‘Clean, green’ New Zealand is the only OECD country without an Act requiring environment health checks. What will we do about it, asks the Parliamentary Commissioner?
Read MorePolitics
Jobs, jobs, jobs – the Key task
National and Labour need to look beyond their differences on government taxes and borrowing. The real challenge ahead is how New Zealand avoids a jobless recovery
The business lobbies' dangerous hot air
The cowardice of the business lobbies are on display for all to see as they try the same old ETS stalling strategy. It's just dumb management
Read MoreTime to talk with the Taliban?
New Zealand's military chief wants to negotiate with the Taliban. It's a controversial approach that raises the classic question of whether we talk with terrorists... and dozens of other questions alongside
Read MoreWho is indigenous? The coming question
New Zealand's support for the Declaration of Indigenous Rights ends one debate for Maori. But it begins another, one which strikes at heart of what it means to belong to this country
Read MoreThe price and profits of freedom farming
As consumers wake up to the false economy and cruelty of ‘factory’ meat and poultry, free range producers are bringing home the bacon while sales soar, according to industry sources
Read MoreWith nary a whisper of drama, signifying much
Pita Sharples cut a fine figure at the UN. But what, if anything, did it all mean?
Read MoreThe Budget wish list
Bill English is running scared of big bang reforms in this year's Budget, fearful of voter backlash. But what about some big ideas that have broad public support?
Read MoreUp the Hurunui without a paddle: Foreshore and Seabed Act, reprise
Extinguishment of Hurunui litigation rights recalls the Foreshore and Seabed Act, and it is breathing life into the embers of green activism
Read MoreTroubles at Rich Hill – Conflict in the Court
Supreme Court flip flop... Queen’s Counsels quiver... old friends part company... horseracing interests dissolve... charges of “apparent bias” upheld... Where will the inquiry into the conduct of Supreme Court judge Bill Wilson take us next?
Just how do you judge a trial by media?
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner is still conducting a preliminary inquiry into Justice Bill Wilson. The important judgment may get delivered in the court of public opinion
Read MoreSimon Schama on NZ: we should chant our national story
A lovely bit of writing that I had a little hand in creating... brilliant historian Simon Schama warns against New Zealand committing a national 'suicide'
Read MoreSaving the piggies’ bacon from the draft welfare code
NAWAC’s draft welfare code for pigs, on which submissions close this week, is conservative, and not supported by the experience of free range pork producers, who speak openly to Pundit about their pigs
Read MoreNow is the worst time to change on nukes
Talk about changing New Zealand's nuclear-free stance couldn't come at a worst time. It's a policy that's time has come and which is now more a national asset than ever
Read MoreOverseas investment: our open home
The onus is on the government to explain how a looser overseas investment policy will have net benefit for New Zealand
Read MoreTime to say “Bye Bye, Mr Karzai”
Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai has been threatening to join the Taliban. He should be encouraged to do it and we should leave his country quickly
Read MoreClassic 'us and them' politics
Wanna guess how many dole bludgers there are in New Zealand? Let me set you straight
Read MoreTo pee or not to pee
What do Housing Minister Phil Heatley and North Shore City mayor Andrew Williams have in common – beyond a couple of bottles of wine?
Read MoreThe beautiful game of politics
Politics and sports are separate things. Yeah, right.
Read MoreGood riddance Shell, and all you represent
I've been running my own personal protest against Shell for more than a decade, so I'll be delighted to see the sale of its petrol stations and its blood-stained brand removed from this country
Read More