Last week’s UNICEF report on child wellbeing gets one big thing very right. Important parts of government policy are failing children. Read more
When you think of Sweden, does Abba come to mind? What about meatballs or furniture stores? Read more
It wasn’t that long after the Christchurch earthquakes that the calls for rent control came. The earthquakes had destroyed thousands and thousands of homes. Read more
Politicians like shovelling out money for shovel-ready projects. But let’s call a spade a spade: When push comes to shovel, it does not matter if projects are ready. Read more
Some countries have clear advantages during a pandemic. For instance, New Zealand is surrounded by a thousand-kilometre moat. Read more
If we take one overarching political lesson from the Government’s “shovel-ready” spending fiasco and the school of environmental voodoo, it’s this: Principles are dangerous things. It’s best not to have them. Read more
Cartography geeks might remember the isochronic maps of the late 19th and early 20th century. Covid’s time-warp is making them relevant again, and possibly for rather longer than we might hope. Read more
The Covid-19 crisis can be summed up in one word: uncertainty. Practically everything about this crisis is uncertain: whether there will be a vaccine; whether the virus will mutate and how; the true fatality rate; and the long-term health damage in survivors. Read more
Hey there, humans! It’s no wonder you’re dog's best friend. Read more
Walking around central Wellington, more shops are boarded up. On Lambton Quay, two bank branches recently disappeared. Read more
In mid-April, German sewerage experts were allowed through New Zealand’s tightly controlled border with the country still locked down at Alert Level 4. At the time, Wellington ratepayers were paying nearly $100,000 a day to ferry wastewater by truck from the city's Moa Point treatment plant to a landfill. Read more
A newspaper recently asked if the average Kiwi can live on a Covid-19 wage subsidy of $585 a week. Unsurprisingly, it found this would be difficult, particularly in Auckland where the average weekly expense for a couple with two children is about $2000. Read more
Unless you closely follow German politics, the name Karl Josef Laumann would mean nothing. And even if you are vaguely familiar with German federal politics, you also will not know much about the Health Minister in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW). Read more
Should a convicted fraudster be allowed to work as an insolvency practitioner? If your spontaneous answer is “no way!”, then you agree with the board of RITANZ, the professional body for insolvency practitioners. Read more
For those who care about New Zealanders’ wellbeing, the central issue is if the benefits of any given level of lockdown plausibly exceed the costs. About four months ago, I calculated it might be worth sacrificing 6.1% of one year of New Zealand’s GDP if doing so was sure to permanently avoid 33,600 Covid deaths. Read more