Just so we understand each other, I consider the entire Charles-Chauvel/Noisy-Kids-in-airplane episode to be slightly less newsworthy than “cat stuck in tree”. My interest in the affair can be accurately gauged by comparing the entire mass of the earth to the full stop at the end of this sentence. The only relevant result is that [...]

Well, there seems to be no doubt what the (supposedly unbiased) Herald’s official position is on the proposed “three strikes” law. The headline
‘Unjust’ bill means 11,000 per cent rise in prison time
is not exactly studiedly neutral. And making out that Kim Workman comes from “an independent organisation on crime” is simply a bad old-fashioned lie. [...]

Steven Joyce has said today that some tertiary education funding would be linked to student performance and drop-out rates. This is an excellent idea and should provide some incentive for universities and colleges to pay attention to those students who are clearly not doing well, instead of simply writing them off as they usually do. [...]

Is it my imagination, or have the latest run of left wing protests been both shrill and rather hypocritical? Today Mike Lee and Andrew Williams are bleating about the horrors of the Auckland Supercity. The Herald dutifully repeats their complaints without once pointing out that both complainers are destined to be out of work when [...]

I have to say I am amused by the frenzied reaction to the story of the Chinese drug dealer who was drawing a sickness benefit and living in a state house. Does anyone actually think this is an abnormal situation? Judging by the reactions over on Kiwiblog, I would say the answer to that is [...]

No one has said that living on the minimum wage was fun or comfortable. The 25c per hour increase that the National Government has approved will not change that. It barely keeps pace with inflation. But that is not the point of the minimum wage. It is the minimum. It is not meant to be [...]

Dr Chris Jackson is a brave man. He has suggested a scheme which would allow oncology patients access to privately funded services at public hospitals. It is, of course, an excellent idea. It is also an idea that will attract vilification from his colleagues (especially the doctors unions) and the Left (who hate the idea of [...]

Hark! What is that strange disembodied twittering that I hear? Is it a ghost? A telephone answering machine? a vague afterthought? Yes! It’s all three ! It’s the Invisible Phil…
Once again, Phil abandons invisibility in order to utter an inanity. It’s rather like watching a Klingon Bird of Prey on Star Trek, de-cloaking and firing, [...]

There is a lot of buzz in the newspapers and the blogosphere about the minimum wage and the rather absurd proposal that it be elevated from $12.50 to $15.00 – a 20% increase. Essentially the minimum wage is a pay rise forced upon employers by government, rather than negotiated between employees and employers. As such, [...]

Yes, It is the time for reviews of the past year, the perennial favorite of tired journalists the world over. Like me, they knocked this together in mid-December and timed it to drop into whatever publication they owed a column to. Just as I did last year, I thought you might like to have a [...]