The rest of the world is about to start reining in all those stimulus packages that took the edges off the recession. That could be really good for New Zealand, or really, really bad
Read MorePolitics
Right-Wingers are Hard-Assers - True or False?
If we went back several centuries and peeled away all the legislation which forced us to care for each other, would mankind be voluntarily philanthropic and benevolent?
Read MoreHow Kevin Rudd won and lost Australia
Rudd's remarkable run in power was driven by state politics, factions and Wayne Swan; and it was those same forces that brought him down
Read MoreSmoking bans and crime: post hoc ergo propter hoc
Banning smoking in prison stops crime. The Daily Telegraph says so. It must be true.
Read MoreThe yellowcake story: gone by lunchtime, but was it unlawful?
“Gone by lunchtime”… If only the same could be said of the debate that wouldn’t die: carbon tax vs emissions trading
Read MorePigs at the trough and wannabe thespians
After a Fiji holiday, the MPs' spending scandal looks incredibly tame; plus university reminiscences
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Afghanistan: Leaving the Labyrinth
President Karzai has lost his preferred commander – General McChrystal falls on his sword – and New Zealand’s commitment to Afghanistan has not changed. Does anyone know what’s really happening in the labyrinth?
Read MoreA policeman's lot is a happy one ...
Would electing a serving police officer be a valuable addition to a local authority, or a threat to our very constitution? Whatever your view, you're too late ...
Read MoreBringing the Budget down to Earth
Green MP Ken Graham’s Public Finance (Sustainable Development Indicators) Amendment Bill, newly introduced to the members’ ballot, would revolutionise the annual government budget
Read MoreMan Up, Russel
What did Green Party co-leader Russel Norman expect when he exploited his position as an MP and waved the Tibetan flag at China's vice-president Xi Jinping? Enough grandstanding already
Read MoreWelfare: even the debate gets privatised
Second Wellington welfare conference in two weeks locks out all but the wealthy or well-funded
Read MoreThe purpose of protest: In defence of Russel Norman
The debate over the Green party co-leader's protest in front of Xi Jinping is drawing out all kinds of criticisms, but surely the thing to remember is that protest is designed to confront
Read MoreThe good oil, on two biofuel bills
New Zealand’s biofuel market is, apparently, a model of sustainability and transparency; it might be our route to fuel independence. Fitzsimons’ Bill to regulate it looks likely to be rejected
Read More"Nigga needs to get got, yo"
Lockwood Smith is sending out a message. No-one disrespects the rules of his crib.
Read MoreWe have found a witch, might we burn her?
Monty Python had it right. The only way to really determine if someone should be demoted for misusing expenses is to see what sort of cellphone plan they are using.
Read MoreThe ETS: a lemon nobody will buy
Nick Smith’s on the road again, selling his emissions trading scheme to a hostile public. It’s a green lemon: the less voters understand it, the better it will be for the government
Read MoreForeshore & seabed: foundering again on the rock of property rights and fair play
Whether like Labour you believe the foreshore is everybody's or like National you think it's nobody's, this impasse was always coming. We need to debate ownership of the coastline as a whole
Read MoreDrill, baby, drill - The NZ Way
As the United States shuts down deepwater oil drilling to get it back under control, New Zealand opens the door. Gerry Brownlee may not get much more mining on the conservation estate, but he can get it off-shore. How good is that?
Read MoreSuperannuation, baby-boomers and why John Key's a wimp
The swarm of locusts that is the baby-boomer generation starts retiring this year, so we can delay no longer. The warnings from Treasury are scarily stark. It's time to grasp the question of retirement
Read MoreA fascinating Aussie election? Not an oxymoron
Political junkies take note--the leadership battle across the Tasman is about to get really interesting
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