On Tuesday, the Climate Change Commission extended the deadline for submissions on its draft recommendations by two weeks. The short extension would give the extra bit of time needed to receive crucial information from the Commission before submissions close. Read more
Last week’s Covid cases in Auckland delayed Finance Minister Robertson’s housing policy announcements. The housing shortage has been at crisis levels for a long time, but the delay in this case is not likely to make any difference. Read more
Against the predictions of most economists early last year, the housing market has boomed through Covid-19. Since March last year, house prices have risen by 20%, rents by 12%. Read more
“Demography is destiny”, as French sociologist Auguste Comte once put it. Few developments shape our society more than the composition, the age and size of our population. Read more
Urban land use planning systems that load councils with the costs of urban growth while letting councils decide whether new housing can be built are a recipe for failure. This underpins a decade of low build rates, a substantial housing shortage, and skyrocketing house prices. Read more
A couple of weeks ago, in this place, I wrote about my humbling experience playing the new politics simulation Democracy 4. Running a country successfully and getting re-elected were near impossible tasks, I concluded. Read more
In Greek mythology, Hercules was tasked with slaying Hydra, a gigantic and deadly water snake. Hydra had multiple heads. Read more
Daily testing for everyone involved in the border system was always ideal, though it took rather some time for the government to come around to that view. It looks like daily Covid testing will soon be part of the border regimen. Read more
It does not happen every day that I find myself in agreement with the Ministry of Education. But their reasoning for introducing a New Zealand history curriculum is sound. Read more
UK political commentator Jeremy Driver put his finger on something important about his country’s failure to deal sensibly with Covid. It’s something that has also been rather easy to see from half-way around the world. Read more
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
