As the anniversary of the first Covid lockdown approached, the Ministry of Health had some time on its hands. It had issued a new consultation paper and was looking for feedback. Read more
Today, the New Zealand Initiative launches a new report on a powerful social services innovation: personal budgets. The idea is simple. Read more
The blackout which affected thousands of North Island households two weeks ago was shocking in part because blackouts have become so rare. Keeping the lights on requires an almost perfect balance of electricity supplied to and taken from the grid every second of every day. Read more
Germany will go to the polls on September 26. But that is about the only thing you can count on. Read more
An independent review of the Overseer farm management tool concluded that the software package is far from ideal for Council water quality management. Providing a relatively coarse view of nutrient loss from farms, Overseer can help farms in improving on-farm practice. Read more
The Euro 2020 football tournament will be remembered for the trophy not coming home. But before England fell agonisingly at the last hurdle, the headlines were focused on the actions of Portuguese football superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. Read more
Events have rather overtaken last week’s blackout. The outage on the evening of 9 August left 35,000 households in the dark for up to two hours on the coldest night of the year. Read more
The best option in a bad state of the world is not going to be great. But taking it up is still the best response – while working to reduce the risk of it happening again. Read more
Something always allocates. When anything is relatively scarce, something has to decide how the scarce thing is used: who gets it, who doesn’t, and what might encourage more of the scarce thing to be provided. Read more
It was a small achievement but one that made climate change minister James Shaw proud. Last week, Wellington’s CentrePort deployed its first seven all-electric container movers. Read more
Today is a special anniversary. On this day, 60 years ago, the Berlin Wall was built. Read more
What is the most successful Volkswagen (VW) model? No, it is not the Golf, not the Tiguan and not the all-electric ID.3. Read more
There is a lot of distance yet to cover from here to December’s completion of the adult vaccine roll-out – and far more distance still until the pandemic ends. But the government’s announcement this week of the intended path forward was welcome. Read more
Writing this ‘Spotlight on Europe’ column every fortnight is a rare luxury. It allows me to reflect on anything interesting about Europe these days. Read more
A Berkeley professor once said that if you are Minister of the Environment, you are eventually Minister of Everything. The professor’s prediction is set to become real if the government’s Natural and Built Environments Act, or “NBA,” passes in anything like its current form. Read more