Until a little over a year ago, questioning the Ministry of Health's handling of the pandemic was tantamount to heresy. The country had just celebrated 100 days without a case of Covid in the community. Read more
Chittenden is the third most vaccinated county in America’s most vaccinated state: Vermont. As of late last week, 87.3% of Chittenden residents over the age of twelve had been vaccinated –close to New Zealand’s unofficial 90% target. Read more
This week the price of a New Zealand Unit of carbon credit passed $50 for the first time. Ben Craven speaks to Matt Burgess about why this happened, and what the increase in price will mean for consumers, emitters, and New Zealand’s environmental commitments. Read more
My European friends and family have all had Covid shots over the past few months. They proudly showed me their fancy vaccination certificates (with QR codes) over Zoom as if to rub it in. Read more
House prices have risen to all-time highs. According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, prices have risen by 30.6 percent in the last year. Read more
Politics is hard when every available option is terrible. Get ready for a year of awful choices. Read more
Individualised Funding, or IF, is a funding model for disability support. IF gives money directly to individuals so they can hire their own support staff. Read more
Mike Hosking reads out Roger Partridges' opinion piece (published in the NZ Herald) about why the Government can't drive covid strategy by looking backwards. Roger points out that looking back at what worked on the early part of the Covid journey may not help with what is in front of us now and looking backwards is a big part of New Zealand's current predicament. Read more
Unless you're reversing, the rear-view mirror won't help you navigate the conditions in front of you. Instead, you must look ahead. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Wallace Chapman on Radio NZ - The Panel about a Universal Basic Income for young people to help them get started in life.
Read more
As Auckland struggles, hopefully successfully, to bring the current Delta outbreak under control, let us imagine a future variant – the Iota variant. This hypothetical variant is identical to Delta, except for one detail. Read more
I do not want to write about the Crowne Plaza exercise area. Or the glacial pace of immunisation rollout. Read more
Today, the New Zealand Initiative launches a new report on a powerful social services innovation: personal budgets. The idea is simple. Read more
As the anniversary of the first Covid lockdown approached, the Ministry of Health had some time on its hands. It had issued a new consultation paper and was looking for feedback. Read more
Freshwater politics is a nightmare. Long-term improvements in water quality depend on the development of systems that can withstand government and policy changes. Read more