A major part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s itinerary while in Europe this week included speaking at the NATO leaders’ summit in Spain. And what a good, powerful speech it was. Read more
In an article in the June 11-17 edition of the New Zealand Listener, speech-language therapist Karena Shannon argued that our education system over-values literacy and under-values oral language. Shannon correctly noted that oral language is “innate” in human beings, whereas literacy is “constructed”. Read more
“We have lost clarity of how we add value, why we are here, what we exist for.” That was among the findings in an internal review prepared by the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA), obtained by Radio New Zealand (RNZ). But that statement could equally apply to New Zealand as a whole. Read more
Suppose your middle-schooler came home with a math assignment. She was told to measure everyone in the house and report on heights. Read more
It is a pity we hardly teach history anymore. Or economics. Read more
On Friday, 17 June, the American Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children over the age of 6 months. The Centres for Disease Control recommended the vaccines the next day. Read more
The last thing Europe needs right now is a war. Or, more precisely, another war. Read more
In February, New Zealand’s PCR Covid testing system fell apart. The Ministry of Health, the Director-General of Health, and the Ministers should have known it would happen. Read more
I always believed that Magna Carta left us with a most valuable inheritance: the right to trial by jury. Even after learning that legal historians now regard this assertion as fiction, I did so. 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 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
Just before 3 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, about a dozen NZTA and Ministry of Transport officials received a weekend-ruining email. Subject: “Cabinet paper: Urgent”. Read more
This month, Central Banking, the journal for the world’s monetary policy experts, hosted its virtual Summers Meetings. With inflation returning, the onset of a new European debt crisis, and the implications of geopolitical conflicts, central bankers have enough reasons to be worried right now. Read more
Pick your favourite bit of bad economic news. How about a 10 percent hike in food prices? 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