Search

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Even still, it is hard to see how policy could be less friendly to entry by grocers like Aldi or Lidl if it were intentional. Read more

According to Greek legend, the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature with three heads. It is usually depicted as a lion with the head of a goat protruding from its back and a tail with the head of a snake. Read more

No one likes to spend their precious Saturday morning waiting for the train. But that is exactly what residents of northern Germany were forced to endure in early October, after cables needed to operate the trains were cut. Read more

At about three in the morning, three days after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, our family got into the car. Power and water had been out at our South New Brighton home since Tuesday’s earthquake. Read more

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is often only after time passes that one realises what one should have done differently. Read more

If you want to know the effects of small changes to tax rates or tax thresholds on government revenue, Treasury provides a handy calculator. But the calculator breaks if you ask it to tell you the effects of inflation on tax revenues since April 2021, when the new 39% tax rate came in. Read more

No one can doubt the importance of military credibility in deterring hostile aggressors. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, even a pacifist post-World War II Germany and the previously neutral Nordic countries have learned that lesson. Read more