This morning on Radio NZ we see a story about a school in Auckland where parents are so poor their kids can not participate in school sporting activities. This is on the back of an OECD report released yesterday which … Read More
Some people have been upset by the conditions in my offer to help buy the beach in the Abel Tasman. Of course the obvious answer to any deal if you don’t like it is to say ‘no deal’. That’s fine, … Read More
Last year the Taxpayers Union launched a research report claiming that a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages wouldn’t have any impact. Apparently they had some numbers to back up that claim, although they didn’t make the data behind them public. That … Read More
Kiwis have generously got behind a campaign to buy 7 hectares of beach and scrub, with the aim to fold it into the Abel Tasman National Park. So far the campaign has raised over $1.3m, attracting over 20,000 donors. Even … Read More
The latest New Zealand unemployment figures are down, but does that mean that more people are working. Geoff explains in this week’s whiteboard Friday Unemployment is down? But does that mean those people have found work? Whiteboard Friday was last … Read More
The controversy over the TPPA looks likely to continue right up to the signing and in the days afterward, with Prime Minister John Key confronting Maori indignation over lack of consultation, and Labour battling internal divisions. Jane Kelsey and other … Read More
Over the weekend Labour committed to free education in the 21st Century – including 3 years of free post-school education over a person’s lifetime. This is estimated to cost $1.2b by 2025 – but is that the right way to … Read More
My Poppa was a fighter. At 67 he took me (a 1st XV rugby player) out to round up sheep. After chuckling at me getting bounced off countless times, he caught a sheep with one hand. Twenty years later Poppa … Read More
Global stockmarkets are down 8% this year and China is fingered as the main cause of the drop. People are rightly asking why. Over the last 15 years I have started travelling to China frequently. In particular I went beyond … Read More
Today terminal cancer patient Helen Kelly has lent her weight to Lecretia Seales’ case – calling for people to be allowed the option of assisted dying. Contrast this with Stuff’s article yesterday, which told the story of Jayne Malcolm who … Read More