Category: Foreign Affairs

Avatar photo

UN Member States: Migration Is a Human Right

The United Nations, in a non-binding agreement that almost all UN member states will sign at a ceremony in Morocco in early December, is making migration a human right. The agreement propagates the radical idea that migration - for any reason - is something that needs to be promoted, enabled and protected.


Avatar photo

Feel-Good Bans on Plastic Bags Don’t Help the Ocean

Referring to plastic grocery bags as “single use” is almost certainly a misnomer. Consumers in jurisdictions with bans who reused the grocery bags to line their household trash cans, pack lunches, or even pick up their dog’s poop most often have little choice but to purchase significantly higher-density plastic bags for these purposes.


Avatar photo

Balance of power in American voters' hands

It would be a huge mistake to believe that most Americans are obsessed with President Donald Trump and the ongoing drama in the nation's capital. Most Americans get on with life and are usually more interested in local matters.


Avatar photo

Will President Trump bring down power prices in New Zealand?

Will the President of the United States be responsible for lowering power prices in New Zealand? That question has been raised because this could be one of the unintended consequences of Donald Trump’s latest move “to make America great again”.


Avatar photo

California, Poverty Capital

California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States. The question arises as to why California has so many poor people...


Avatar photo

Is Freedom of Speech Under Threat in New Zealand?

In New Zealand, freedom of speech is enshrined as one of our fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights Act of 1990. By comparison with a great many other countries, New Zealand stacks up pretty well.


Avatar photo

We Need Flatter Taxes, Cleaner Rules

The Trump administration released a thumbnail sketch last week of its much anticipated tax plan, which has generated opposition and support from all the usual suspects.


Avatar photo

Time for a Change in Welfare Policy

Last week the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, published their annual report card on child well-being across the countries of the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. They ranked New Zealand in 38th place out of the 41 nations.


Avatar photo

Child welfare system still broken

Under an aboriginal child welfare system, the best interests test, namely the cardinal rule in child welfare that an agency must do what is in the best interests of the child was abandoned. Instead, racial identity was given primacy.


Avatar photo

Lessons from the UK Election

The country that gave the world Monty Pythons Flying Circus, Mr Bean, and The Goon Show, has just held a General Election. In true comic form, standing alongside the British Prime Minister Theresa May as results were read out for her Maidenhead constituency, were Lord Buckethead, Howling “Laud” Hope, and Elmo.