The national debate over free speech is in many ways a sucker punch - "Squirrel!" - that has drawn our view away from the equally important job of winning the argument against the racist and ignorant views being expressed by the alt-right commentators
Read Morerefugees
How Much Migration?
Free movement of labour is often described as one of the four fundamental economic freedoms. Putting it into practice is somewhat more difficult.
Read More2015: My year that was
Here's a trawl through the year in politics and what stood out for me
Read MoreSyrian refugees still coming to Canada
While American lawmakers try to stop any Syrian refugees from reaching their shores, Canada is pushing on with a pledge to bring in 25,000 by the end of the year….and that is in full knowledge of a passport complication connected with the Paris terrorist attacks.
Read MoreFour things we can do after Paris
The ISIS attacks on Friday the 13th in Paris, in Beirut, and when the Russia plane was attacked, were an attack on all modern civilisation and society from Lebanon to France. The target on Friday was the values first articulated on Paris streets in the 18th century that led to a modern liberal revolution and eventually liberty in speech and assembly, fraternity expressed in tolerance and plurality, and equality between genders.
Read MoreIt was a catastrophically wrong decision not to intervene to stop Assad
Today’s refugee crisis is one result of doing nothing to stop Bashar al-Assad after he used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.
Everyone talks about the human consequences of intervention. But we also need to look at the human consequences of doing nothing.
Read MoreWe can do something right now - refugee crisis
There are ninety towns in New Zealand with a population between 5,000 and 20,000. If each of those towns took ten refugees, and our larger cities took 100 each, we’d triple our quota to nearly 3000 without any going to Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington.
New Zealand would be a proud example of practical, no-nonsense compassion.
Guts, guts, got no guts
New Zealand is a country that stands up for its values - unless it involves the inconvenience of bringing a few more desperate people into New Zealand for a new life.
Read MoreRiot police, razor wire and refugees
Europe takes in only a small proportion of the world's refugees yet when you consider the dog whistle politics and lack of human decency towards the men, women and children desperately trying to reach its shores, you'd think it was being wiped out by an alien species.
Read MoreThey
We're told it is inevitable that a boat carrying asylum seekers will one day arrive in New Zealand. This is one imagining of that meeting.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday May 13
John Kerry to meet with Putin in Sochi -- first talks since Ukraine conflict began; six thousand refugees stranded in Malacca Strait; third Bangladeshi blogger murdered; Arctic oil drilling approved; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday May 12
Saudi King to miss Gulf summit in Washington DC; 2000 refugees on way to Thailand rescued after traffickers allegedly abandoned ship; Pyongyang test-fires ballistic missile; Hollande visits Cuba; Turkish cargo ship shelled off coast of Libya; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday May 1
Nepalis protest slow delivery of aid; North Korea's nuclear reactor may be operational again; Japanese PM appeals to US to back TPP, citing 'deep regret' over World War II; French soldiers accused of sexually abusing refugee children from Central African Republic; another US presidential candidate announces run for White House; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday July 25
John Kerry renews efforts for Israel-Hamas cease-fire; Christmas Island refugees are self-harming and should be assessed in Australia, says Human Rights Commission; $40 billion stimulus package for South Korea; calls for factory inspections and worker education in Bangladesh; Algerian plane goes missing; and more
Read MoreDon't walk away, in silence
Last year, John Key said New Zealand might send any refugee claimants who arrive by boat over to Australia's detention camps. That's not still a thing, is it?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday September 4
Syrian refugees number two million; Japan reveals strategy to deal with Fukushima leaks; Dennis Rodman returns to North Korea; Microsoft buys Nokia's phone business; Egypt closes four TV stations; and more
Read MoreThe Responsibility to Protect Syrians
As official records show more than one million Syrians have fled their own country, and more than 70,000 have been slaughtered by their President's troops, the world's Responsibility to Protect (R2P) seems to be gathering dust.
Read MoreGee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines
Is it OK to threaten to do a really bad thing if it means that you don't actually have to do it, even if you have to really be prepared to do it so as to make the threat work?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday September 5
Record number of refugees flee Syria; Clinton urges ASEAN nations to develop code of conduct for resolving disputes with China; Chinese government official Ling Jihua demoted over car crash scandal; suicide bomber rams vehicle into US consulate vehicle in Peshawar; Democratic National Convention kicks off in North Carolina; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday August 31
Syrian rebels claim to have shot down fighter jet; China to continue buying European debt; refugee boat with 150 passengers sinks off coast of Indonesia; 500,000 in Mali displaced by conflict; Greece close to agreeing to $17 billion in new austerity cuts; and more
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