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In the Prime Minister’s recent State of the Nation speech that marked the starting line of this year’s election race, John Key’s major announcement was a $360m package, over four years, to build four new teacher roles. A policy that has seen widespread support across the education sector and among the public, it would see the promotion of 6,000 teachers in a workforce of 50,000. Read more

When the Prime Minister delivered his State of the Nation speech last week, the ideas on education reform were bold and substantial. Even the teachers’ unions, not the government’s most natural ally, were impressed. Read more

Coming up with careful policy in an election year is a bit like turning up to Mardi Gras in a business suit. After all, it is supposed to be a time for political parties to woo the public with their most extravagant and colourful policies. Read more

For a long time, the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, has enjoyed a reputation as Europe’s eternal naysayer. Whatever measures were being discussed to save the euro or revive the European economy, the Bundesbank was usually opposed – and increasingly isolated. Read more

Consider this. New Zealand has sound institutional arrangements and according to the OECD, best practice policy settings. Read more

Examining housing affordability in New Zealand can be an engrossing activity involving quantitative research, modelling and fact-based analysis. As such, it is easy to forget how emotionally appealing the cult of the compact city can be. Read more

It was sad to see not one but two Interislander ferries docked in Wellington Harbour last weekend. But should that really make it a political issue? Read more

The European debt and growth crisis has seemingly divided the continent into saints and sinners. On the one hand, there are the profligate, lazy, unproductive countries of the European periphery, unflatteringly abbreviated as the PIIGS. Read more

When 2,300 business leaders and government officials met for the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong this week, they were asked to vote on what they saw as the greatest threat to the world economy. Opinions were divided between troubles in emerging markets (52 per cent) and the withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve (32 per cent). Read more

This year may not turn out to be a historic year for Europe but one thing is certain: it will be a year full of historical commemorations. All in one, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the 75th anniversary of the Second World War, the centenary of the First World War – and the 5th year of the euro crisis. Read more

A week is a long time in politics, as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said. He may well have been right when he coined this phrase in the 1960s. Read more

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A week is a long time in politics, as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said. He may well have been right when he coined this phrase in the 1960s. Read more