OPINION

The European Parliament elections in June 2024 will be more than an ordinary political contest. They will be a battle for the soul of Europe in a time of war, economic upheaval and democratic turbulence. Read more

New Zealanders and Germans have a lot in common. They share a socially liberal ethos, a liking for beer and the MMP electoral system. Read more

The Coalition Government has introduced the Fast-Track Approvals Bill as part of its broader efforts to reform the Resource Management Act (RMA). The Bill aims to speed up decision-making for infrastructure and development projects with potential for substantial regional and national economic benefits. Read more

Our esteemed Pontiff, Pope Francis, has once again had a brilliant epiphany. His solution to the Ukraine conflict is so obvious that one wonders why nobody thought of it earlier: Ukrainians just need to raise the white flag, and there will be peace on Earth. Read more

2015 was almost a decade ago. But it seems like a century. Read more

In a column that appeared in The Post on 23 February, Victoria University of Wellington Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith criticizes the coalition's commitment to have universities adopt a free speech policy. Smith notes that ACT Party leader david seymour ‘has previously criticised universities for declining to host certain speakers and argued the institutions should lose funding if they don't “protect free speech.”' The vice-chancellor then states that ‘one inference of all this is that anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' But it wouldn't actually be valid to infer from Seymour's criticisms of recent deplatformings at New Zealand universities that he thinks that ‘anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' You can, of course, think that Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas was wrong to prevent Don Brash from speaking to a student politics club in August 2018 (for example) and at the same time recognize that random people can't simply turn up at a university without an invitation and expect to get a hearing. Read more

New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Read more

Transport policy increasingly resembles a culture war, with Lycra-clad cycling enthusiasts pitted against V8-loving, gas-guzzling motorists. To put it another way, Kiwis are either champions of light rail or proponents of Roads of National Significance. Read more

According to Stats NZ, the 2023 average gender pay gap across the entire New Zealand workforce was 8.6 per cent. The gap has not shifted much in recent years. Read more

The Sen̓áḵw development near downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, won’t quite be a city within the city. But it will be close. Read more

Last week, we applauded Housing Minister Chris Bishop for his housing policy proposals. Incentives for councils to promote growth perfectly match Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s repeated calls for localism. Read more

On Monday, Transport Minister Simeon Brown released the long-awaited draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport. The GPS outlines the Government’s priorities for investment in New Zealand’s transport network over the next ten years and how it expects NZTA and local authorities to manage the $7 billion annual National Land Transport Fund. Read more