While none can argue against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) being a terror organisation that needs to be eliminated at all costs; Prime Minister John Key's decision to send 143 defence personnel for a non-combat mission in Iraq has more to do with international politics than anything else
Read MoreThe Bishnois - India's 'original conservationists' – would be so proud of Michael Tavares spending four-days on a 500-year-old Kauri tree in Titirangi, West Auckland
Read MoreMorally - and borrowing Michael Sandel's terminology here - there must be some limits to markets; and running a correctional facility is certainly crossing it. Factually: US' private prison system has reduced itself to national shame, and arguments for why it would be any better in New Zealand are not convincing enough.
Read MoreNew research points that about 15,000 Indian troops – almost three times more than previously thought – served at the Turkish battlefield side-by-side the Anzacs
Read MoreAfter Labour's ill-conceived Chinese surname saga, Finance Minister Bill English gave a hint about potential backlash (though, not in so much words) from the Chinese Government after returning from that country recently. But if Singapore example is anything to go by, protecting one's national interests (read - selling milk to China) without upsetting the Chinese Government (read - enforcing a stamp duty on foreigners buying property in Auckland) is certainly feasible.
Read More