Author: Jane Shearer
Travel dilemmas
Travel is one of the best ways of increasing international understanding AND personally contributing to climate change … what to do?
Power of the People
New Zealand is a country where you can change the course of an election by asking someone a question …
When Things Don’t Work
There’s a world of hidden subsidies out there propping our pleasant first world experience of life
Goodbye traffic lights
New Zealand took a major step in its COVID-19 trajectory this week, removing the traffic light system which (theoretically) controlled behaviour according to numbers of cases of COVID-19. Are we glad to see it go?
Inappropriate Incentives
Having bought an EV which we can charge off our PV panels, for the first time in my life I almost like driving. But is this a good thing?
Excess Profits
When is a profit excess? And should governments step in when they consider excess profit is being made? New Zealand supermarkets are a case in point.
Excessive Complexity
Will our future be dominated by AI because we have created a world more complex than humans can deal with? Farming is one example where bureaucracy is creating a nightmarishly convoluted planning and reporting.
Bloody Masks
To wear a mask or not? It’s still a question in New Zealand in August 2022, as opposed to Britain where masks were abandoned months ago. Social stigma vs disease avoidance, the choice is hard.
Media disservice
Are MPs fair game for the media? Should they, or anyone else, be hauled over the coals for a teenage misdemeanour now 22 years in the past? Where is the balance between free press and bullying?