I have written about public policy for more than 20 years, from London, Sydney and Wellington. These pages gather that work by topic. Each one sets out what I believe, how I came to believe it and where to read the arguments in full.
How we govern ourselves
Voters should get a government that can govern and a Parliament that can hold it to account.
Decisions belong as close as possible to the people they affect, and councils should gain when their towns grow.
Before the state asks for more money, it should show that it spends what it already has well.
How countries get richer
Housing is expensive because planning rules keep land scarce, and governments can change those rules.
A central bank should keep prices stable, and governments should let it do that job without help or hindrance.
Migration works when countries choose their migrants well, help them belong and build enough homes for everyone.
A carbon price cuts emissions at the lowest cost. Subsidies and bans layered on top of it mostly waste money.
Countries do not get rich by luck. They get rich by making good choices and sticking with them.
The wider world
Germany grew rich on sound money, competition and hard choices. For two decades, it has been living off that inheritance.
The euro tied together countries that would not share a budget, and Europe has been paying for that mistake ever since.
A small trading nation at the end of the world depends on open markets and reliable friends. It can no longer take either for granted.
Ideas
Free societies rest on an inheritance of liberty, reason and law that each generation has to understand and defend.