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There was a line that made the rounds when Donald Trump first campaigned to be president: his promises should be taken seriously but not literally. Last week, New Zealand First promised that, from 2029, only citizens would be able to collect superannuation. Read more

Two speeches from the Crown’s most senior lawyers over the past month have answered a question that should never have been in doubt: Who makes the law? Attorney-General Chris Bishop spoke to the Law Association on 6 August. Read more

What is politics? According to Max Weber’s classic definition, politics is “a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” Having worked around politics for over two decades has given me a good idea of what Weber meant by that. Read more

Most news clips from Parliament are from Question Time. It is at least as much performance theatre as a mechanism for holding government to account. Read more

In November 2018, officials at Immigration New Zealand began work on replacing the ageing biometric systems that verify identities and manage immigration risk. Seven years later it was dead, having delivered no measurable benefit. Read more

A fortnight ago, the government agreed a sale worth $702 million. Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop sold the loans the Crown made to Chorus to help build the ultrafast broadband network, for $60 million above book value. Read more

On my first morning as Prime Minister, I would deliver a speech. It would contain no slogans or platitudes about becoming the best country in the world. Read more