When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Or at least that's what Hunter S. Read more

Fiscal responsibility matters. Being careful guardians of the public purse during good times provides flexibility for dealing with nightmare scenarios. Read more

In wartime, it’s often hard to know exactly what is going on. Good communication is critical but it’s hard for governments – or anyone else – to make good decisions in the absence of information. Read more

There were three things I was looking for in this week's pandemic budget announcement. I was not disappointed. Read more

We might look abroad to see how a similar rule to that proposed by Simon Bridges to slash regulations has panned out, and not in completely mad places either – or at least not in the world’s more obvious madhouses. In 2001, the Liberal Party of British Columbia, Canada, was elected into office on the promise of regulatory reform. Read more

If your school has strong NCEA results, is it because it’s performing well, or because it serves a lot of children from more privileged backgrounds? Schools with identical NCEA outcomes could have wildly different performance if one of them got there through extraordinary efforts to overcome the disadvantages that its students brought with them to class. Read more

Travel bans bought New Zealand a little time, nothing more. We hope the Government is using this time well to prepare for the more widespread Covid-19 outbreak that seems likely to arrive, sometime. Read more

Social norms can persist well past their use-by date because they can be so hard to change. Nobody wants to move first, lest they be considered the weirdo. Read more

The government has crossed a bright-line rule in its proposed changes to Kiwisaver. Its proposal to require default funds to divest of any fossil fuel stocks is incredibly unlikely to have any direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

I skived off last Friday afternoon for the first day of the cricket test at the Basin Reserve. Relaxing on the grass there really is one of the good things. Read more