Henry Cooke

1 week ago | nzherald.co.nz | Henry Cooke

Jacinda Ardern: Able to reach into a reserve of something that few of our leaders ever have. Photo / Jane UssherThis book isn’t for us. It’s hard to escape that sense for much of Jacinda Ardern’s memoir, whether it is her translating the word “waka” or saying she was in her “junior year” of high school. The book tour isn’t even visiting New Zealand.

2 months ago | thespinoff.co.nz | Henry Cooke

A new book challenges the left to stop being the parties of ‘no’ and adopt a new type of politics – one that builds. But can anyone in New Zealand politics credibly embrace abundance, or are we doomed to squabble in scarcity for ever? For the first time in a long time, being a renter doesn’t have to suck. RNZ reported recently that Auckland landlords are offering a free week’s rent or food vouchers to entice tenants in.

2 months ago | metromag.co.nz | Henry Cooke

Society When the left swept to victory in 2020, the online right engaged in two kinds of copium. The most widespread sought to impose limits on the government’s mandate, arguing that huge swathes of rural National Party voters ‘lent’ rather than gave their votes to Labour solely to lock the Greens out of government.

2 months ago | henrycooke.news | Henry Cooke

Christopher Luxon is not having a good year. The Christmas season kicked off with the confirmation that New Zealand had been suffering a serious recession in 2024, all ahead of a potential global downturn as a new US Government blows up everything it can. In early February the unemployment rate ticked up over a symbolically important 5.1%, while the new school lunch program provided a rolling maul of nasty headlines.

Feb 9, 2025 | thespinoff.co.nz | Henry Cooke

The last time New Zealand had this kind of recession we voted in MMP. What might we do this time? First published in Henry Cooke’s politics newsletter, Museum Street. New Zealand is not at its best right now. I write this from afar so I have to rely on brutal headline indicators and the testimony of my friends and family. Unemployment popped up above 5% in the final quarter of last year, with one in 10 Pacifica people out of a job and close to 100,000 young people not in education, training or work.