We just don’t know how lucky we are to live in New Zealand. In Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, John Watson decided that the world had gone mad when he found instructions on the side of a packet of toothpicks. Read more
A country is going to the polls. The economy is doing well. Read more
Ending child poverty is the entire reason Jacinda Ardern got into politics. When Ardern announced in Monday's debate that she would march in the streets to end homelessness, it wasn't a political platitude. Read more
Everything in moderation. In the constantly-changing world of pop-health stories it is hard to know whether that axiom remains good health advice. Read more
Imagine if no one had to pay for anything. Wouldn’t that be nice? Read more
Quidquid agis prudenter agas et respice finem. Whatever you do, do it wisely and consider the end, a famous Latin proverb reminds us. Read more
To get the right answers you have to ask the right questions. If you do not, chances are you will not discover everything you need to know. Read more
The thing I miss least about being in academia is the administration. I don’t mean faculty governance – it is important that academics be involved in that lest everything be taken over by the administrators. Read more
You read it here first folks: we are one election bribe away from paying couples to procreate. Forget what you might have heard about personal responsibility and that you shouldn't have children you can't afford. Read more
A hard task for government is getting the books in order after a recession. A harder task is choosing how best to distribute tax revenue once stability is restored. Read more
Our executive director at the New Zealand Initiative, Oliver Hartwich, has always had a strange antique monkey’s paw on his desk. I never thought much of it – perhaps a bit creepy but maybe it’s normal for Germans. Read more
Last time you booked a hotel or restaurant, you may well have checked it out on TripAdvisor first. Whatever your price bracket, if a place was rated below about a three out of five, then the chances are you’ll have discounted it. Read more
Nearly a decade ago, I first encountered millennials’ strange fascination with avocados. A younger colleague in Sydney often prepared her office lunch with fresh avocado, spread thick across a slice of bread. Read more
Sensible and drugs. Two words that used to be unlikely bedfellows. Read more
To start this column with a disclaimer, I greatly respect Labour’s candidate for Ōhāriu, Greg O’Connor. Perhaps it is because the former Police Association president’s views remind me of my father, who was also a copper. Read more