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Left-wing blog The Standard veered beyond its usual polemic last week with a guest post that painstakingly laid out how Auckland Council had spent $1.24 billion on a new IT system with little to show for it so far. The piece, written in response to Bernard Orsman’s scoop in the New Zealand Herald, was notable for its familiarity with major IT project processes, and how far Auckland Council had strayed from industry best practice. Read more

Have I really been wrong about gangs all this time? I’d thought their main line of work was almost legitimate. Read more

The festive season is well behind us, but this week I feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas. Like the Yuletide, this strikes annually. Read more

Last week, I wrote about the political implications of the UK’s forthcoming referendum on EU membership (Cameron’s gamble could destroy his premiership — and the EU, 25 February 2016). Today, let’s take a closer look at what the British are voting on … and why your columnist is not sure what to wish for. Read more

Eight reasons why a Trump presidency may not be as bad as you imagine. Don’t get me wrong: it could, and likely will, still all go horribly, horribly wrong. Read more

The old human sciences building on the grounds of the University of Auckland was affectionately known among my peers as The Dungeon. With its dingy basement corridors and eerie acoustics, it stood in stark contrast to the more recently-constructed business school, a colossal, contemporary glass structure. Read more

When David Cameron promised a referendum on his country’s membership of the EU, the British Prime Minister probably hoped he would never have to hold it. That was his first miscalculation. Read more

Reading the headlines, you might think the world is going to hell in a handcart. Once again there is carnage in global financial markets. Read more

Blaming the thug for punching you is only one way of looking at things. After all, if a thug’s punch flies in the forest and your face is not there to meet it, there really is no problem at all. Read more

“Will capitalism and globalisation survive the next Global Financial Crisis?” That was the question I put to a panel of international investment strategists at a PortfolioConstruction Forum conference in Sydney this week. To be more accurate, I only passed it on. Read more