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Wellington (Wednesday, 22 July 2026) – Two weeks ago, New Zealand by Numbers asked whether New Zealand was improving. A new report from The New Zealand Initiative asks a harder question: is it keeping up? Read more
Two weeks ago, New Zealand by Numbers asked whether New Zealand was improving. Our latest report asks a harder question: is it keeping up? Read more
In this episode, Michael talks with Doug Blackmur, former chief executive of NZQA, about the qualification model developed in the late 1990s and how it became NCEA. Their conversation ranges across the changes the model underwent, grade inflation in schools and universities, the argument for moving assessment to independent bodies, and the new system set to replace NCEA. Read more
BOLD Hey Jamuel, I've just put it up on UAT now: Heading 1 bullet number link herald Wellington has its share of urban legends, most of them false.test One of the more popular ones, and a recurring social media trope, claims that America’s Army Corps of Engineers was prepared to build a proper motorway between Wellington and Auckland after the Second World War. And that the New Zealand government turned them down. Read more
When the Commerce Commission was looking into retail grocery competition, my shop urged the Commission to check on something important. As best we could tell, it would be effectively impossible for a new large-format supermarket chain to open in New Zealand. Read more
The Opportunity Party wants to be known as the party of ideas. Now polling near five percent, I decided to test one. Read more
The Commerce Commission’s retail grocery competition inquiries always had the wrong focus. If there are enormous profits to be made in groceries, why is nobody else trying to steal them away? Read more
In this episode, Michael talks with Ben Stallworthy about the war in Ukraine and what it reveals about the changing character of modern warfare, from the near disappearance of tanks and armoured vehicles to the rise of drone swarms and the first signs of drone-versus-human combat. They discuss Ukraine's strategy of trading ground to grind down Russian resources and pressure Vladimir Putin, the strikes on Russian oil, semiconductors and the supply routes into Crimea, and what the conflict means for a rearming Europe and the wider contest between autocracies and liberal democracies. Read more
When Oliver Hartwich suggested my next research note, I thought he was joking. It was a single question: What is a frigate? Read more
Dr Eric Crampton talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about ACT's proposal for innovation trials, which would let the government temporarily suspend regulations to test new technology such as driverless cars, AI and drones. Dr Crampton supported the idea and said New Zealand should go beyond it by also recognising products already approved overseas, pointing to geothermal energy abundance and clinical trial abundance as promising areas to trial. Read more
On July 5, the Prime Minister announced plans for free trade agreements with seven more countries, on top of the deal with India he signed in April. The next day, a Chinese submarine fired a missile from the South China Sea into the Pacific. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 14 July 2026) – New Zealand's two main warships will reach the end of their working lives within about a decade, and Cabinet must decide by 2027 what should replace them. The choice will shape the country's ability to help keep its trade routes open for a generation. Read more