The greatest leaders from history have made sacrifices in times of need. A look at who, now, is doing that for us. Read more from the lockdown letters here. I’ve been talking to my sister. We don’t ring or email often. She lives in Victoria, in the country with half a dozen superannuated horses, a … Read more
In recent research on teens’ use of pornography, one message came through loud and clear: they’re keen to talk. But it’s parents who have to start the conversation, writes the Classification Office’s Kate Whitaker. Figures recently released by the free pornography site Pornhub show numbers spiking during the Covid-19 lockdown. While it’s natural that people … Read more
February 2020 is never coming back. In part one of a two part series, Duncan Greive looks at which industries will be smashed post-lockdown – and how elimination might provide unexpected opportunities to recover. As we turn to face the end of lockdown, the precise shape of which is necessarily still being determined, there’s an … Read more
Access to healthy food is a big issue for Māori whānau during the Covid-19 crisis. Dr Geoff Kira (Ngāpuhi), a public health senior lecturer at Massey University’s School of Health Sciences, says Māori need Māori solutions at times like this, and he has some suggestions. On March 25, 2020, the United Nations System Standing Committee … Read more
The government’s extraordinary measures to halt Covid-19 and support the economy have had extraordinary public support. Tony Burton argues that the hard choices about who pays for it will be far less popular. I have lived with a skeleton since the lockdown. It’s white and shiny and takes up half the space in my living … Read more
A tertiary support package was announced by the government this week in an effort to help students financially struggling due to Covid-19. However, Isabella Lenihan-Ikin from the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations argues that the new measures are simply not enough. On Tuesday, the government announced a Covid-19 support package for tertiary students. It … Read more
We’ve had a taste of what streets designed for people, not cars, could look like. Let’s take those lessons with us when we emerge from lockdown, writes Emma McInnes. Our cities feel profoundly different these days. The whine and roar of traffic has been replaced with the chatter of birds, the squeals of delighted kids, … Read more
Like many other of our rights and liberties, privacy has been upended by Covid-19. Privacy commissioner John Edwards looks at the hard choices we’re about to face. Privacy was described in a seminal 1890 essay as “the right to be let alone”. Now, in April 2020, we find ourselves instead obliged to stay alone. The … Read more
After lockdown, we will need to take a hard look at how we rebuild. ‘Infrastructure’ means a lot more than motorways, writes Dame Anne Salmond. In the wake of Covid-19, as New Zealand gets ready to make a graduated exit from lockdown, ministers, officials and other leaders are thinking hard about how to kickstart the … Read more
Parents who have had it drilled into them that their under-10s will fall behind if they don’t homeschool all day are stressing out. There’s absolutely no need to, and teachers agree. Today marks a return to school for most primary school kids in New Zealand, except that they won’t be returning anywhere. It’s groundhog day … Read more
It’s OK if you don’t come out of lockdown with abs. We are living through the worst global pandemic since the Spanish Flu in 1918 and the beginning of an economic calamity that has already claimed the jobs of millions of workers the world over. Hospitals are full, schools are closed and many countries are in full lockdown. We’re practising … Read more
This Passover, we won’t be attending synagogue, we won’t be participating in large raucous dinners and sharing our food with our extended family and friends, we won’t be welcoming strangers into our homes, as Jewish people are instructed to do, writes Juliet Moses. Tonight, on what is hopefully the halfway point of our lockdown period, … Read more
Māori will likely make up the worst unemployment figures in the forthcoming economic recession. Things can’t go back to the way they were, writes Joshua Hitchcock. Our world has changed. While it is too early to know with any certainty what the full impact of this crisis will be on Māori, what we can surmise … Read more
A simple, long overdue change in New Zealand’s policy for blood donations would benefit everyone, writes Dr Oliver Armstrong-Scott. The New Zealand Blood Service recently pleaded for Kiwis to continue donating blood during the Covid-19 lockdown to ensure supplies do not run out. As a medical doctor, I have seen firsthand the absolute necessity of … Read more
Our essential workers deserve more than a round of applause, but danger pay is not the answer, writes Kerry Davies from the Public Service Association. Did you shower this morning? Is the kitchen clean? Have you changed your sheets since we went into lockdown? Have you vacuumed? Are you taking that rubbish out? For most … Read more
There’s a desperate scramble to stop more major media companies failing. Duncan Greive explains what’s going on – and how it might play out. The most recent edition of the reigning newspaper of the year, the Sunday Star-Times, was a pearler. It opened with a substantial analysis from political editor Luke Malpass about the tension … Read more
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz. You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it. By ‘it’ I mean the … Read more
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject. It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with the surprise announcement that … Read more
The shockingly fast collapse of Bauer presents the government with a momentous choice, says Duncan Greive. Will it save the media industry, or concentrate on its own? This moment was always coming. The long, steady flow of advertising revenue to the tech giants has left the private sector media gaunt, much leaner than is healthy … Read more
Lotta Dann reflects on staying sober in the midst of a global crisis, and shares some advice for those who are looking to cut back. If you’ve seen the endless news reports and social media posts about alcohol, you’d be forgiven for thinking all New Zealanders are drinking away their days in lockdown. But you’d … Read more
We’re only just beginning to understand the vast political ramifications of the coronavirus, both here and around the world, writes Colin James. What comes after Covid-19? Not business as usual. The global virus is a disjunctive shock and such a shock sets up a chain reaction that changes the order of things. That there is … Read more
When officials – including police themselves – don’t seem clear on the rules around movement, it makes it harder for everyone to do the right thing, writes Andrew Geddis. Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to eradicate the virus that causes Covid-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to … Read more
Robyn Hunt writes on the challenges facing disabled people and what needs to be done to support them in lockdown and beyond. Disabled people at higher risk need more help. Many of the almost one quarter of New Zealanders who are disabled are doing it hard as the country goes into lockdown. If the levels … Read more
As New Zealand looks toward an uncertain future in all areas of life, Auckland school principal Claire Amos sees an opportunity to change high school education for the better. The last week has been an interesting one for school leaders. Monday arrived, it was all on – schools were closing the next day, schools across … Read more
This morning the Christchurch shooter changed tack and entered a guilty plea to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act. We can now call him what he is: a terrorist. But there are questions that still need to be addressed, writes Anjum Rahman. I’ve just received the … Read more
The world, and our lives, are transforming before us, writes Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, who has been self-isolated for over a week. As our collective fast-paced metabolism meets a slowing down of the world around us, it’s time to look after your mental health. In the blink of an eye, the world has changed. What … Read more
With mass unemployment coming, some existing benefit rules are going to exacerbate people’s problems. The size and suddenness of the Covid-19 shock has highlighted just how far New Zealand has allowed its welfare system to run down. The government yesterday announced extensions to its wage subsidy scheme and that it is “expediting urgent work on … Read more
Once again, New Zealanders are caught up in world events that will test our mettle. This time, the battles will be fought at home, writes Dame Anne Salmond. When I was a little girl, I knew that my Mum and Dad had lived through World War II, and the Depression. I grew up with wartime … Read more
What we choose to do over the next few weeks could define our lives. There is an inconvenient truth about Covid-19. Although it is blindingly obvious, bringing it up makes us uncomfortable. And that is why we need to talk about it a lot more. This is history. It’s that simple. Before you nod and … Read more