Liberalism

Over half of New Zealanders feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, noting a decline in trust for key institutions. Rebuilding this trust requires understanding and respect for institutional limits, emphasizing education and civic engagement to protect prosperity.

The Western order is quietly disintegrating. Business leaders must adopt a long-term vision to restore this order’s Enlightenment foundations.

The current political landscape leaves classical liberals not just alone but genuinely isolated. Their positions, which they once assumed were shared widely, are now exclusively theirs.

Niue is a place in need of foreign aid, mainly from New Zealand. It is unclear whether an invasion of Australian libertarians would change that.

A British withdrawal from the emerging EU superstate would be a strong move toward a more competitive Europe. It would be a Europe returning to the strengths of its diversity. Even if Niall Ferguson does not agree.

The popularity of Corbyn, Trump and Sanders is a protest against the insiders of the political system, not a revolt against neoliberalism or sound economic management.

If your company has a diversity policy and culture, if you are trying to do what is right and if you believe in diversity because it matches your company’s values, congratulations. That it might not automatically strengthen the bottom line does not make it any less morally worthy.

In its better days, the FDP was the only party prepared to challenge this cosy consensus of German feel-good politics and talk about those issues that were not universally popular. The voters obviously did not appreciate such tough talk and have delivered the maximum punishment to the party by voting it out of existence. You can do that with a party but the problems will not go away just because the voters do not like to be reminded of them.