Life Without Mainstreet
Are our main cities becoming too big for a single civic promenade, and is the multicellular world of mall dominance just the way things are developing?
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We Must Resist China
New Zealand should continue to protest against China’s massive oppression of Uighur peoples. It’s what a country with a conscience ought to do.
President Biden Reaches Out To Prime Minister Ardern
Joe Biden’s attempt to redefine the American role in International Politics has been exemplified by a message to Jacinda Ardern on Waitangi day congratulating New Zealand about Waitangi Day and noting that the signing of the treaty was witnessed by the first US Consul to New Zealand in 1840.
Covid19 Vaccine Rollout and Global Inequality
2023-2024 for a global rollout 0f the Covid vaccine will put stark lines of demarcation between which populations can trade and travel easily, and those who can’t.
Is New Zealand’s The Best Little Economy In The World?
New Zealand is the best-managed country in the world. And currently has one of the best economies.
PM Ardern and President Biden as a comparison
On his first day in office Joe Biden executed 17 executive orders making wide scale change to the Trump Administration’s policies.
Are Revolutions A Good Idea?
Revolt? Revolution? Pain in the ass? Depends, like comedy, on timing. And which side of history you end up on.
Regulate big tech now
If we had seen our Prime Minister fall from power because three companies decided that their dominance in society should be used to bring her down, we would be outraged. Yet that pretty much just happened in the United States.
A Few Good Green Wins
There is always plenty of bad news when it comes to nature in New Zealand, but this year has had an accumulation of good.
Must New Zealand Pay Back All This Public Debt?
Without much fanfare, Minister Robertson has used 2020’s crisis to bury the historic scourge of monetarism and within it the excuses of the governments that used it as a pretext to sell off our key government income generators.
The Speech From The Throne
I’m sure one needs a particular depth of political nerdiness to give a flying fig about such things, but since I am one of those, these are my highlights from the speech from the throne to Parliament this week.
C’mon Grant
This government must demonstrate that it has the ability to lead the New Zealand economy where it has stated it wants it to go. It does not want more headlines like the average house in Auckland now being priced at $1 million.
They Are Not Morons
Donald Trump will be back for another go at the Presidency in 2024. Progressives should underestimate the possibility of his winning. Unless the remaining centre-left generates strategies that are executed so well that people feel the difference good politics makes, the elements of populism arising again will stay ready like the elements of a bomb.
COVID19 Vaccine and New Zealand’s K-Shaped Recovery
IF the discovery of a potential Covid vaccine looks like a new dawn, let’s not forget that this is the accelerating point of the K-shaped recovery New Zealand have been dreading. Our already rich are on the line heading upwards. They are getting richer because of a range of our Government policies.
Business Develops Practical Plan for New Zealand Climate Response
The Sustainable Business Council has released a list of priorities for the new government. And they are pretty good.
Could the real Labour Party please stand up
We need to get the Labour government to focus on decreasing inequality and poverty in all its forms and effects. The new government needs to show that Labour has changed the country for good. Otherwise there’s no reason to vote for them in 2023.
Rangitata and the Future of the National Party
As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?
Why Can’t The Ministry of Works Just Build Houses Like 1935?
We don’t have a government like the Labour government that formed in 1935.
Some consequences of Chloe Swarbrick’s win
What are the lessons to be learned from Chloe Swarbrick’s election night win of Auckland Central.
O Winston I love you
Some reasons for us to miss Winston’s exit from politics.
Labour Increases Protection for Kauri Dieback
In an announcement that will probably gain them few extra votes but still warms the cockles, Labour have promised to put Kauri Dieback on the same scale of national disease response as Bovine Tuberculosis and Kiwifruit PSA.
New Zealand, Biden, Trump, and Australia
If Donald Trump is re-elected in 30 days’ time, he will be vindicated and emboldened. What will the implications be for New Zealand?
Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand Health
Jacinda Ardern is a contender for winning a Nobel Peace Prize. If she were to get it for anything, it will be for her leadership response to the national health crisis response to COVID19.
What Have Labour Done For The Poor, Exactly?
There’s been plenty of criticism about Labour’s policies not being effective enough to alleviate poverty. Time for a bit of perspective.
Vote Labour To Support Your Job
This is a backpocket election – and that’s where most of Labour’s effort is going as it rightly should.
Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Matters Here
RBG’s death was an important event for women here because it happened on the anniversary of Women’s Suffrage Day 126 years ago. On this day in New Zealand we celebrate women being able to vote, the women who won further victories of political liberation, and many got together to recount our female heroes enabled by that right and all those rights that followed.
Grant Robertson’s crisis leadership
Much has rightly been made of the leadership quality of Prime Minister Ardern this year. But the PREFU results announced today shows that Minister of FInance Grant Robertson is by a long way the most effective Minister of Finance we have had since Dr Michael Cullen.
What just happened with Israel?
Just two months before election day, Donald Trump appears to have won a diplomatic coup in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have normalised relations with the state of Israel.
Qanon is here
While a few in the media leapt at the opportunity to vilify a small evangelical community at the latest COVID 19 spread, the really big COVID 19-conspiracy story landed by the thousand this weekend. It’s overdue we woke up to QAnon here.
National’s infrastructure bank
National’s proposed Infrastructure Bank is an accounting trick, with very high risks that the entire power of our political order for anyone affected by these monster projects will weaken citizens’ rights.
How has Conservation Fared Under This Government?
I’m going to give this government just 5 out of 10 on the conservation front.
Will our cities revive?
Our cities are the nation’s lungs; they recycle and accelerate external goods and transform them internally into faster circulation. Auckland and Christchurch have had tens of billions invested in them over successive local and central governments, but has this improved our strength or wealth as a country at all?
How Trump Has Changed New Zealand’s future
Post Trump how is the world order looking?
Labour’s Hefty Carrot-And-Stick For Water
New Zealand’s local and regional councils have been given until August 31 2020 to sign up to a ginormous fund that would help them improve their water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. The implications for them doing this are significant and could see the end of Council control of the supply of water.
Here comes the vaccine
Australian Prime Minister Scott Malcom has indicated he’s getting close to the deal of a lifetime for Australians with a letter of intent from Astra Zenica, who are in third stage clinical trials. Will New Zealand benefit?
What Might A Democratic Party-Dominated U.S. Foreign Policy Do?
Inasmuch as tiny, distant New Zealand need worry about the foreign policy of the United States, it’s worth a drill into what a Democratic Party dominated United States foreign policy might look like.