The Good Society is the home of my writing about how we can shape a better world together.
A detail from Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Renaissance fresco The Allegory of Good and Bad Government
The Post: Schools crumble and the hard right rises while democracies dither
We need an urgent shift towards ‘everyday democracy’.
The Spinoff: Should the government spend less? A debate between a neoliberal and a progressive
Oliver Hartwich and I lock horns over the size of the state.
The Post: Housing could give Labour the way out of its squeeze between past and future
The party needs something that answers urgent needs but also seems feasible.
The Post: Both political camps need to lose their illusions about lobbying
Neither right nor left has got a proper grasp on the issue.
The Post: The uneasy tension between Parliament and the courts
Beware a conservative culture-wars push to discredit the judiciary.
The Post: Why are we cutting programmes that get young people into work?
And why is it done with such disrespect?
Sunday Star-Times: If I was PM – Power to the people, respect for planet
A fantasy ‘First 100 Days’ plan.
The Post: The world has moved on, but can NZ move with it?
Other countries are doing industrial policy; New Zealand risks being left behind.
The Post: The blindness and blame that make NZ a not-so-great country to raise children
The stories we tell ourselves about Kiwi childhoods aren’t true.
The Post: NZ can’t keep hiding from its climate impact – or the opportunities of tackling it
The claim that our emissions are too small to make a difference doesn’t hold water.