Kerre Woodham: What alternatives do we have to capitalism and MMP?

The fact that life is a bit of a grind for many people, and has been for some time, means we start to question the natural order of things. When you can pay your bills, have time to spend doing what you enjoy with the people you love, when there aren't glaring inequities, when the failure of the present system and the people who run it aren't up in your face, when you don't see homeless people and beggars and violence, then everything's good. You accept the status quo; things are chugging along nicely. Democracy, capitalism, everybody's getting their fair share, everything's fine.

Juliet Chevalier-Watts, Frank Scrimgeour: The viability of some charities could rest on how they’re taxed....

The viability of some charities could rest on how they’re taxed – we should be cautious about changing the rules

There have long been calls for New Zealand’s charity-linked businesses to lose their tax exemption status. Under the current rules, companies such as Sanitarium, which is wholly owned by the Seventh-day Adventist church pay no income tax.

This could all change very soon.

Owen Jennings: Banks Flout their Social Contract

For a civil society to work smoothly and effectively certain ‘social contracts’ need to have broad acceptance and be honoured by all individuals and groups. They are unwritten rules we tacitly observe. They provide a framework of understandings that allow us to live harmoniously.

Some of these ‘rules’ or social contracts get defined or backed by the laws of the state.