Could immigration policy save the French incumbent? Nicolas Sarkozy's political future is decided this weekend
After the first round of the French presidential election saw a record vote for the anti-immigration National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Sarkozy’s advisor Patrick Buisson has orchestrated a reorientation of Centre-right incumben
Depressed and suicidal prisoners in New Zealand are placed in so-called 'at risk' cells where they are deprived of sleep and subjected to humiliating searches
Kim Dotcom recently spent a month on remand in Mt Eden prison after the police agreed to act on behalf of US authorities. The police took away his cars and froze his bank accounts.
The first nation to give women the vote now has few women leading newspapers, businessness and political parties. So this international women's day, what can we do about that?
To uncover and address the many reasons why New Zealand women continue to be under-represented as leaders, a friend and I started Women’s Futures Month for March 2012 from our home city of Christchurch, the birthplace of the suffrage movement.
There are altenatives to selling off the SOEs, so why not look at some other options?
My summertime reading has included David Lange’s autobiography My Life. Yep I know, it’s a few years old now, but being written on his deathbed made it candid. It’s a great insight into the man, running the country and at times is hilarious.
The Corrections Department wants to build a new 1,000 bed prison at Wiri for $424 million - based on justice sector projections from 2010. The projections for 2011, however, show a new prison is no longer needed
Does New Zealand need to build a new 1,000 bed prison at Wiri?
In 2008, a depressed man robbed a bank – not for the money but so the judge would send him to prison. He got no help in prison and three years later he did it again. Is it time for an inquiry into our judicial system?
Last week, the Dominion Post reported the sad case of Mr Craig Andrew Blair who robbed a bank in Rotorua – not for financial gain but so that he would be sent back to prison.
We may have got rid of Nanny, but someone’s clearly still doing the babysitting
This time three years ago, a two-word phrase seemed to be gaining unprecedented coverage in New Zealand: Nanny State.
As the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, Americans are learning what Hope and Change really mean... Is Osama bin Laden still winning?
On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist and member of the Black Hand, shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The purpose was to throw off the yoke of Austro-Hungarian rule and form an independent Yugoslavia. Within 37 days, all of Europe was engulfed in a tripartite war.
New Zealand is widely perceived as a safe country and yet we don't seem to feel safe -- and 20,000 Kiwis spend time in prison each year
Compared with other Western democracies, New Zealand seems to be keen on sending its citizens to prison. Our prison population has been rising for the last 50 years and in October 2010, reached a total of 8,892 inmates. New Zealand now locks up 199 people per 100,000 of its population.
Rehabilitating prisoners requires more action than rhetoric, says the author of a new book on the justice system
In 2009, in an attempt to improve its woeful performance, former chief executive Barry Mathews announced that the Corrections Department’s rehabilitation and reintegration services would be combined into one team. As part of this new strategy, Corrections Minister Judith Collins recently announced the Department is to employ 227 ca
Healthy, energy-efficient buildings are a key component in creating a healthy community and sustainable city. They are very easy to achieve through the use of the readily available, well proven and inexpensive Passive House standard
Christchurch City's draft Central City Plan is a laudable document, containing exciting goals of, amongst others, urban sustainability, a sustainable city and sustainable buildings. The document essentially outlines a city which is a healthy community in which to live.
The disaster unfolding across the Horn of Africa is a man-made catastrophe that reflects decisions by developed countries about poverty, war and climate change
The harrowing images from the Horn of Africa are all too familiar – silent columns of the severely malnourished converging on refugee camps that are already overcrowded and struggling to cope. The United Nations has finally declared that parts of Somalia are suffering not just a food crisis, but a famine.
Hardly a day passes without the media reminding us how alcohol is causing harm. Now the government has a golden opportunity to create a change in our binge drinking culture, so will it step up to the mark?
Another week in Godzone and we have seen yet more evidence of the harm alcohol can cause in the lives of our citizens.
Why the Government’s proposed Regulatory Responsibility Bill is ill- founded, constitutionally radical, and likely to hurt democracy.
John Key yesterday announced in his speech from the throne that the Government “will introduce a Regulatory Responsibilty Bill and send it to a Select Committee for submissions and debate".
As we approach Waitangi Day, it's worth considering that New Zealanders are not (contrary to popular belief) uniquely plagued by self-doubt
As an Australian migrant to New Zealand, one thing that still surprises me is the commonly-held belief here that Australians have a self-confident sense of nationhood, while Kiwis are full of angst and self-doubt.
Why debate the greening of the Mackenzie Basin when in reality it is being overrun by weeds and wilding pines and the topsoil is being blown away?
Claire, I have just now caught up with your latest blog on the Mackenzie Basin.
