Author: Colin James

Sixty glorious years. How we have changed

We called her Betty Windsor in the 1960s, thinking to be smartly sniffy and disavow 1950s childhood awe at the imperial pageantry of the film “A Queen is Crowned”. But Elizabeth II finessed us: the “bourgeois monarchy” is still in business, respected more now than for decades.
She is a relic of hereditary royalty in a democratic age. But she is less a misfit now than when we basked in empire. Her grandson and his wife are knockout hits with the media and much of the population. read more

The missing dark art of political management

Six months into the first year of its second term the government was on the back foot. How did this happen, after a big vote of confidence last November? Blame management.
The plan was simple and front-footing: initiate a raft of changes to demonstrate a government in charge, clear-sighted, with a programme and focused on “results”. read more

How some really big decisions get made

Tony Ryall last week redistributed some money from the generally sick to cancer patients. Hekia Parata redistributed some from teacher numbers (class size ratios) to training and testing the teachers (but not pay them more). Welcome to zero-new-spending budgeting, a 2010s redistribution mechanism.
There are much bigger redistributions to be decided — and bigger ways to make big decisions. read more

The rocky political economy of the budget

Budgets do four main things: fund what the government does (focus: the present), set the conditions for investment, particularly this decade to fix imbalances (focus: the future), redistribute income (focus: social cohesion) and massage public opinion (focus: politics). Next week’s budget has big challenges on all fronts. read more

The big and the small, past and future

In politics there is the big and the small, the past and the future. Most Prime Ministers prefer the big and the future but usually spend much of their time on the small and the past.

John Banks is in the small category, an engaging but diminishing figure who pulled one too many swiftie. The issue in the Sky City and Kim Dotcom donations to his 2010 mayoral campaign is not as Key puts it, whether he complied with the law. It is how much he obfuscated. read more

Lurking laws of Budgets and taxes

It’s Budget month, Bill English’s fourth. He’s back to zero net new spending, this time because of weak revenue, not an earthquake. This is a big political gamble. And it illustrates a lurking law of taxation.

The gamble is that voters in 2014 will care more about a return to fiscal surplus than about service guarantees. That might be a risky call. read more

There is a tide in the criminal affairs of men

Anne Tolley cracked the law-and-order whip last week: a lifetime register for child sex offenders. But is the public still enthusiastically for the “Crusher Collins” line on crime?

This question arises as former Police Minister John Banks, drop-in leader of the “three-strikes-and-you’re-in (prison)” ACT party, has gone on media trial on allegations that “anonymous” donations to his 2010 mayoral campaign were known to him, which, if proved, would oust him from Parliament. read more

The real threats from Key's one-armed bandits

Here’s a way to think small: park a box halfway up Auckland’s Queen street and invite the world there for confabs, with views of office buildings and shops.
That is what a law change to license a few hundred extra fleecing machines will buy to benefit tourist operators and retailers, who will create low-paid jobs to service the throngs. read more