Earlier this week, epidemiologist and media personality Professor Michael Baker was reported saying, "It's hard to imagine any justification for lowering the alert level in Auckland." In case readers in Auckland think they have misread that, Baker didn't say, "It's a tight call, but on balance… ." The Professor said it's "hard to imagine any justification." Forget the hospitality businesses going to the wall. Or the hairdressers, beauticians and gym-owners defaulting on their mortgages. Read more

Kiwis desperate for a clear path forward on border restrictions last Friday had their hopes dashed. Those living in Auckland are no closer to knowing whether they will be allowed out of New Zealand's largest city for the Christmas break. Read more

If Auckland takes the full eight weeks to work its way through the Government’s “three-step plan” for Alert Level 3, 1.6 million Kiwis will have endured one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns for more than half a year. Seven-and-a-half weeks at Levels 3 and 4 in March and April last year. Read more

As my hometown enters its 19th week of lockdown with no end in sight, it’s easy to feel a bit hard done by. But every pandemic has its silver lining. Read more

"For every economist, there exists an equal and opposite economist." Or so satirists of the economics profession claim. The truth is most economists agree on most of economics. Read more

The vaccination phase of the Covid pandemic raises some tricky conflicts. The Government is reluctant to make vaccinations compulsory. Read more

Until a little over a year ago, questioning the Ministry of Health's handling of the pandemic was tantamount to heresy. The country had just celebrated 100 days without a case of Covid in the community. Read more

Unless you're reversing, the rear-view mirror won't help you navigate the conditions in front of you. Instead, you must look ahead. Read more

In 1870, British Prime Minister William Gladstone up-ended Britain’s civil service. Instead of officials being appointed by politicians following changes of government, Gladstone’s reforms introduced a permanent, politically independent public service. Read more

Readers of this column will be only too well aware why the Government’s proposals to return to compulsory, occupation-wide collective bargaining (misleadingly dubbed “Fair Pay Agreements”) will damage New Zealand’s already fragile productivity growth. The evidence is set out in black and white in The New Zealand Initiative’s 2019 report, Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour. Read more