Quadrant
Nasty, Brutish and Short-Sighted
Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan in 1651, amid the wreckage of the English Civil War.
April 2026
Insights
The art of the contradiction
On Tuesday morning, President Trump told CNBC he did not want to extend the ceasefire with Iran.
Newsroom
Trump pushes Pope onto world stage in a devilish intervention
Dealing with hostile political leaders is nothing new for the Catholic church.
The Australian
Auckland’s new city deal shifts nothing
Last Friday, New Zealand signed its first city deal, a formal agreement between central government and Auckland, the country’s largest city.
The New Zealand Herald
Splitting power generators from their retail arms would not cut electricity bills
With energy prices spiking, an old idea has gathered fresh momentum: break up the big electricity companies.
Insights
Government by correspondence
Imagine hiring someone to run your business.
The New Zealand Herald
Who runs the country? No board would tolerate this
Try running a company where the board is accountable to shareholders but cannot choose the chief executive.
Research reports
Who Runs the Country?
New Zealand’s ministers are accountable to Parliament for departments they do not control.
Newsroom
I’m a liberal now but I still mourn the slow death of the Social Democrats in Germany
A few years ago, I found an old calendar from 1979 in a box of things from my childhood.