In response:
Firstly, "sneaky":
As Warner Bros. executives arrive in the country, let's put to bed the concept that the studio would waste its time manufacturing a crisis and look at the economic realities
I saw on TV last week actor Robyn Malcolm explaining that there was never an intention to cause mayhem over the Hobbit. "All we wanted to do was have a talk over wages and conditions," she said.
And all I want for Christmas is world peace and to end hunger.
Beneath the facade of our supposedly tolerant, modern and multicultural society, lies a seething undercurrent of bigotry, racism and ignorance
As an Asian immigrant who first arrived to these shores 36 years ago, I am grateful for what New Zealand has given me and my family. I also like to believe that I have contributed something back to this country. My family certainly has.
Misleading media reporting is fuelling misperceptions of Iran, and even the BSA has recently backed me in that claim
So ONE News has won the Qantas Award for Best News for the third year in a row. Big deal. It's not as though it really had any serious competition.
Is our government signalling a green light for the further privatisation of water services?
New Zealand's decision to abstain from supporting a UN resolution declaring access to clean drinking water as a basic human right is deeply disappointing. Equally unfortunate is the scant coverage that this important issue received in our mainstream media.
New Zealand's main political websites are joining together, asking you to support an up and coming young journo. Who says we can't agree on anything?
Many people are concerned about the quality of public affairs journalism in New Zealand. Being concerned is a good start, but how can you take the next step? How can you help make it better? Yes, you.
Removing elected officials, replacing tried and true legal tests and processes with a non statutory, unreviewable Strategy, and changing rights of appeal half way through statutory processes - these features and more are the result of the new Act that signals a new era for the management of water in Canterbury.
Whether or not you think the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Act passed under urgency last night, 31 March, is a “
Why a robust constitutional framework requires Archives New Zealand's organisational independence
The Minster of State Services, Tony Ryall, has announced a merger between Archives New Zealand, the National Library, and the Department of Internal Affairs. While modest savings are promised, Ryall says the move is not primarily about saving money; rather, it is motivated by a desire to “future-proof” the Archives and the Library for an increasingly digital world
At the next election New Zealanders will decide whether or not to keep MMP or replace it with something else. So what does history tell us about our voting system and why did we change to MMP?
It was Winston Churchill who said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Like the names of loves long lost, we often forget, and so it is with politics.
With postal voting for the new Auckland Council now less than eight months away, it seems that local boards will have some clout as they seek to represent the will of the people
Gaps remain in the new Auckland city structure, as do questions about just how much influence citizens will have over decisions that will affect their daily lives, but the importance of local boards is becoming increasingly clear.
If we are serious about climate change, we need to challenge the very fundamentals of the global economic order
Climate change fatigue has well and truly set in. This isn’t surprising. Despite all the hype, Copenhagen was little more than a talkfest that ignored what lies at the root of the issue - the fanciful notion that unlimited economic growth (premised on perpetual consumption) is somehow possible on a planet with finite resources and a limited capacity to absorb waste.
Memory has a habit of intruding. It knocks. It wishes to be recognised. Broken Embraces is an act of commemoration, a tribute for the dead
Pedro Almodóvar is a treasure of the screen, supremely sensitive to surfaces, characters, and the workings of the cinema itself. His devotion to the craft is unmistakable, demonstrated by constant hints, persistent allusions to past greats, and the mechanics of filmmaking.
The fallout from Mexico’s so-called drug wars continues unabated. What is really behind the carnage?
Since December 2006, more than 13,000 people—police, soldiers, gangsters and civilians—have died across Mexico in shootouts, bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and torture.
In defence of grumpy old men
I’m having trouble accommodating approaching old age. I rail against it. And yet I’m told (mostly by The Young, to whom old age is as remote as life insurance and superannuation) that I should think of the alternative and thank my lucky stars I’m still here.
Is New Zealand inadvertently supporting the cause of the Tamil Tigers?
In the aftermath of the civil war in Sri Lanka, New Zealand should re-examine the small but potentially incendiary role it may have inadvertently played in the conflict.
Jeanette Fitzsimons’ Sustainable Biofuel Bill has been drawn from the Member’s ballot. It’s sustainable, all right—defying repeal—and the first real test of this Government’s green credentials
Jeanette Fitzsimons’ Sustainable Biofuel Bill began its first reading last week. She says it corrects mistakes in the government’s Biodiesel Grants Scheme, which commenced on 1 July.
Can Maori language be anything more than an intellectual or cultural indulgence?
During my short stay at grammar school I learned some Latin and French (as well as English). French was never much use to me but Latin, in later years, became more and more valuable because it is not only at the heart of much English but has also helped with what little Italian I’ve needed for several trips to that country.
The Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee is deliberating—and lobby pressure is building towards Copenhagen, where international emissions reduction targets will be debated. That’s heavy weather up ahead
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Review Committee has finished hearing submissions. Peter Dunne says it aims to report “as soon as possible”. It’ll take more than common sense - is there a Solomon in the House?
The EU is not all it's cracked up to be
Looking objectively at a distance of 20,000 km from the land of my birth I have always found it hard to believe that the EU will survive; that it will be more than an anomaly in a restless history of self-serving tribes.
Alain de Botton’s latest foray, into The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, is for the vocationally-challenged, not romantically-inclined
Alain de Botton and I parted company a while ago. As he’s said himself, Essays in Love and The Romantic Movement are books for a certain age and stage.
I've been fretting about the new, vast Auckland and the plethora of shibboleths that will ensue therefrom—especially the logo
In the modern drive to re-define and re-name entities, almost the first task of any new one is to commission a logo design.
The International Whaling Commission is staring extinction in the face. Sir Geoffrey Palmer talks about its struggle to save itself, let alone the whales.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Portugal next month, in the throes of delicate and difficult negotiations, which might be a metaphor. It has to save itself, before it can save the whales.
It’s got all the right ingredients: local celebrity, an epiphany, cute animals, industry bad guys, hoodwink, public outrage - the media’s happy as a pig in muck, this week. But why did it take so long?
The story’s been around for years -- decades, actually. Sue Kedgley has repeatedly climbed in and out of sow crates and posed with bald startled chooks, patiently asking the questions and releasing the statements.
It was W.C. Fields, wasn’t it, who made that enlightened and penetrating remark about the wisdom of avoiding animals and children?
I am no great animal lover. Not that I’d do them any harm, mind you, but I always circumnavigate paddocks containing beeves that look the least aggressive and I’ve always thoroughly disliked zoos.
Vegetarians and vegans have taken the moral high ground, but think again - in a fossil-fuel challenged world, animals need to be part of the food chain.
Meat-eating in Green circles is considered rude, and cruel. The received wisdom is that one can’t credibly plug animal welfare and the environment while trashing them. I was, for many years, convinced of the utter rightness and unassailable logic of being vegetarian and, more briefly, vegan.
Once upon a time, wrote Oscar Wilde, there lived little Hans the miller’s friend. Hans lived in a tiny cottage all by himself and worked in his garden every day—like the heroine of this story
Once upon a time there lived a little gardener in a little house with one too many cats. It seemed possible, thought the neighbourhood children, that she might be a witch.
Instead of trying to punch above our weight, let's count our blessings
Updated: In New Zealand we live in a self-delusory 'mouse-that-roared' world believing it within our power to lead while others follow. In reality, others hardly know what we're about or why we exist.
Our politicians seem incapable of giving us straight facts on the serious matter of waste reduction. If only MPs would talk more rubbish...
The statistics defy comprehension. All of them are shameful; some should make you weep.
How a bungee jump a day or a trip to the moon could keep body droop away
The PM wants American-type tax breaks on charitable donations... but the British model that sees donations benefit the charity rather than the giver would be more our style
I'm currently on holiday at home and enjoying the end of what I am reliably informed has been the best summer in years. I’m also enjoying observing what’s rattling the cages of New Zealand’s politicians.
Electronic media, television in particular, are marred by detestable mannerisms from unprofessional presenters
In advance of making a maiden speech (I cannot remember when or where) I was once advised, by someone who knew about these things, to select a face from the crowd and to address myself to that face.
Green is the new black, but if the Green Party wants to attract mainstream voters it must confront its daggy image and cliquey mentality
“I don’t want to wear a hemp shirt and hairy knickers, I want a 21st century lifestyle with a coffee machine.” —Dick Strawb
At last, some happy news: the end of the cheap food era
According to Gwynne Dyer , the era of cheap food is ending.
The environmental implications of the government's first 100 days are worrying, but not for the obvious reasons
Apropos George Monbiot, I have been thinking about how to inculcate the necessary sense of urgency. In the eye of the perfect storm, not much seems to be happening.
Gardening for food is not just about saving the world, although that is one compelling outcome
The case for gardening for food is simply this: turning your lawn into vegetables saves money, saves the planet, tastes good, and is good for you.
A tech company CEO offers ten tips on making 2009 a great year in business without laying off staff
With all the economic turmoil, everyone is talking about cutting staff.
Pundit reader Kate Hannah muses on anti-intellectualism in the United States and New Zealand
The preferred mythology about academia goes something like this: innocent students arrive at university, largely untainted by politics, and are corrupted into radical views through the influence of their left-wing professors, who use the lecture theatre as a bully pulpit for postmodern relativism and
