The hard change of forestry
Forestry is forcing an important tilting point between mitigating climate change and land use, and it’s going to affect the viability of some North Island towns.
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US China trade talks and New Zealand
Donald Trump’s trade war with China is way, way bad for New Zealand.
Regulating social media
Is it possible that the zeitgeist for global social media regulation is peaking at the right time, and the big tech giants will accede?
Leading a feminist Pacific
It’s time to convert Ardern’s massive global symbolic capital into a lasting legacy for the Pacific. It’s time for a feminist international development policy.
Westland Dairy sale
Westland Dairy has done a deal to sell out to Yili industrial Group of Mongolia. This company is the third largest dairy company in New Zealand.
Cardinal Pell
Cardinal Pell has been given six years in jail for his crimes against children. But the Catholic Church has a range of other allegations to resolve.
No More Investing In Oil Exploration
Norway’s government has announced it is selling out of oil exploration although it will continue to invest in energy companies that have refineries and are engaged in distribution and retail sales of oil and gas products.
Sage gets the money
Greens Minister Eugenie Sage deserves praise for securing some solid funding increases for her Conservation portfolio.
Venezuela, China and Russia
In the new world order of robber barons in which most states are collectively so weak that they no longer effective resistance against large corporations, we should start to view states as diplomatic fronts for corporations.
Digital Corporations: Pay Us What You Owe Us
The Government has indicated that it will seek to tax digital companies from overseas.
$58 billion verses democracy: Bouganville
There’s trouble on the horizon in Bouganville with its government proposing significant changes to its mining law to allow wide scale mining on the island.
Dear St Valentine
Deep in the perpetually joyous realm you inhabit, could you pop over and have a chat to St Francis? I am pretty […]
Should teaching about the Treaty of Waitangi be compulsory?
It was sure refreshing to see the current head of the National Party saying on Waitangi Day that teaching of New Zealand history should be compulsory in the New Zealand curriculum.
I’m so tired of you America
Every day it’s getting harder to even wake up and hear of the latest outrage to political decency in the United States.
That federation campaign
There’s an ad campaign that says “New Zealand is doing Australia better than Australia is”, and recommends federation of New Zealand with Australia and Jacinda being the first Prime Minister. Maybe it’s time.
What Can This Government Really Do About the Economy?
Why is it that right now some countries can have weak governments and the economies just surge ahead? Why is political agency shearing away from economic change?
Is Brexit A Signal Of Decline?
What if Brexit is not a threat to democracy as a system of government or a threat to liberal values? And what if it is an example of British democracy’s best modern exemplars to the world of institutionalised democracy and the rule of all under the law since universal franchise was first granted?
Emergency Wall
President Trump is preparing the ground to use the State of the Union address to declare that the Congress delaying funding of the wall on the Mexican-U.S. boundary is a national emergency.
Elizabeth Warren and Foreign Policy
An analysis of recent public comments made by Elizabeth Warren and the possible implications for New Zealand of a Warren Presidency.
Movie Review – the Favourite
The Standard is branching into new territory with a film review of the movie the Favourite.
Japan restarts commercial whaling
Japan have withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission and will resume commercial whaling.
Go Democracy Go!
It’s going to be a strong year for democratic politics.
Play day
This is the day to play.
Random 2019 predictions …
What will happen in 2019?
Public Service meltdown
How much Wellington-political-economy damage can the Government sustain while pushing reform across so many Ministries?
COP24
Nearly 200 nations agreed to the accord in Poland over the weekend. And the goal is to seek to limit global temperature rises to below two degrees Celsius.
Brexit vote on Tuesday
With a vote on the Brexit deal soon and with defeat a distinct possibility both Labour and the Conservatives need a Plan B and they need it inside 48 hours.
The Reserve Bank Reform Bill
The Government is planning changes to the Reserve Bank Act to require it to seek full employment. Maybe it is time for a dramatic change to its powers so that it has the regulatory powers to properly deal with the Australian banks.
Child poverty reduction
It’s likely that Labour’s new Child Poverty Reduction Bill will get through its third reading by the end of this year.
New Privacy Law for 2019
A new Privacy law is in the process of being enacted. But in a world where privacy breaches are rampant and the consequences potentially devastating will it be enough?
China, Huawei and us
It’s high time this government woke up to the intelligence gathering capacity and ambition of China in New Zealand.
Twyford’s big announcement
The government has just announced the creation of the most massive and powerful housing and land development agency that we have ever seen.
What happens if housing prices really go down?
So what if Labour decides to go ahead with its capital gains tax? What happens to the equity of the remaining middle class? What happens to the equity of those who were brought in under KiwiBuild?
14 Million Yemenis and a Diplomatic Nightmare
In Yemen right now, children are living in the worst humanitarian crisis we have seen in the last 100 years.
Electricity again
It is time for the Government to down the electricity corporates and regulate them in the interests of the citizen.
Why this mid term result?
What can we take from the US mid term election results?