Every three years, this wonderful country with its friendly people goes nuts. It gets itself into a state of frenzy that it normally reserves for rugby world cups. Read more
Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders fish each year. Fishing is integral to the Kiwi way of life. Read more
For some pundits, elections are magical times in which pundits’ favourite policy hobby-horses transform into the election-winning platform for any party that might listen. I will recommend something a little different for Labour’s incoming leader. Read more
You may not have read Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard but you probably know the novel’s most famous line, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” To change things so they can stay the same – that is the gist of our new fisheries report The Future Catch. We released it for consultation on Tuesday. Read more
We probably all remember those school exams in which we desperately tried to copy the answers from our much better neighbours. Ahem, I meant of course we all remember those school exams in which our struggling neighbours desperately tried to copy from us. Read more
With the selection of Jacinda Ardern as Labour's new leader, New Zealand's election has become more exciting and much harder to predict. But beyond our own domestic politics, it is not clear how it fits into the global state of Centre-Left politics. Read more
The announcement of a new way of funding urban infrastructure is a bit like announcing a way of clearing that first big slip on the road from Kaikoura to Blenheim. It’s an important and necessary start but it is only a start. Read more
If you are a regular Insights reader, you will know that housing has been a key issue for the Initiative since we started in 2012. In our reports, speeches and opinion pieces we have repeatedly made the case for reforms to planning, local government and infrastructure finance. Read more
Are Aesop’s fables, such as “The Ant and the Grasshopper” still taught to school children? When winter arrives the industrious and thrifty ant refuses to share its food with the hungry grasshopper who had frivolously spent the summer singing. Read more
The Whanganui District Council has taken the bold step of banning the use of electronic cigarettes (vaping) in public areas. Experts recognise that vaping is a much safer alternative to smoking and has been a critical factor in helping people quit. Read more
Peter Jackson took a few liberties with Tolkien’s text for the Lord of the Rings films. Most of them, I didn’t like. But one addition I rather liked came at the start. Read more
Should you be familiar with German children’s literature, you would have encountered a curious character: the illusory giant (Scheinriese). In the works of Michael Ende, best known for his The Never-Ending Story, there is a fearsome giant called Herr Tur Tur. Read more
If your main exposure to economics is hearing bank economists talk on morning radio, you might not have the most accurate picture of what economists do. Trying to guess what interest rates might do, or telling stories about the latest moves in the stock market, are not really what economics is about. Read more
“Who will guard the guards themselves?” Plato asked in the Republic in 380BC. More than two millennia later, well-armed regulatory agencies, instead of armies, wield many of the powers of the state. Read more
Andrew Little has drawn a line in the sand. He has condemned the “blowhard” politics of Winston Peters, and has made it clear this election will not be fought on swinging - um - personalities. Read more