When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. That is what it must be like for the government in the housing crisis. Read more
This week, the New Zealand Herald reported that parents have swamped after-school tuition firms. One tutoring company said their phones “have been ringing non-stop”. This follows the formation of a Royal Society expert panel by the Ministry of Education. Read more
If you want to get into New Zealand during the pandemic, it’s not that hard. The government just needs to consider you to be a priority for a scarce managed isolation space. Read more
Suppose a tear in the spacetime continuum had delivered you a copy of December quarter 2020’s employment statistics one year early. You had received the key graphs on the employment rate, the unemployment rate, labour force participation rates and underutilisation rates for the year to come – but none of the accompanying discussion. Read more
No one should doubt the importance of a sound understanding of mathematics in the future workplace. A recent study by the National Maths and Science Initiative found that 16 of the 30 fastest-growing occupations in the United States require substantial mathematics or science understanding. Read more
Do you remember Jacques Santer? If you do, it is probably because Monsieur Santer was the first President of the European Commission to resign from office. Read more
Call me a tragic but even in my spare time, I am thinking about politics. Thus, over the summer holidays, I stumbled across a new computer game: Democracy 4. Read more
This week, the Climate Change Commission told the government it should take control of the economy to lower emissions. The Commission’s advice, part of its draft emissions budgets to 2035, was based on doubts that New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be enough. Read more
It was both distressing and inspiring. In 2015, while I was a part of a small delegation to a small rural school in Northland, I met a student with an intriguing story. Read more
If the goal of emissions policies is to cut emissions for the smallest loss of our prosperity, then the Climate Change Commission delivered a fiasco this week. Alongside its emissions budgets, the Commission has written the first draft of a plan for how New Zealand will lower its emissions over the next 15 years. Read more
It was always possible for a lot of cars to be built in New Zealand. It never made any particular sense, but it was within the realm of the physically possible. Read more
Every time I read another excitable media article about New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern, I am reminded of an old quip: ‘Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.’ That was Publius Cornelius Tacitus (AD 58-120). Were this Roman intellectual and historian alive today, he would make a great New York Times columnist. Read more
Everyone knows that the status quo with respect to housing is “unsustainable”. The Prime Minister now seems to recognise the need for fundamental change and the opposition has recently offered to work with the government to find non-partisan solutions. Read more
This week, Stuff’s Thomas Coughlan uncovered an extraordinary story of last-minute heroics by officials who demanded good practice on an important decision. As Cabinet prepared to make its final decision on the proposed Auckland light rail project in February 2020, Treasury intervened. Read more
It’s comforting to think that necessity is the mother of invention. By that account, come the time, the inventor will rise, and problems will be solved. Read more