Articles

So Prime Minister John Key has removed the passports of a few would-be jihadis from New Zealand wishing to join rebel factions in Syria. In […]

On Wednesday, I reported on a local analysis of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, which argued, among other things, that the TPP is not […]

The fog of secrecy around the Trans Pacific Partnership has always triggered concern about what New Zealand may be willing to give away in these […]

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about the involvement of Alastair Thompson, Scoop’s founding editor, with Kim Dotcom’s Internet Party. The errors of judgement […]

If Cameron Slater was a beached whale, the volunteers likely to show up to help him off the beach would almost certainly be limited to […]

In the world of thankless jobs, being the Leader of the Opposition is right up there. It involves being the eternal suitor – always trying […]

It may still be only January, but the first of the election year goodies has just been unveiled. Hard to argue with an extra $359 […]

Anyone who felt surprised by yesterday’s announcements about who National sees as being its compatible coalition partners after the last election would have to be […]

On Housing as an Election Issue According to a recent international study New Zealand is one of the least affordable places on Earth to own […]

Click for big version. One of the pitfalls of instant opinionating is the assumption that politicians know what they’re doing and that the job at […]

If Treasury ideologues had been around back in the day, we would still be waiting for the private sector to build a road and rail […]

Having spent $510,000 of taxpayer money on her investigation into the extent and source of leaks about the controversial Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade […]

Even before this week’s leaks via Wikileaks about the current state of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks, there were signs the deal was in […]

Yesterday, the government unveiled the latest round of oil permits. Five of them are located onshore in Taranaki and the East Coast, but five are […]

It is hard to feel sorry for John Banks. Sorry, I’ll start that again. It would be easy to feel sorry for John Banks in […]

Perhaps a bit more scepticism about the PISA results could be healthy. Surely, shouldn’t we should feel misgivings about a test that claims to measure […]

Much of the criticism of the asset sales programme has focussed – quite justifiably – on how it will increase income inequality in this country, […]

Everyone likes the new Pope, right? Seems a nice guy, a humble man of the people, has a good sense of humour etc etc. A […]

When the UN Refugee Convention was passed in 1951, climate change was unimaginable. In those days and in the shadow of WWII, the focus was […]

The charade of bogus “independence” by the Remuneration Authority has produced the latest round of backdated Christmas bonuses for MPs, Cabinet Ministers and the Prime […]

The controversial Texas oil company Anadarko are due to commence exploration drilling off the coast of Raglan this week. Now, you would think that any […]

The last time Air New Zealand got into serious trouble was through its investment in Ansett Australia during the late 1990s – an investment touted […]

Another coronial inquiry into a series of deaths from quad bikes, another call for better safety protection measures to be put in place: The coroner’s […]

It will not be until December, when the article on the Lombard case by retired judge Ted Thomas is finally published, that anyone one can […]

Is there any New Zealander who doesn’t like Kiwibank? From the outset, Kiwibank has introduced fresh competition into banking in this country, and – although […]

It seems to be a basic law of political thermodynamics that centre left parties can only ‘lurch’ or ‘swing’ when they begin to sound more […]

Not many winners in the NSA spy scandal, are there? Oh sure, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been reaping some political applause at home for […]