When Trevor Mallard read out a new, revised prayer at the start of parliament this year, I started writing about some of the questions it raised for me. It's taken a while to get it down, but I wonder whether we shouldn't be giving this some deeper thought
Read MoreThe Arrogance of Experts
Poor work gets echoed if it is sensational enough and suits ideological preconceptions..
Read MoreThe New Government’s First Hundred Days.
What has it told us about the next three years?
Read MoreThe Future of Free Trade Agreements
This column was first posted at https://www.newsroom.co.nz/.
Read MoreCan Israel really make New Zealanders pay damages for expressing their opinion?
An Israeli legal group are threatening to sue two New Zealand women for writing an opinion piece on a New Zealand website. They'll probably never get a cent from it, but that's not really the point of the exercise.
Read MorePredictable polls and bye-bye Bill
As all things new come to dominate New Zealand's political landscape, National will be forced more quickly than it hoped to confront its own need for change. Tonight's poll offers succour for the party, but tolls the bell for Bill.
Read More"Do it for all of us". Can Labour save social democracy?
Social democracy is in trouble. Social democratic parties have been annihilated in Greece, reduced to a shadow in France and struggle in Scandinavia. Corbyn in Britian and Sanders in the United States have support but can't get elected. Can New Zealand Labour show that it is not only possible to form a government but also to save social democracy?
Read MoreCommonsense about Measuring Poverty
Treasury made a egregious error in its calculation of the impact of Labour’s tax package on poverty. Can we learn from it?
Read MoreHow Donald Trump helped save the trade deal and enabled Ardern's realism
Labour's willingness to back the new CPTPP owes a lot to the US president, but also shows the rise of the political realists in its ranks. But the hard part is yet to come
Read MoreHow Economically Radical Will Today’s Labour-led Government Be?
These are notes prepared as a background for a ‘Pundit’ interview on RNZ Nights with Bryan Crump on 23 January, 2018.
Read MoreLegalFling - whatever it does, it does not create a legally binding contract
The makers of app LegalFling claim it creates a "legally binding contract" for sex that can result in remedies for breach, including enforcement of penalty clauses. I think it doesn't.
Read MoreImagine - Ardern, Gayford, motherhood and work
The announcement by Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford that they will be parents this year for the first time suggests a Rubicon is about to be crossed. Some progress has been made toward women being able to be mothers and in paid employment but there is some way to go. Given Ardern and Gayford's prominence they may be about to make the tectonic plates of our society shift.
Read MoreContingency and Jim (1938-2018)
A review of some critical decisions in Jim Anderton’s life reminds us of just how contingent politics can be.
Read MoreIs Jacinda a Marxist?
The editor-in-chief of The Lancet said she is
Read MoreWho controls the past now, controls the future
Should NZ reintroduce legislation requiring MPs that leave their parties to also quit Parliament? The debate over that question involves a battle over what happened in the past.
Read MoreJim Anderton's political legacy... & his final win
Jim Anderton has died at a time when the party he fought for, then walked out on, looks more like him than it does his erstwhile opponents.
Read MoreCelebrating New Zealand’s Independent Republics.
How big does a country have to be?
Read MoreThe Fallacy of the Uninformed Celebrity Opinion
Too much of our public discussion is led by those who are have strong opinions based on prejudice and ignorance rather than thorough research and understanding
Read MoreWhat is New with the HYEFU?
December’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) was combined with the Government’s plans for its first 100 days.
Read MoreA snaking line of humanity that NZ can be proud of
What kind of New Zealand might we see in 20 years? Well I saw a snaking line recently and rather than having a nightmarish premonition, I was filled with hope
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