It is hard enough to understand the Germans in the best of times. Yet, in these times of crisis and war, even a native speaker may find it difficult to comprehend them. Read more
When the government says reducing living costs is its highest priority, it seems a bit crazy to impose punitive anti-dumping duties on imports. And yet, here we are. Read more
At 11:59pm on Sunday, submissions close on Environment Minister David Parker’s Natural and Built Environment Bill. One minute to midnight on the Sunday of Waitangi weekend is a strange deadline for submissions on a once-in-a-generation proposal to reform the Resource Management Act. Read more
For all those who were hoping that the state would finally get tough on hate, the government’s dialling down of its ambitious hate speech reforms must have come as a crushing disappointment. All is not lost, though. Read more
A logical fallacy is an invalid element in an argument. There are many kinds of fallacies. Read more
As readers of The Australian will be aware, New Zealand has a new prime minister. The new man, Chris Hipkins, has seemingly signalled a move away from the identity politics beloved of Ardern. Read more
There’s a special kind of mental contortion that seems required in politics. A politician has to be able to hold mutually inconsistent beliefs in their head and not notice that they don’t really work well together. Read more
New Zealand’s education system is in a state of deep malaise. For more than two decades, the literacy and numeracy achievement of our young people has been declining. Read more
When the government broke for the summer, Prime Minister Ardern told her Cabinet to cut its legislative cloth to suit the government’s election-year capacity. The government was attempting complex reform of the resource management system, council water infrastructure, and the entire health system. Read more
Hate speech is back on the Parliamentary agenda for 2023. Justice Minister Kiri Allan’s slimmed down reform proposals are expected to pass into law before the election. Read more
Going public with a complaint against your employer is always difficult. But enough is enough. Read more
New Zealand is small and relatively young, but it has a rich history that can help us think through today’s problems. Unfortunately, we often ignore the lessons of the past. This historical amnesia has a cost, even if it is difficult to quantify. Read more
I hated sitting exams at school and university. I would break out in sweats and get the shakes. Read more
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 31, 2022 Updated Jan 19, 2023 It is tempting to look at the usual economic indicators when evaluating a government’s performance at the end of a Prime Minister’s run ... employment, growth, inflation, and maybe the exchange rate. Read more
FIRST PUBLISHED OCT 31, 2022 Updated Jan 19, 2023 Jacinda Ardern swept to office in 2017 on the back of public anger over New Zealand’s long-simmering housing crisis. Rightly or wrongly, there was a perception that the previous National government had failed to address the problem. Read more