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It was an unfortunate coincidence that earlier this week two interviews were published almost at the same time that demonstrated the schism between European wishful thinking and Europe’s not-so-wishful reality. Speaking to German conservative broadsheet Welt am Sonntag, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for a common European army. Read more

Imagine for a second that you are a small business owner, and one day while trawling through your emails, a bolt of lightning sizzles through the office window and strikes your assistant, killing him instantly. Then to compound the situation, the telephone rings, and it is the police. Read more

Picture this: a wealthy American couple buy a 3ha piece of land in a beautiful, sleepy town in rural New Zealand. Their plans for the land are ambitious; a redeveloped campground, information centre and community classroom. Read more

It is fair to say that New Zealand and Portugal are not particularly close nations. Yes, there were a few Portuguese whalers in 19th century New Zealand but according to the latest census the NZ Portuguese population is estimated to be just under 1,000 people -- or roughly 0.02 per cent of the total population. Read more

There are two things that the changes currently shaking up the media sector can teach us. The first is that the digital transition process is painful. Read more

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) has hired Crown research institute NIWA to draw up coastal hazard lines. Yet the 2012 hazard line guidance co-authored by NIWA staff fails to define, even in principle, what likelihood such lines are meant to represent, let alone justify that choice in cost-benefit terms. The folly of coastal hazard lines of unknown likelihood and net benefit is illustrated by the experience in 2012-14 of the Kapiti Coast District Council. Read more

When Harvard economist Ed Glaeser delivered a public lecture on urban economics in Christchurch in 2013, hosted by Canterbury’s Department of Economics and Finance, he was asked whether Christchurch would really recover. The question wasn’t crazy. Read more

It was more than a little bizarre when news broke on early Saturday morning that Greece and the eurozone had reached an agreement in their dispute over the country’s debt and bailout program. What was so strange about the deal was the fact that it was announced much earlier than anyone had anticipated. Read more

Much is made of New Zealand’s savings culture, or more accurately the lack thereof, which is presumably why the government established the Commission for Financial Capability (CFC). The Crown-owned entity, formerly known as the Centre for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income (say that three times fast), is tasked with giving financially vulnerable people the skills to become money savvy. Read more

New Zealand is not a cheap place to live – for a lot of reasons. We’re far from a lot of major markets, so shipping goods here can be expensive. Read more