Feature and news articles by Max Rashbrooke
The idea that most of the world’s failings are down to irresponsible poor people is a familiar one, but rarely has it been dealt with better than here. On a Stuff story about people failing to recycle, a commenter has somehow managed to wedge in their own angry views about feckless poor people, to...
Read more →New Zealand companies are failing to capitalise on the country’s reputation for being open and transparent, even though it’s a genuine competitive advantage – unlike our ‘100% Pure’ brand. That was the verdict of Suzanne Snively, the executive chair of Transparency International, speaking at a panel session organised by the Institute for Governance and...
Read more →New Zealand has too many Cabinet ministers and too many government agencies – but more departmental mergers is not the solution, Labour MP Trevor Mallard said at a joint lecture for the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand. Mallard, a former Minister of Education and State...
Read more →A couple of recent reports have shown that even New Zealand’s pensioners – who do relatively well financially, compared to other age groups – are increasingly threatened by the spectre of inequality. The first, by Kay Saville-Smith of the Centre for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment, argues that many young people will not be...
Read more →Labour MP and former education minister Trevor Mallard has suggested that the school system might be spending too effort on working with the bottom fifth of students at the expense of “the most talented kids”. Giving a lecture in Wellington on Tuesday this week, Mallard noted efforts to make sure the school system responds...
Read more →The Herald has an opinion piece from Auckland Council’s chief economist, Geoff Cooper, about inequality and why education offers the best route to tackling it. Now, it’s great to see an economist, and one working for an increasingly influential body, talking about income gaps. But, just like the Treasury, he’s arguing for a very...
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