Year: 2013

New Zealand should have a debate about its motorways. But by only talking about speed limits, we are having it back to front. Before discussing speed, we need to talk about the quality of our transport infrastructure.

It is evident that the euro does not work. It is even clearer that the policies to save it are a complete and utter failure. So why are the Europeans still putting up with a perma-crisis instead of sending their political leadership into collective early retirement?

Manufacturers and exporters have been complaining about the high Kiwi dollar for a long time. Opposition politicians are openly toying with the idea of changing the Reserve Bank’s mandate to manipulate the exchange rate downwards. The question is, if inflation targeting was abandoned in favour of managing the exchange rate, would it actually work?

The most interesting policy ideas nowadays do not come out of political parties research departments, let alone their front benches.

Watching the ALP’s strange attempts to solve its leadership crisis last week, it appeared that Coalition strategists could not have written a better script. There is only one consolation for Labor: When it comes to self-destruction, nothing beats the European Union.

To restrain yourself and not take yourself too seriously; to accept that one may be wrong and others right; to be tolerant of different opinions; and to meet in a spirit of equality and politeness – these are not religious demands but in fact the foundations of a free, civil society.

The haircut for depositors of Cypriot banks is not the first time the EU has thrown its own rulebook overboard. That would have been bad enough. What is worse though is that it sends a strong signal to anyone doing business in any of the eurozone’s struggling economies: get out while you still can!

For countries whose official language is English, there may not be the immediate business imperative to learn other languages since world trade is dominated by English. Despite this, other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia are realising the benefits of language instruction and promoting second languages at school.