Why is it that someone magically is “old enough” to vote at 18, but not at 16? That’s something the High Court will have to consider over the next week.
Read Moredon't let our youth go to waste
Government as an Unconnected Pronoun
Muddled thinking about how the government functions – or even what the government is – confuses public understandings of what is going on.
Read MoreTest Fail: Is Labour bordering on trouble?
National and New Zealand First have released border policies that try to out-tough each other as they seek to capitalise on Labour’s test failure. And why Jacinda Ardern’s two lines can’t both be true
Read MoreOn The Lockdown's Legality
The High Court has found New Zealand’s original level 4 and 3 lockdown was mostly legal - and the bits of it that weren’t really don’t matter that much. You could tell that was coming from the opening sentence of its decision.
Read MoreThe cannabis referendum: the case against legalisation
Dr James Farmer, a Queen’s Counsel, lays out the case against legalisation.
Read MoreMacroeconomic Questioning
The old ways of thinking about the macroeconomy have been found wanting, but the alternative is not clear.
Read MoreAnother big C week in politics: Community Covid, conspiracies & constitutional conventions
Labour won’t want to change the election day, but it’s going to get hard to resist if campaigns are delayed much longer. If National gets the gift of time, however, it will want to do better than seed conspiracies. From Caucus
Read MoreWhither New Zealand's September 19 election date?
The resurgence of COVID-19 raises real questions as to whether the September 19 election date will need to be changed. If it does, how can that happen?
Read MoreArdern's conservatism could be the very thing that keeps her flying high
Jacinda Ardern’s popularity means Labour is defying gravity as the election campaign kicks off. But it’s not through breaking the rules and doubling down on transformation… and her approach could be winning some surprising fans
Read MoreThis election is brought to you by the letter C
While Covid is the big C this election, you can also put character, campaign strategy and culture on the list of things to consider. And then there’s the return of Caucus
Read MoreCommonsense Economics from Two Very Good Economists
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list.
Read MoreChalk one up for the good guys ...
In its last hours before ending for the election, our Parliament finally repealed Part 4A of the Public Health and Disability Act 2000. That might sound boring, but it actually matters quite a lot.
Read MoreThe Holistic Perspective of Bryan Philpott
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy.
Read MoreSeymour & Shaw: Winning the anti-shenanigan vote
The Greens and ACT stand out as relative winners in recent polling and for much the same reasons. But there’s one big difference
Read MoreTo charge or not to charge, that is the question
Should returning New Zealanders be charged for the time they must spend in isolation? That turns out to be a really tricky question to answer.
Read MoreMañana Politics
Just where in the economic spectrum does the current National Party stand?
Read MoreIf I were to kiss you then go to hell, I would
Daniel Clinton Fitzgerald has been in jail for three-and-a-half years. The Court of Appeal has just ruled he must stay there, perhaps for as long as another three-and-a-half years. All because … he kissed a woman on the street without her permission.
Read MoreDesigning a Health System for Health Care Delivery
A recent column was concerned that the next health system redisorganisation was about centralising control, without adequate accountability, rather than about how to provide better health care. There has gotta be a better way.
Read MoreAnd now, some policy: The case for national insurance
There’s a better way to help people cope with the sort of employment dislocation caused by events like the current virus. We ought to start talking about it now.
Read MoreWhat National MPs need to weigh: Weeks v years... Collins' high base v low ceiling
National MPs meet tonight having to make some quick decisions with profound implications. One MP stands out as ready and road-tested, but would National act in haste only to repent at leisure?
Read More