Housing is shaping up to be one of the key battlegrounds in next year's election. Both National and Labour correctly sense that voters - particularly in Auckland, but in other parts of the country as well - are sufficiently fed up with the situation, and want to see the state step in and take action. Read more
The biggest surprise announcement out of Labour’s conference last weekend was the proposal to establish KiwiAssure, a new state-owned insurance company. Speaking to his party’s delegates, opposition leader David Cunliffe argued KiwiAssure would inject more competition into the insurance market. Read more
In his book, The Great Degeneration, Niall Ferguson describes how the West’s six ‘killer applications’ (competition, science, property rights, medicine, consumerism, and work ethic) are on the decline. "Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Read more
Last week the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union was launched, with a purpose as challenging as its name. Claiming the term ‘union’ is a smart move strategically. Read more
Last week, just as I was about to board my early morning flight to Auckland, I ran into the US Ambassador to New Zealand. An ex-commercial lawyer, he is a witty and clever man who usually does not mind a joke. Read more
Businesses know the value of diversity in the workplace, but this potential is hard to realise when some minority groups are grossly under-represented in successful endeavour. Why are some minority groups the majority when it comes to educational failure, unemployment, and crime, to name a few? Read more
Fire the over-priced policy analysts, number crunchers and economics whizzes, because I’ve solved the housing affordability crisis. The solution is obvious: we need to ban home improvement shows. Read more
This week a friend attended a parent-teacher interview to discuss her 6-year-old daughter’s progress in school. The teacher started off not with reading, writing, or maths, but with a comment on her character that would puff up any parent’s chest with pride: her daughter is a delight to have in the classroom. Read more
It is unreasonable to ask investors to risk their capital on start-up or research and development funding without offering them a return commensurate with that risk. And yet, this is precisely how the current government framework for funding start-ups and research grants is structured. Read more
When it became known that the US secret service successfully tapped the mobile phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel, this made international headlines last week. Rightly so – but not just because this is the latest revelation in the wake of Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing on the activities of the National Security Agency. Read more
When people meet under Chatham House rules, you cannot disclose afterwards who said what. That's the drawback. Read more
Can representative democracy survive the 21st century? According to Leon de Winter, the Dutch novelist and intellectual, the chances are not too good. Read more
Can representative democracy survive in the 21st century? According to Leon de Winter, the Dutch novelist and intellectual, the chances are not too good. Read more