New Zealand’s economic and social decline is slowly receiving greater recognition amongst journalists and commentators. The litany of woes is daunting. Read more

We in the Beehive are aware of some unfounded dissatisfaction amongst the great unwashed. There are stories of a health system in crisis. Read more

When Ministers appear before a Parliamentary Select Committee we do not expect them to make false assertions about factual matters. That is why we were shocked by what the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety told the Employment and Workforce Select Committee last month. Read more

When expectations are low it is easy to be pleasantly surprised. Back in the 1980s, a school teacher once told me of a spontaneous surge of gratitude he had experienced towards a wayward pupil that morning. Read more

On Monday this week, the prime minister said she was optimistic that the economy would not shrink further in the second quarter. That would avoid New Zealand officially being in recession. Read more

Paul Bloxham, HSBC’s chief economist, once described New Zealand as a “rockstar economy”. That was back in January 2014. Read more

On 4 June, The Dominion Post published a lengthy and disturbing article highlighting the woes and dilemmas of earthquake safety regulation in Wellington. It highlighted the arbitrariness of current building standards and decisions. Read more