Implementing the New Zealand Health and Disability System review not only involves major technical problems but creates fascinating political tensions.
Read MoreRedisorganising the Health System – yet again.
Economy
Sinful or Harmful?
We need to change public policy if our aim is to minimise the harm from drugs.
Read MoreTransformation or Progress?
Why this government will not be transformative; do we want it to be?
Read MoreAs Safe As Houses?
Stein’s law says that if something cannot go on forever, it wont. But does a speculative bubble matter? The cryptocurrency bubble can be left to itself (tax evasion and criminal transactions aside). Why shouldn’t we do the same for housing?
Read MoreSuffer the Children
Are we reducing child poverty by as much as is needed to reach the targets set by the government under the Child Poverty Reduction Act?
Read MoreWinston’s Legacy
The future for an effective centre party in New Zealand?
Read MoreKindness and Samfundssind
How we approached the threat of Covid tells us about possibilities for the future ways.
Read MoreWhere Does the Media Stand on the Political Spectrum?
A recent study suggests most are near the centre.
Read MoreYes Minister.
What it is like to be a new Minister
Read MoreThe Ideal and the Reality for a New MP
Being an MP is not quite what you think.
Read MoreDo Landslides Change the Landscape in the Long Run?
It was easy for election night commentators to use the ‘landslide’ trope to describe Labour’s winning of the 2020 election. But the historical record suggests that such landslides may not last long.
(The image is of Abbotsford after its landslide and thirty years later — Otago Daily Times.)
Read MoreDo Elections Deliver What We Want?
MMP may deliver a parliament which reflects us, but frequently the government does not.
Read MoreEconomic Resilience or Policy Brilliance?
he economy has been through a traumatic experience. Prospects look sobering.
Read MoreWhat a Performance
The Covid Crisis provides insights into how critical global connectedness has become to our lives.
Read MorePREFU: The State of Government Accounts
‘The Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update’ (PREFU) tells us something about the future of the Public Sector but it requires careful analysis to assess how it is going.
Read MoreGreat Waves Washing Over New Zealand
Always to islanders danger
Is what comes over the seas
‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)
Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us.
Read MoreDysfunctional Design
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly?
Read MoreThe Third World War
The standard trope of the war of the worlds is of extraterrestrial human-like aliens, perhaps from Mars, invading earth and waging an unrelenting war against its inhabitants. The source of Covid-19 is this earth and it is certainly not human-like. Even so, the entire earth is facing a universal invader which takes no prisoners. How have we responded to the new world war?
Read MoreWhither Nationalism?
The nation-state continues to thirve despite the pressures of globalisation and social diversity.
Read MoreGovernment as an Unconnected Pronoun
Muddled thinking about how the government functions – or even what the government is – confuses public understandings of what is going on.
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