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The public debate on raising the entitlement age of National Superannuation is still tending to be couched in terms of affordability and generational fairness. Can […]

The government backdown on class sizes is looking like one of those non-apologies where people say they’re sorry because of how you’ve reacted, rather than […]

The proposals by the Brazilian firm Petrobras for exploratory oil and gas drilling off East Cape are still controversial. Yet as New Zealand heads towards […]

Is the Assad regime better or worse than what is likely to follow in its wake? Given the carnage in Iraq and the drift towards […]

Article – Gordon Campbell Cartoon by Martin Doyle The Budget changes in education are following a pattern, which seems to have been learned at the […]

Over the course of the past week, the news bulletins have featured a series of nightmare events – the fire in Doha, the murdered hitchhiker […]

It may be called “National” Superannuation, but the relationship between the National Party and retirement income has rarely been a happy one, over the last […]

Every couple of years, a disturbing report is released into the standards of care for the elderly in this country. At quick count we had […]

It wasn’t as if expectations were sky high, exactly. Chances are, it was always more likely that we’d be seeing Bigfoot rampage through the Beehive […]

The decision to stand down Labour MP Shane Jones pending the Auditor-General’s inquiry into his 2008 decision – when Jones was associate Immigration Minister – […]

A week can, in fact, be a short time in politics – and the beginning of Budget week was probably as good a time as […]

Evidently, Breakfast TV is now to be considered an official arm of government. It happened like this: on 10 May, the government formally announced its […]

Clearly, the government now thinks the public mood in this recessionary climate is so hostile to beneficiaries that it can afford to indulge its own […]

It would be nice to think that the basis for yesterday’s decision to raise prescription charges wasn’t just “ We haven’t lifted them for 20 […]

The global financial system seems to be once again (sort of) in crisis mode. Greece is heading for fresh elections and to (maybe) an eventual […]

Later this month, New Zealand will be subjected to its second austerity Budget in a row. Zero budgeting is being presented as the only path […]

If one can be grateful for small mercies, at least young women on benefits will not be forced into (a) having compulsory contraceptive implants fitted […]

Steven Joyce happens to hold a set of portfolios central to the country’s economic planning and future direction. Joyce is the Minister of Economic Development, […]