SECTIONS

commentary

OpinionAugust 24

National at risk of losing line of sight

Third-term-itis is an insidious virus. The latest symptom is Michael Woodhouse's worms/minigolf/curtain hanging list of dangerous workplaces.
National at risk of losing line of sight
National at risk of losing line of sight
NationalSeptember 25

Opinion: Eye on the future a brake on change

Government is always a balancing act. For this term the balance is between an urge in the National Party for business-friendly action and staying in touch with the wider public.
Opinion: Eye on the future a brake on change
Opinion: Eye on the future a brake on change
OpinionMay 19

China still the elephant in the financial room

Bill English's sixth Budget was an election-year Budget in three respects.
China still the elephant in the financial room
China still the elephant in the financial room
OpinionOctober 7

Voters can push localism

Should local bodies bother about children? Could the Cabinet agree?
OpinionMarch 18

Need to sort out public-private muddle

We have an extractive economy which depends on commodity exports. That makes the drought a big deal. It makes Solid Energy a big deal - made bigger by a public-private muddle.
OpinionFebruary 18

Challenge of being a small, smart country

Bill English has set the Budget date nice and early - as John Key did the election date in 2011 and is likely to do in 2014. Now, are Mr English and Mr Key - and Steven Joyce, who is to make a science speech on Thursday - up to the fiscal science challenge?
OpinionFebruary 11

Notion of 'fair go' resonates widely

Houses are big in 2013 - big in size and way too big in price for too many people. That is the stuff of big politics.
OpinionDecember 23

All capable of growing some more love

Embeded in some of the worst human actions is fine human action.
OpinionOctober 1

Dotcom mess could give impetus to Labour

One sad outcome of the Dotcom affair is that a rogue who should not have got residency has been transformed into a national celebrity.
OpinionJune 4

How we changed over 60 years

We called her Betty Windsor in the 1960s, thinking to be smartly sniffy and disavow 1950s childhood awe at the imperial pageantry of the film A Queen is Crowned. But Elizabeth II finessed us: the "bourgeois monarchy" is still in business, respected more now than for decades.
How we changed over 60 years
How we changed over 60 years
OpinionMay 28

Greens, Labour jostle for position

Next Monday is the Queen's official birthday here: a time to mark her 60 years on the job. On Friday, a gathering near Upper Hutt will mark the 40th anniversary of the birth of the world's first national green party - one measure of the many deep changes in the Queen's Commonwealth.
Greens, Labour jostle for position
Greens, Labour jostle for position
OpinionMay 21

Forums way to generate consensus, lasting policy

Tony Ryall last week redistributed some money from the generally sick to cancer patients. Hekia Parata redistributed some from teacher numbers (class-size ratios) to training and testing the teachers (but not pay them more).
OpinionMay 7

Blunt messages about a brave new future

In politics there is the big and the small, the past and the future. Most prime ministers prefer the big and the future but usually spend much of their time on the small and the past.
Blunt messages about a brave new future
Blunt messages about a brave new future
OpinionApril 30

A tide in the criminal affairs of men

Anne Tolley cracked the law-and-order whip last week: a lifetime register for child sex offenders. But is the public still enthusiastically for the "Crusher Collins" line on crime?
OpinionApril 23

Various threats arise from one-armed bandit deal

Here's a way to think small: park a box halfway up Auckland's Queen St and invite the world there for confabs, with views of office buildings and shops.
OpinionApril 16

No return to the old 'ordinary'

Economists and politicians talk endlessly of economic "recovery". But what are we "recovering" to?
OpinionApril 9

Companies, grow some fit morals

Easter's just passed, a time to think of higher things; such as whether capitalism can have a moral purpose.
OpinionApril 2

Time for a transtasman customs union?

Here's a picture of Australia that may not be familiar: average net household wealth fell 6.5% in 2011 to be 11.5% below the 2008 peak; house prices are falling and sales last year were at a 17-year low; mortgage arrears are rising; retailers' profits have plunged; the construction industry is contracting sharply; GDP rose only 0.4% in the December quarter.
NationalMarch 26

Comment: Key, Shearer must both be wary

One thing voters look for in a government is sure-footedness. Vacillation and uncertainty are the kid brothers of vote-killing disunity. They give oxygen to opponents.
OpinionFebruary 27

NZ brand, economic future tied

Last week, Climate Change Ambassador Jo Tyndall briefed "stakeholders" on the global negotiations, in which New Zealand has an outsize role.