The stand-off between teachers and politicians over the introduction of national standards in schools is simply a side-show in a much bigger struggle over who controls the country’s education system
The idea of setting and measuring standards in schools is seductively simple, so why is it proving so difficult?
Prime Minister John Key promises to be more open about the special operations role of NZSAS troop in Aghanistan. So, what do you really need to know?
The Prime Minister’s announcement last week came with an important caveat.
War hero Willie Apiata is back on the frontline. New Zealand troops are armed with so-called “Jesus guns”. Our troops are training Afghan soldiers and police in counter-insurgency operations. Now, why shouldn’t we know that?
The healthiest development of this month has been the sudden emergence of some real public debate about our military involvement in Afghanistan.
The saga of Prince William’s encounters with the natives of New Zealand during his first Royal overseas mission – to open one of the world’s ugliest buildings
It is a fair bet that Prince William’s memories of his first official Royal visit will endure almost as long as the plaque he unveiled at the new Supreme Court building in our capital.
Last time Hillary Clinton cornered a New Zealand politician she got what she wanted: 71 Kiwi SAS troops for special operations in Afghanistan. So what does she really, really want this time?
US Secretaries for State do not travel for fun.
Forget Copenhagen. The next target for international climate change activism is Wellington. This week’s protests in the capital are just a warm-up for the big event in March
The largely abortive United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen produced one step forward in the battle to counter global warming: an agreement by 20 member nations to form a Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Emissions.
Sexual molestation rituals … illegal brothel visits … drunken brawls … unauthorized “cowboy” missions. That’s life for New Zealanders in the private security unit set up to guard the US Embassy in Kabul.
This is one story from Afghanistan that seems made for New Zealand's bigger media organisations, but once more they seem to be missing
Situation Normal – All Fouled Up. That sums up the current state of Rodney Hide’s plans to turn Auckland into New Zealand’s first super city as the citizens start wondering what happened to the local in local government
The year 2009 must be shaping up as one of the worst in Rodney Hide’s life. The most overworked word in his current vocabulary is “sorry”. Sorry about charging people $45 a head to hear me speak as Minister for Local Government.
The shameful saga of New Zealand’s leaky homes keeps dragging on—while more than 40,000 people sit in homes that are rotting away because of flawed law, lax regulation, and shoddy design and building practices in the 1990s
Labour, National, local government, and the building industry share the blame for the country’s shameful leaky homes saga. It is time they shared the cost.
New Zealand has quietly raised four crucial human rights issues with Afghanistan. But what happens if President Karzai’s new government fails to respond?
The New Zealand government has been raising critical human rights issues during the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s periodic review of Afghanistan this year. Until now, they have escaped media attention in this country.
