We need to go further than just defending Eleanor Catton's right to an opinion, we need to encourage her for doing her job
Read MoreHow Shallow is Intellectual Life in New Zealand?
It is not what Eleanor Catton said about the government, but how we respond to what she said.
Read MoreTheme of the Traitor and the Hero
How do you think the kind of society that Eleanor Catton described in her (now infamous) interview would react to someone like Eleanor Catton saying such things in an interview?
Read MoreState of the Nation II - John Key
John Key took social housing head on in his first big speech of the year and in doing so raised the ideological politics of ownership, trying to cast it in a new light
Read MoreState of the Nation I - Andrew Little
Andrew Little kicked off the political year proper with his state of the nation address this morning, and it emphasised that Labour is under new management
Read MoreTilting at Helensvilles' windmills
Could John Key's place in Parliament be under threat from Arthur Taylor's electoral petition? No ... no it couldn't.
Read MoreThe Matter With Economics?
Jeff Madrick identifies seven bad economic ideas; Alan Blinder is more cautious. What do economists actually believe, and how does it stack up against what we think economics says?
Read MoreHow high can you go?
Rules that stop you using your property as you see fit are bad. Rules that stop other people using their property ... are less so.
Read MoreTreating Capital Gains Efficiently
What might a non-ideological capital gains tax look like?
Read MoreThe Ombudsman, Corrections and 'unnatural deaths' in prison
A letter written by the Chief Ombudsman reveals disturbing questions about its relationship with the Corrections Department
Read MoreAnd whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire
The Justice and Electoral Committee will soon be reviewing the 2014 general election. Here's the first of my thoughts on what it might profitably look at.
Read MoreAfter Charlie Hebdo: What happens next?
We've seen how ordinary citizens around the world have responded to the Charlie Hedbo terrorism, but how will world leaders react? Is marching enough or is it time for troops?
Read MoreCentralisation and Decentralisation.
Do We Need Larger Local Authorities or Ones More in Touch with the Localities?
Read MoreWalking the moral tightrope
I stand alongside anyone arguing for freedom of speech. But sometimes also against them. And alongside the other side too, sometimes. Such is walking the moral tightrope
Read MoreNous sommes Charlie aussi
There is no transferring blame away from the perpetrators of this crime.
Moderate muslims are not to blame.
It is not the disastrous invasion of Iraq, even if this gave jihadists a foothold. France, like New Zealand, didn’t support that war.
Europe Without Walls
As Borders Fall Are Europeans Losing Their Cultural Identity
Read MoreWith or Without Britain
The EU remains central to New Zealand’s destiny
Read MoreQuotes of the year, Pundit style
What are the words that captured the year in a few syllables and defined 2014? Read on...
Read MoreAn economic comedy in four acts
A little pre-Christmas fun, looking at Treasury's prediction that National will fail to reach its much-promised surplus through some literary lenses
Read MoreIt's nearly Foodmass
Food has never been more readily available or cheaper. Take a moment to thank the farmers when you sit down to Christmas lunch this year -- and don't overindulge
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