Oil prices rising, the Kiwi dollar falling: these are the economic issues dominating our domestic headlines. It is understandable that New Zealanders follow such developments with eagerness. They directly feel the effects at the petrol pump and on their next international holiday. However, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reminded us this week, the world economy is undergoing fundamental shifts – and these transformations could dwarf the things we fret about. Read more

Minister for Climate Change James Shaw this week announced that a package of incentives to buy electrical vehicles will arrive soon. The package will join other climate change measures, including a recent proposal to tighten up New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The principal benefit of an ETS is the discovery of least-cost ways to abate emissions. A 2013 OECD study showed it can cost 17 times more to abate a tonne of carbon by using government subsidies than by... Read more

This week, a beloved piece of public art was destroyed. On a warm spring day in Wellington (yes Aucklanders, you read that right), a young man decided to climb the expensive Len Lye sculpture on the waterfront until it snapped.No doubt this is a terrible waste of taxpayers’ money. But the young man’s excuse for vandalising the sculpture is even more infuriating. In interviews later, he admitted he was showing off and wanted to perform for the crowd. Read more

Something of enormous global significance has just occurred but it has slipped past almost without notice. Read more