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A week or two back you’ll remember I said it sometimes pays to have a sense of humour about the serious matters of state. As a case in point I referred to Finance Minister Bob Richards who — when asked about the prospect of further job losses before...

It isn’t rocket science. It isn’t brain surgery. Collaboration, while challenging, is not impossible. But it does require the political will and major effort to achieve the possible. Otherwise, like the word transparency and its equally attractive tw...

Funny or not, sometimes it pays to have a sense of humour about the serious matters of state. Case in point: In response to predictions about more job losses before the year is out Finance Minister Bob Richards was quoted as saying, “statisticians do...

Drug testing to detect and refer for treatment is a good thing; drug testing simply to catch and expose users not so good. While a combination of the two may not be so bad, to focus exclusively on drug testing is to sidestep a wider debate that needs...

These are the dog days of summer when the heat and humidity tends to get to us all. So I wasn’t too surprised when one astute reader drew me up on my pointed comments last week over the difference between full-time and part-time cabinet ministers. E...

Eyes tend to glaze over when discussing how the operation of the Legislature might be improved. I understand. It isn’t a high priority for a lot of people and it doesn’t make for the sexiest news. But the importance of reform on the Hill is starting ...

View from Off the Hill Sixes and fours, bumpers, googlies and spin. It’s Cup Match folks and not another day on the Hill. That also means it’s a short week so I will stick with a little quick line and length, which is never a bad approach off and on...

Status for investment in lieu of austere measures is arguably a clever and compelling way of framing the argument. Austerity is not proving that popular in any number of jurisdictions, let alone here, and there is growing doubt as to its efficacy in ...

You can’t beat the wit of Oscar Wilde. “I live in constant fear of not being misunderstood”, he once lamented. Of course Mr Wilde was no politician. Politicians have the opposite lament: they want to be always understood whatever they say however the...