Any cat owner will tell you that cats are magnificent and regal creatures, descended from royalty and that they deserve to be treated like nothing less. Those cat owners are, of course, deluded. Read more
If you are familiar with British popular history, you may recall this incident from the winter of 1991. A severe weather system had crippled British Rail’s services, despite the company’s claimed best preparations for snow and ice. Read more
You have to feel sorry for Prime Minister Bill English. Though he inherited a largely positive legacy from his predecessor, his young premiership is also saddled with the two large failures of the Key era: our out-of-control housing market and Key’s refusal to deal with NZ Super. Read more
According to Oscar Wilde, “religion is like a blind man looking in a black room for a black cat that isn’t there, and finding it”. Well, in a way that is almost the definition of teacher quality. Read more
Official Briefings for Incoming Ministers should be worth reading. For a start, they should brief the new Minister about current issues and priorities. Read more
Contrary to media reports, a new study by policy thinktank the NZ Initiative does not recommend performance pay for high achieving teachers, says its author Martine Udahemuka. But still, she asks, shouldn’t parents and educators at least be having the conversation? Read more
If migrants are generally good for New Zealand and already contribute substantially to the public purse, why on earth would The New Zealand Initiative have suggested a levy on new migrants? The Initiative’s report on immigration, The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis, finds that New Zealand’s current immigration system is broadly successful but some tweaks could be worth considering. Read more
What I really love about the rest of the world is that as it gets crazier, we stay the same sane. Or at least mostly so. Read more
This week brought furore over the thirteen thousand (or so) youths neither in education, employment or training. Employers complained of difficulty finding suitable candidates who can pass a drug test. Read more
Resistance to the social bonds pilot has essentially boxed Labour and the Greens into a corner. Social bonds (or Social Impact Bonds as they are known internationally), after all, have traditionally been introduced by left-wing governments. Read more
Microsoft founder Bill Gates copped a lot of criticism for demanding an income tax for robots. That is unfair. Read more
For every complex problem there is always an easy solution – neat, plausible, and wrong. Or so once quipped HL Mencken, the American journalist, satirist and scholar. Read more
There was a dirt road north of our old farm in Manitoba. Grass grew on the hump between the wheel tracks. Read more
There is not much in this world that people agree on. But one philosophy we at the Initiative hope remains uncontroversial is that improving access to quality education will create a better New Zealand. Read more
Economist and commentator Shamubeel Eaqub recently wrote an impassioned column, urging experts to bridge the communication gap lest the disaster of majoritarian rule ensue. Undercutting his piece was the message that if experts just used smaller words, or spoke slower, disasters like the Global Financial Crisis and Brexit could have been avoided. Read more