Category: imported_guest

If the NCEA was a car would you drive your kids anywhere in it? Based on its performance over the past five years, probably not, since you could not be confident your kids would reach their destination intact—that is, having a qualification that is meaningful and precise.

Economists have long since accepted Milton Friedman’s argument that monetary policy – ‘printing money’ – is the single cause of inflation, whether in boom times or in recession. Inflation is about too much money chasing too few goods. So the first requirement for non-inflationary growth is for the Reserve Bank to run a sound monetary policy.

One of the most heavily-promoted arguments in favour of MMP, at the time of the 1993 referendum, was that its introduction would transform (for the better) the way in which Parliament worked. We were promised much better behaviour in the House, but more importantly, greater sensitivity to the wishes of the Electorate.

As parents of an intellectually disabled son who is positively and gainfully involved with a sheltered workshop, we are disappointed that the Labour Government, Progressive, New Zealand First, the Maori Party, the Greens and United Future all colluded together to pass the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Repeal (and related matters) Bill.

The recent finding by Justice Asher in the Auckland High Court that a group of District Health Boards failed to adequately manage both a conflict of interest invoked by one of their board members being a senior party in a contract let by the board and a fair consultation process throws into doubt the efficacy of many of the processes undertaken by a very large number of ‘quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations’ (quangos) established in the health care sector under the health reforms implemented since 2000.

Being a lawyer in Sweden under the regime of the anti-smacking law, I have known that the proposed law would lead to policing and criminalising responsible parents all along, and I am still trying to warn New Zealand before it is too late: The anti smacking bill will turn parents into criminals. If the Bill becomes law it will mean the abolition of parental authority.

WHAT kind of welfare state should New Zealand have in 30 years? If the trends of the past 30 years were to continue, we could end up with more than a quarter of working-age adults living on benefits, a huge retired population relying on a hopelessly overstretched pension and health system, and younger workers struggling under a massive tax burden as government soaks up almost half the nation's gross domestic product to pay for it all.

What a wonderfully powerful human trait is the imagination. No other form of animal life can think creatively as we humans…to dream up scenarios of passion…love, joy, hatred, anticipation. But distort our imaginative powers with a bit of fear guilt instilled by mischievous science…and presto, you have the makings of the catastrophic global warming [ooops, I’m sorry], I mean, climate change hysteria.

I describe ethnic fundamentalism or culturalism as a ‘secular religion’ because this particular way of understanding what ethnicity means shares a number of important features with religion. First, it is a set of beliefs about human nature. Second, those beliefs are unchallenged and unchallengeable. Third, ethnic fundamentalism rejects doubt and has a difficult relationship with reason (despite Benedict’s recent speech).

Too many Maoris think The Bash is a perfectly acceptable concept, a right and proper way to behave, to keep women – read bitches – in line. Yes, yes, a lot of Pakehas and Russians and Iraqis and Brits and Negroes, the whole wide world has men with attitudes like this. But Maoris more so. It must be so for the statistics keep saying it loud and achingly clear. And we have to change it before we can’t.