Political scandals usually have a policy core – unlike Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross’ falling out with his now former party, which appears to be about personal issues as much as anything else. Yet at least one policy question has arisen out of this political train crash – whether using the new ‘waka jumping’ law would be appropriate to allow a party to remove defectors from Parliament. Read more

According to Karl Marx, history repeats itself – the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. Looking at Italy’s looming debt crisis, he might have had it the wrong way around. Read more

Oil prices rising, the Kiwi dollar falling: these are the economic issues dominating our domestic headlines. It is understandable that New Zealanders follow such developments with eagerness. Read more

Few politicians reach influence and status like Angela Merkel. Leader of her Christian Democrat Party for 18 years and German Chancellor since 2005, Merkel has topped the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women for seven consecutive years. Read more

It does not happen too often that politicians do what I want them to do. It is even stranger when this almost makes me change my mind. Read more

It is a sure sign I am getting old. At age 43, I am still working and I do not think it is a problem. Read more

The hills were not alive with the sound of music last Thursday. That is when British Prime Minister Theresa May met with the European Union’s 27 other national leaders in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Read more

It had to take an evolutionary psychologist and a lawyer to dissect (some of) the craziness of modern society and polity. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s new book The Coddling of the American Mind is required reading for anyone wishing to understand 21st century politics, not just in the US but globally. Read more

In his latest 'Spotlight on Europe' column for Newsroom, Dr Oliver Hartwich explains just how undemocratic the European Union is, while at the same time it keeps trying to tell its members to be democratic. “I’d never join a club that would accept me as a member,” says Woody Allen’s character in Annie Hall. Read more

“Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck.” This is how the late Donald Horne once described the West Island in The Lucky Country (1964). Half a century later, Horne’s double characterisation of the country and its political leadership applies more than ever. Read more

The New Zealand Initiative's CEO Dr Oliver Hartwich introduces his fortnightly 'Spotlight on Europe' column for Newsroom Pro this week. He describes himself as both a Europhile and an EU sceptic, and explains why New Zealanders should care about the continent where the modern world is crumbling. Read more

Imagine a management consultancy asked for help with a large company’s performance. At the end the inquiry concludes the company does not measure whether its processes are efficient. Read more

At the risk of making myself unpopular, I have absolutely no problem with Simon Bridges’ expenses bill. Except that it was leaked and that some other politicians are trying to turn it into a scandal. Read more

Since New Zealand just had to discuss the meaning of free speech, perhaps it is worth defining what free speech is. And what it is not. Read more

Many of us will remember those gloomy days in late 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis peaked. Stock markets around the world crashed, Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the world’s financial system was on its knees. Read more