The four months before an election aren’t great for those who care about good policy. Politicians’ competence at other times is questionable. Read more
This week, the results of the ninth round of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were released. PISA enables countries to track their educational performance over time. Read more
“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods,” H.L. Mencken wrote in 1936. Read more
The Greens want to buy 120 supermarkets and a couple of distribution centres for $2.8 billion, which one analysis puts at a saving of $68 a household a year. Oliver and Damien ask what nationalisation would actually deliver, and why New Zealand First is proposing something similar for the BNZ. Read more
Two speeches from the Crown’s most senior lawyers over the past month have answered a question that should never have been in doubt: Who makes the law? Attorney-General Chris Bishop spoke to the Law Association on 6 August. Read more
In this episode, Michael talks to Kevin Donnelly, an Australian educator and author who co-chaired the review of Australia's national curriculum. They discuss why schools across the Anglosphere turned away from knowledge-rich teaching in the 1970s and 1980s. Read more
Retired Major General John Howard joined Susana Lei'ataua on RNZ to discuss the current Geopolitical climate. Tensions in the Middle East have escalated again, with the US military announcing it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for an attempted Iranian attack on a US Navy warship. Read more
Following the AfD's near-44% result in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, our Executive Director Oliver Hartwich joined Katie Bradford on Ryan Bridges TODAY to unpack what it means for German and European politics. He noted the result reflects a genuine national trend, not just an eastern German quirk, the AfD is currently polling around 29% nationally, well ahead of the CDU and SPD, as Germany's mainstream parties lose ground. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks to John Howard, senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, about the CIA director's public visit to Moscow and what it says about the security of Western Europe. They also discuss Germany's decision to name Russia over the drone attack on Leipzig Airport, the vote for Russia-friendly parties in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the stalled Middle East conflict and its consequences for New Zealand's fuel supplies, and the new Cook Islands port deal. Read more
It does not happen often that I set my alarm to just before 4am to watch the results come in from a provincial election in Germany. But that is what I did yesterday for Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany’s east. Read more
In April 1901, a Bavarian immigrant baker named Joseph Lochner was arrested in Utica, New York. Unlike the larger bakeries, which worked two shifts, Lochner employed a single crew: his bakers arrived in the evening, prepared the dough, slept a few hours on the premises and baked before dawn. Read more
For young people, contemplating career options can be bewildering. It can be hard even to know what opportunities are available. Read more
Paul Henry is standing for ACT and Taine Randell for New Zealand First. Oliver and Damien ask whether celebrity candidates actually win votes, and why New Zealand tends to produce the reverse, politicians who become famous through politics. Read more
Imagine two paddocks at the edge of a city. They have the same soil and access to the same roads and pipes. Read more
Voting opens today in the most important election of 2026. And no, this is not the General Election. Read more