Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
I HAVE BEEN an admirer of Susan St John and her work for the best part of 30 years. So much so that in 1992 I put her picture on the cover of my magazine, New Zealand Political Review. In a country where the number of progressive public intellectuals is shrinking alarmingly, Susan stands out as a forthright champion of social justice for New Zealand’s most vulnerable citizens.
How should I respond to Chris Trotter’s cynical summary of why it is pointless to rail against Labour’s lack of gumption in addressing the distressing wealth and income divisions that result in damaging and entrenched poverty?
Something that comes up on the anniversary of 9/11 is that question: “where were you when…”.
20 years on from the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York it’s still too hard for Aotearoa New Zealand to ask the simplest and most important question.
Over the past few months, I’ve heard multiple people pushing Israel as a model for where they want New Zealand to go – big vaccination campaign, followed by prominent rollback for lockdown and other restrictions, getting back toward Old Normal relatively swiftly.
I’VE BEEN RACKING my brains for an historical parallel to the strange and disturbing times we’re all passing through.
THE WORD “EQUITY” is appearing more and more frequently in New Zealand’s political conversations. It is the new “go to” word for activists, journalists and, inevitably, politicians. It peppers political speeches, media releases, newspaper articles, television interviews and, naturally, it’s all over social media.
In this week’s podcast, Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will discuss: three areas that have been relied on to protect New Zealanders from terror-styled attacks; legal measures designed to protect communities from danger and even protect individuals from themselves and why they failed.
There was a time, not so very long ago, that David Seymour’s Māori-bashing snipe at the issue of a so-called ‘priority code’ would have guaranteed him an upswing of support. But those days are over. It is a long time now since Don Brash received a surge in support for his Orewa speech (and then lost it again through dirty politics, you will recall).
Oscar Wilde once remarked that ‘punctuality is the thief of time’. In his day the growing prevalence of commercial accounting,…