OPINION

The United Nations Environmental Programme’s latest Emissions Gap Report was called “No more hot air … please!” Yesterday, I joined a panel at the Climate Change & Business Conference to talk about New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution – our NDC. Under the Paris Agreement, countries must produce targets for emission reductions, set policies consistent with their targets, and report on their progress. Read more

In November 2023, National, Act, and New Zealand First announced the coalition agreements that formed their government. One item stood out, at least for me. Read more

Tell someone in an Auckland café that the economy is booming and they will laugh. Unemployment in the city is 6.1 per cent. Read more

When housing policy is split among more than six ministers, who is responsible when the affordability crisis drags on year after year? The Minister of Housing? Read more

When Woolworths wanted to build a new supermarket in Christchurch, it took them four years and $3 million just to get permission. Did you know it takes an average of 18 months and costs $1 million to get permission to build a supermarket? Read more

Douglas Adams, despite being very highly rated, remains underrated. His Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a masterpiece. Read more

New Zealand has built one of the most complex executive governments in the developed world. With 81 ministerial portfolios spread across 28 ministers and 43 departments, we operate with more than three times as many ministerial portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as peer nations like Ireland, Norway and Singapore. Read more

Fifteen years ago, as Greece teetered on debt default, I started covering European affairs in my columns. Readers may remember the emergency summits, riots in Athens, and financial bailouts from 2009 to 2012. Read more

In my last Insights column, I explained what grade inflation is and why it’s bad. I also surveyed research showing that grade inflation is a problem at universities in the US, the UK, and Australia. Read more

When council rates rise at five times the rate of inflation, while water pipes burst and potholes multiply, something has gone very wrong. Council rates jumped 12% last year, the steepest increase in decades, and will on average increase 9% this year. Read more

Auckland desperately needs homes. Under thirties are giving up on finding homes while politicians promise solutions. Read more

At universities across the English-speaking world, grades have been going up. At US colleges, As (A+, A or A-) are now the most common grade. Read more

Last week, New Zealand’s Reserve Bank (RBNZ) cut interest rates to 3.0 percent. The government was quick to take the credit. Read more

When a constitutional law professor warns of “dangerous foes” threatening New Zealand’s legal system, you might expect concern about genuinely destabilising forces – political interference with judicial independence, or threats to the rule of law itself. You would be wrong. Read more

“Artificial unintelligence more like it.” So declared a reader of The Australian after one of my recent columns on artificial intelligence. Another chimed in with this observation: ‘AI can NOT work out what is a Spam or Phishing E-Mail, something that a human can do at just a glance.’ I stared at these comments, genuinely bewildered. Read more