Why grasp one of the third rails of politics just six months from an election? Well, three possible reasons come to mind...
Read MoreBrexit: How New Zealand Might Cope
This is a follow up ‘Brentry: How New Zealand Coped’, setting out some of the challenges which face New Zealand today.
Read MoreThings don’t Ad up on Planet Key
The Court of Appeal ruling and his critics suddenly championing free speech has left the creator of the famous Planet Key video baffled and asking, who's being satirical now?
Read MoreDeputy Ardern: What it really means for Labour
Jacinda Ardern looks set to become the new deputy leader of the Labour Party as Annette King steps down. But while it looks like a no-brainer and only helps Labour this election year, it comes with its own set of risks
Read MoreCan we finally agree on how to run schools?
New Zealanders have been arguing about education since the Royal Commission on Social Policy in the 1980s told them the needs of all students were not being met. After thirty years of debate confusion reigns. But there is a way forward
Read MoreCleaning house, English-style: Water was just the start
Last week National made some promises about water, and copped plenty of flak on the way. That move signalled the soft launch of National's election campaign, as it starts to tidy up the policies that put victory in September at risk
Read MoreMy little gonzo academic electoral law experiment
Is it now legal to use TV and radio to run mean-spirited, hatchet-job attack ads on your political enemies? I decided to find out ... so here's a reprise of what happened, having previously been recounted over at The Spinoff.
Read MoreBrentry: How New Zealand Coped
This is based on a note that I prepared for a journalist. It is a lead into the next column which is on ‘Brexit: How New Zealand Might Cope’.
Read MoreWhy you can't call Donald Trump a liar (yet)
There's a growing number of media calling out President Donald Trump for saying things that aren't true. But does that make him a liar?
Read MoreNational v Labour: Someone unelectable is going to beat the odds
As the polls start to swing back into action, a look across the electoral battlefield sees two major party leaders both struggling to get firm footing and take the high ground
Read MoreLet me count the ways; three potential governments in 2017
Come September 24, there are really only three likely scenarios as to who could form a government, and odds-on Winston Peters will face two difficult choices
Read MoreSome innocents 'scape not the thunderbolt
Willie Jackson is right that the low voting turnout amongst younger age groups is a real problem. But he's wrong to blame the Electoral Commission for following the law that Parliament has made.
Read MoreA Social Democrat Assesses How is the Land Faring?
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade—
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
The Deserted Village: Oliver Goldsmith
This column follows on from ‘Whence Europe; Whither Europe’.
Read MoreQualified addiction counsellors not wanted in NZ prisons
Up to 90% of prison inmates have problems with substance abuse and addiction. But Corrections does not require the counsellors who provide rehabilitation programmes for them to have a graduate degree in the assessment and treatment of addictive disorders. In fact, they don't even need a degree - just a qualification.
Read MoreDonald Trump – scaring the spies out into the cold
President Donald is going to be a headache for the intelligence community. He can't keep his own secrets safe, so how can they trust him?
Read MoreAll things in moderation, including even Trump, Brexit & judges
Just because Donald Trump is a shoot from the hip president, doesn't mean we should fall into the same trap
Read MoreNo, not that one. The other dangerous bit we could inherit from the US election campaign
Recent elections and votes in America, Britain and Australia have been brutal and brittle affairs with plenty of rancour, and some fear the same here this year. But I wonder if they're looking in the wrong direction
Read MoreFrom Whence Europe? Whither Europe?
Although completed a decade ago, Tony Judt’s history of postwar Europe presaged some of the challenges that it faces today.
Read MoreHere's one for the fans
Could the Labour Party end up in court over its party list? Probably not, but this is the Labour Party we're talking about!
Read MoreA revolt against the future
In the days of Trump and Brexit, it could be time for those who want a society based on openness, knowledge and new opportunities to revisit an out-of-fashion idea
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