that has landed him in court?

The psychology profession can’t even agree whether Jung was right. It has never shown that recruitment pop quizzes are more valid than astrological readings. What testing is brilliant for is picking think-alikes. Psychometric tests are an inclusivity disaster that we pay for by taking taxpayers’ money away from cancer drugs and needy kids.

Much more in Josie's column for The Post.