The year is AD2022. The West is united against its many foes. Read more
In Douglas Adams’s classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Wonko the Sane realised that the world had gone mad. He had seen the instructions on the side of a packet of toothpicks. Read more
We all know the old joke that an economist would look for his keys under a lamp post not because that’s where he’d dropped them, but because that’s where the light is. But sometimes new lamp posts add the necessary extra bit of illumination. Read more
Historians can be a tedious bunch. As someone who frequently hijacks dinner parties with history lectures, I would know. Read more
Welcome to a new term at the University of Niceness. You may notice a few new things about the place, starting with our name. Read more
Our young adults are having a rough time of it at the moment. They have, perhaps more than any other age demographic, been impacted by COVID lockdowns. Read more
A little more than half a year after New Zealand Labour came to power in 2017, Education Minister Chris Hipkins held two education summits. There were 1,400 people at the Auckland and Christchurch events, which cost NZ$3.1 million to run. Read more
In 2010, the National-led government launched a rather substantial experiment. Auckland City’s smaller councils were forced to amalgamate into a supercity structure. Read more
The Initiative’s reports often attract media attention. Nothing, however, could have prepared us for the storm following the release of How central bank mistakes after 2019 led to inflation. Read more
It isn’t crazy to claim that New Zealand’s school system lacks ambition. Or, if it is, our shop has been crazy for a while. Read more
The chickens of negligence have come home to roost – but they’re not welcome in the Henhouse of Education. As we wrote in Insights last week, in a pilot of new literacy and numeracy assessments for NCEA, only two thirds of assessed students met a basic standard of adult numeracy and reading ability. Read more
Whiplash occurs when the body is moving fast in one direction and is abruptly jerked back in the opposite direction. It can be very painful, lethal even. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative recently commented on a pilot of new reading, writing and numeracy assessments for NCEA. Just a third of students participating in the pilot met the standard for writing. Read more
Since 2019, central banks have presided over perhaps the largest monetary stimulus the world has ever seen. Despite this, the surge in inflation surprised them. Read more
It is summer in Germany, and traditionally that is not good news. Or rather, it is not a good time for news. Read more