China Sends a Plane Message
It was a picture worth a thousand words. Four or five stooped, scared-looking figures on an aeroplane, black hoods over their heads. Read more
James is a Research Fellow with the Initiative and his main focus will be on higher education policy, including academic freedom.
James holds a BA in Classics from Oxford, an MA in Ancient History from the University of London, an MA in Political Science from Stanford, and a PhD in Classics from Stanford.
He is also the co-host (with Michael Johnston) of Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicated to free speech in a New Zealand context, and he can be found on Twitter at @Kleisthenes2.
Phone: 04 499 0790
It was a picture worth a thousand words. Four or five stooped, scared-looking figures on an aeroplane, black hoods over their heads. Read more
Dr James Kierstead was interviewed by Michael Laws on The Platform about trade between China and the West, which was the subject of his latest piece in the NZ Herald. Listen below. Read more
2015 was almost a decade ago. But it seems like a century. Read more
In a column that appeared in The Post on 23 February, Victoria University of Wellington Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith criticizes the coalition's commitment to have universities adopt a free speech policy. Smith notes that ACT Party leader david seymour ‘has previously criticised universities for declining to host certain speakers and argued the institutions should lose funding if they don't “protect free speech.”' The vice-chancellor then states that ‘one inference of all this is that anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' But it wouldn't actually be valid to infer from Seymour's criticisms of recent deplatformings at New Zealand universities that he thinks that ‘anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' You can, of course, think that Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas was wrong to prevent Don Brash from speaking to a student politics club in August 2018 (for example) and at the same time recognize that random people can't simply turn up at a university without an invitation and expect to get a hearing. Read more
Readers will no doubt be aware of the WEF and of the many interesting and informative articles and posts about the organisation that can be found online. You may be aware, for example, that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as being the secret love child of Fidel Castro, is a WEF puppet. Read more
Last year, the Initiative released a report on administrative bloat at New Zealand universities. It showed that the majority of staff at New Zealand universities are non-academics, and that this has been the case for quite some time. Read more
Late last year, I taught my final course for Victoria University of Wellington, guiding 19 young Kiwis around Greece for the Classics field trip. The trip offered plenty of food for thought (not to mention food) for anyone interested (and how could you not be?) in the stupendous artistic and intellectual achievements of the ancient Greeks. Read more
Non-academic staff outnumber academic staff in NZ universities. Recently, we found the point in time when this happened. Read more
New research reveals the start of excessive non-academic staffing in New Zealand Universities Wellington (Wednesday, 28 February 2024) - This new research note, When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the Long Run, 1961-1997, reveals the year in which non-academic employees started to outnumber academics at our universities. Building on the findings of our earlier research report, Blessing or Bloat? Read more
This new research note, When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the Long Run, 1961-1997, reveals the year in which non-academic employees started to outnumber academics at our universities. Building on the findings of our earlier research report, Blessing or Bloat? Read more
Visiting family in England as the new year got off to a chilly start, there was one story that dominated the headlines. A news story that, curiously enough, was prompted by a drama series that we had watched on the telly only a few days before. Read more
Last week it was reported that Queensland public servants have been offered up to five days of paid leave to tend to their ‘social and emotional wellbeing’ in the wake of the results of the Voice referendum. This is an obvious step in the right direction. Read more
This week we have a special guest, Lord Jonathan Sumption, in this combined Free Kiwis and The New Zealand Initiative podcast episode. Lord Sumption talks to us about his advocacy on free speech and is in NZ as a guest of the Free Speech Union. Read more
At the Initiative, we have consistently stood up for the rights of random bureaucrats to stop people making harmless choices in their everyday lives. That’s why we were strong supporters of John Key’s decision to ban pseudoephedrine from pharmacies. Read more
Dr James Kierstead talks to Dr Michael Johnston about NZ's interesting Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system vs First Past the Post (FFP), in the run-up to the 2023 NZ election. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more