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Mike Smith, the climate activist suing six of New Zealand’s largest companies over greenhouse gas emissions, is unhappy. On Tuesday, the Government announced it will amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to stop cases like his and others like it. Read more

This week, the Government moved to reassert Parliament’s authority over the courts. Two years ago, in Smith v Fonterra, the Supreme Court revived a climate change claim the Court of Appeal had unanimously struck out. Read more

Something happened in law schools in the closing decades of the twentieth century. It did not make the headlines. Read more

Critics of judicial overreach face an odd challenge. The most sophisticated response is not to defend the decisions – it is to deny that the constitutional limits exist at all. Read more

I was born in West Germany in 1975. Yes, it was still West Germany then. Read more

Imagine a system in which those who understand it best see a problem developing – slowly, incrementally, case by case – but choose not to say so publicly. Not because they are forbidden to speak. Read more

Donald Trump promised the Iranian people their hour of freedom had arrived. Ten days later, the dead Supreme Leader’s son sits in his father’s chair, the Revolutionary Guard is still fighting, the Strait of Hormuz is closed, oil spiked above $100 a barrel and seven Americans are dead. Read more

On 5 February 2026, Donald Trump stood before the National Prayer Breakfast. The room was full of the faithful – pastors, politicians, and conservative leaders who had long believed that America’s renewal required a strong hand. Read more

Imagine Parliament passes a Schools Act “to promote the establishment of schools for the benefit of New Zealand.” Parliament is careful. It specifies exactly what the Minister must consider before approving a new school: the operator’s financial capability, site safety, compliance history, and consultation with local iwi. Read more