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
Two proposed taxes - on petrol and water - in her first week could have voters believing the new Leader of the Opposition has something against fluids. Any such fears, though, should have been relieved when Jacinda Ardern sent a tweet last week showing the contents of her liquor cabinet rival Winston Peters’. Read more
When Aesop told the fable of the Four Oxen and the Lion, and uttered the famous phrase “United we stand, divided we fall,” I doubt he was thinking about the plight of recreational fishers. But, as with any good fable, this lesson nevertheless holds true. Read more
I was nearly ready to blame the Government for all the things wrong with the country. But then at the weekend National kindly helped me to figure out which scapegoat deserves to be the target of my ire. Read more
Elon Musk, of Paypal and Tesla fame, is boring a tunnel under Los Angeles. Musk believes he will be able to transport cars between L.A.’s West Coast and centre in five minutes. Read more
In ancient Greek, a dogma was something that simply seemed to be true. Today, of course, it has a more absolute meaning. Read more
The Prime Minister had the “personality of a rock”. The Minister of Health was “Dr Death”. Read more
As loyal readers might be aware, The New Zealand Initiative has long been concerned that there is a real scandal in New Zealand education. Some of our most vulnerable kids are leaving school without the skills they need to get ahead in life. Read more