Reports & Media

As US military strategist John Boyd said about his “OODA loop” theory (observe, orient, decide, act), if one’s orientation is out by just a millimetre, the entire strategy fails. A new site called mediabias.co.nz measures the political bias of New Zealand news services and it shows those worried about media bias are worried about the wrong thing. Read more

It all finally started coming together in the 2021 Budget. The pieces existed before it, but nobody had put them together. Read more

Voters rewarded the Coalition Government for saving lives as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. Now the new Government must save livelihoods. Read more

All eyes are on New Zealand. In the lead-up to the election, Time magazine admired our "calmer democracy." The World Health Organisation once again praised our Covid-19 management. Read more

A distinct advantage that the bench sciences and medical sciences have over the social sciences is the ability to run experiments. If a clinician wants to run a trial to check whether a new drug might work, the regulatory hurdles can be substantial, but the trial is certainly possible. Read more

The sense of relief was palpable as the long election campaign finally ended. It is even better that the result delivered a clear mandate without the need of compromises, deal-making and brinkmanship. Read more

Winston Peters will exit politics for the third time in his career. I spotted his ghost at Parliament the other day. Read more

In 2018, the Labour-led Government proudly released its first wellbeing budget. It would be great if Labour uses its second term to truly focus on wellbeing. Read more

Fresh numbers show the Labour-led administration was a big spender even before Covid-19 and New Zealand incomes overall in 2025 might be less than in 2019. Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published its forecasts out to 2025. Read more

Once upon a time, Boris Johnson scored an emphatic election victory. It delivered him an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons, and it was won on a promise: To sort out Brexit. Read more

Election campaigns are strange times. There can be a lot of talk about policy, but the real policy apparatus of government goes into limbo. Read more