On Wednesday morning last week, I was getting ready for my afternoon speech at the Financial Services Council conference in Auckland. Between sessions, I scrolled through X on my phone. Read more
More than half of New Zealanders think the country is going in the wrong direction. Trust in Parliament, the courts and the Reserve Bank has fallen sharply since 2021. Read more
Grades have been inflating at universities across the English-speaking world, including in New Zealand. That was the message of my first two columns in this series. Read more
Once upon a time, “Yes Minister” gave us Sir Humphrey Appleby, scheming, obstructive, magnificently verbose, but above all, competent. He could bury a reform in procedure without breaking a sweat. Read more
Every day, New Zealand workers clock longer hours than their peers in most developed nations yet produce far less value per hour worked. This productivity paradox has haunted our economy for decades, condemning workers to lower wages and longer working days. Read more
Who is responsible for defending liberal democracy when its norms come under attack? Karl Popper, writing as fascist armies swept Europe, understood this was not an abstract question. Read more
The United Nations Environmental Programme’s latest Emissions Gap Report was called “No more hot air … please!” Yesterday, I joined a panel at the Climate Change & Business Conference to talk about New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution – our NDC. Under the Paris Agreement, countries must produce targets for emission reductions, set policies consistent with their targets, and report on their progress. Read more
In November 2023, National, Act, and New Zealand First announced the coalition agreements that formed their government. One item stood out, at least for me. Read more
Tell someone in an Auckland café that the economy is booming and they will laugh. Unemployment in the city is 6.1 per cent. Read more
When housing policy is split among more than six ministers, who is responsible when the affordability crisis drags on year after year? The Minister of Housing? Read more
When Woolworths wanted to build a new supermarket in Christchurch, it took them four years and $3 million just to get permission. Did you know it takes an average of 18 months and costs $1 million to get permission to build a supermarket? Read more
Douglas Adams, despite being very highly rated, remains underrated. His Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a masterpiece. Read more
New Zealand has built one of the most complex executive governments in the developed world. With 81 ministerial portfolios spread across 28 ministers and 43 departments, we operate with more than three times as many ministerial portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as peer nations like Ireland, Norway and Singapore. Read more
Fifteen years ago, as Greece teetered on debt default, I started covering European affairs in my columns. Readers may remember the emergency summits, riots in Athens, and financial bailouts from 2009 to 2012. Read more
In my last Insights column, I explained what grade inflation is and why it’s bad. I also surveyed research showing that grade inflation is a problem at universities in the US, the UK, and Australia. Read more