Sometimes you just have to accept that the devil has the best tunes. That Australians are better than Kiwis at some sports. That people you profoundly disagree with sometimes offer the best presentation of the facts.

Many subscribers to Insights will disagree with Max Rashbrooke’s faith in the state to save us from ourselves. But credit where it is due: Unlike many of his colleagues among Victoria University’s policy academics he presents the facts and asks us to think about policy. We need that now more than ever.

Rashbrooke’s latest articles for The Spinoff looked at the Labour government’s record on one of its target policy areas, poverty and inequality. (See “All Things Considered” below for the links.) This policy area is not one where a couple of well-informed articles will generate political consensus.

What he does offer is an accessible discussion of how the government’s indicators of poverty and inequality have changed, and a description of what can and cannot be attributed to this government that will make both sides of politics squirm.

Throughout, he is clear about his perspective. In the end Rashbrooke admits, “There is no neat story to say that Labour has increased or decreased inequality, in toto – but then life is not much given to neat stories.”

The title of this piece is a reference to an article by George Orwell, author of 1984. Despite being a staunch anti-communist, Orwell wrote in defence of the honest approach to foreign policy of a defender of Stalin’s Russia.  

People Orwell otherwise agreed with were offering a fantasy view of what was possible in Cold War Europe. He disagreed with the politics of the person presenting the facts, but wanted political decisions based on uncomfortable reality rather than agreeing with those whose conclusions he liked.

Strangely, although political differences in New Zealand are nothing like as profound as Orwell’s differences with the communists, fewer people want a factual basis for policy discussion.

Max Rashbrooke is honestly presenting facts on poverty and inequality in New Zealand. He is honestly presenting his views on what they mean and explaining why, in an imperfect world, he has come to those views.

In an election year already plumbing new depths in personal attacks and slurs, we should all praise Rashbrooke’s efforts to make the facts matter.