Today’s content

2022 political forecasts 
Stuff: The year that might be: Stuff’s political predictions for 2022
Spinoff: Thirteen wild predictions for the political year 2022 AD
David Farrar: Kiwiblog’s 2022 Predictions
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): TDB Domestic Political Predictions 2022
Steve Braunias (Herald): Five things to look forward to in 2022 (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of New Year’s resolutions (paywalled)
Greg Presland (The Standard): A few random predictions for 2022
David Chaston (Interest): Time to make 2022 predictions

Parliament, Government, Parties
Henry Cooke (Stuff): How did our political predictions for 2021 go? We scraped by with a passing grade
Peter Davis (Herald): We are dealing with the Covid crisis. But what about in the long term? (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Summer off politics: What Jacinda Ardern is doing, reading, and watching for her break
David Farrar: Why people got honours in 2021?
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Summer off politics: What Christopher Luxon is doing, reading, and watching for his break
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green co-leaders reflect on a year of being between Opposition and Government
Stuff: Summer off politics: What Chris Baillie is doing, reading, and watching for the summer break
Russell Palmer (RNZ): A dozen quirky new laws you may not have heard of
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Now That’s What I Call Legislation – the top bills of 2021 (paywalled)

University of Auckland Covid commentary employment dispute
John Anthony (Stuff): Covid-19 commentators make employment claim against University of Auckland
ODT: Editorial – Covid’s avenues and alleyways
Helen Livingstone (Guardian): New Zealand Covid experts take legal action against employer over alleged failure to protect them from abuse
Craig Kapitan (Herald): Shaun Hendy, Siouxsie Wiles file complaint against University of Auckland
David Farrar: Hendy and Wiles vs Auckland Uni

Covid
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Race to roll out vaccine boosters before Omicron spreads in NZ
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Untangling what Omicron means for New Zealand’s approach to the pandemic
Brooke van Velden (Herald): Pandemic response must not be the same in 2022 (paywalled)
Collin Tukuitonga (Newsroom): A world-class 2021 Covid response, undone by inequity
Mike Yardley (Stuff): Optimistic about what Omicron means for us in 2022
Ben Kepes (Stuff): Getting those vaccine figures up, one person at a time
Sarah Rhodes and Margot Skinner (Newsroom): Urgent funding needed for Long Covid
Herald: Editorial: We could be heroes – Taking our Covid success and solidarity into other arenas (paywalled)
Nicholas Agar (Newsroom): What will our memorials to Covid-19 tell us?
Michael Bassett: Preparing for Omicron?

Omnicron DJ
RNZ: British DJ unlikely to be deported by immigration for breaching Covid-19 rules
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Infected DJ among 564 overseas entertainers allowed into NZ
Craig Kapitan (Herald): Chris Bishop says ‘eyebrows raised’ over call to not prosecute DJ Dimension
Stuff: Editorial – A new Dimension to our tension
NZ Herald: Covid 19 Omicron scare: DJ Dimension avoids prosecution – Ministry of Health
Liam Hehir (Patreon): Three-dimensional chess at the border (paywalled)

Transport
Simon Wilson (Herald): Safer roads: Modern cars not so safe for pedestrians and cyclists (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Safer roads: What matters most – better drivers or slower speeds? (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Road deaths jumped when police cut back on breath tests, speed cameras (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Utopia returns for 5th season (paywalled)
John Anthony (Stuff): NZ Govt to spend $150m on abandoned Auckland bike bridge, alternative crossing options
ODT: Editorial – Everyone has part to play in reducing road toll
RNZ: 2021 road toll: ‘Too high, little progress made’ – AA
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Police ‘disappointed’ over 17 deaths recorded in Christmas holiday road toll

Economy and work
Damien Grant (Stuff): Treasury hoping to keep a lid on financial pressures so they don’t escalate quickly
John Roughan (Herald): We mustn’t let 2022 be the year of inflation (paywalled)
Simon Shepherd (Newshub): More than half of New Zealand workers considering changing jobs in 2022
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): The man trying to spend your $51 billion better
Anthony Watson (Herald): Why New Zealand needs to prepare for the changing face of cryptocurrency (paywalled)

Housing
Felix Desmarais (Herald): Fixing the housing crisis should be about what is right, not popular (paywalled)
Edward Gay and George Block (Stuff): Inner City Pressure: ‘It’s hard watching elderly eat out of bins’
Lucy Xia (Stuff): Inner City Pressure: Lower rent, more rentals in Auckland CBD in pandemic NZ
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): State home landlord charges tenants $35 million to repair property damage

Health
Nicole Bremner (1News): Government defends health reform banishing DHBs
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Aged Care Association calls on government to take it seriously
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Southern DHB sends out 289 apologies

International relations
Audrey Young (Herald): Annette King on making the switch from politics to diplomacy (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The move towards a more Māori foreign policy
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): The five big foreign policy challenges for New Zealand in 2022
Ben Strang (Stuff): Declassified Erebus disaster documents show US pressure to finalise crash report

Law and corrections
Sam Hurley (Herald): Power list: New Zealand’s top criminal barristers (paywalled)
Sam Hurley (Herald): Power list: NZ’s top corporate and civil lawyers (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Gangs, organised crime figures targeted in proposed change to strengthen criminal proceeds law
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Prisoners paid $3.5m in compo over last five years

Other
Olivia Caldwell (Stuff): Police seize rifle, 500 ammunition rounds from controversial Christchurch pastor in New Year’s Eve raid
Ricardo Simich (Herald): The power couples of 2022 – who will call the shots? (paywalled)
Thomas Nash (The Conversation): Report from the future: Aotearoa New Zealand is looking good in 2040 – here’s how we did it
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Happier holidays: light at the end of the tunnel for some migrants, darkness for others
Peter Hosking (Newsroom): Call me Pākehā, please
Sarah Sparks (Stuff): Leadership of wāhine Māori shows a way forward for Aotearoa
Janet Wilson (Stuff): The other epidemic that’s crippling our lives
Karl du Fresne: What that Hipkins press conference tells us about the state of journalism
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Could Wellington’s shortage of rubbish truck drivers lead to a smelly catrashtrophe?
Steven Cowan: Time to win the class war
Michael Bassett: Archbishop Desmond Tutu – His message for Jacinda’s government?
David Farrar: Time for the NZ Govt to act on Prince Andrew