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American businessman Bert Lance is credited with popularising the phrase, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Lee served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He would have scratched his head at Labour back-bencher Duncan Webb’s Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill. Read more

A week is not just a long time in politics. It is a long time for democracy. Read more

A few years ago, the Prime Minister visiting foreign countries would have barely been news. However, after two years of borders closed because of Covid, Jacinda Ardern’s trip to Singapore and Japan is more than just noteworthy. Read more

At the general election in 2023, New Zealand will mark 30 years and ten elections since it adopted the Mixed-Member Proportional Representation (MMP) electoral system. A criticism of MMP is that the party list system allows party hierarchies essentially to appoint their apparatchiks to parliament. Read more

They may not know it, but unsuspecting Kiwis will soon be protected from unregistered log traders and forestry advisers. What a relief that should be. Read more

This government is teaching us many things. One is that it and its supporters have no quarrel with governments that steam-roll radical reforms through parliament. Read more

Governments like scapegoats. A good scapegoat can take the blame for something that is a government’s fault. Read more

Ten years ago, I had the privilege of launching The New Zealand Initiative. I believed then and believe more firmly now that New Zealand needs institutions independent of government and the public purse to broaden and deepen our intellectual life. Read more