Branko Marcetic is an editorial assistant at Jacobin magazine and a freelance journalist who wiles away the hours writing about New Zealand and US politics
Online gaming is broadly illegal to operate in NZ, so how come government controlled Lotto NZ is running virtual betting with games like Texas Hold'Em?
As the government is forced into retreat over its planned repeal of the three strikes law, it's worth remembering just why it needs to go.
From day one, Clark's government was confronted by a revolt from the NZ business world, and there is a similar chill in the air today.
What might happen to the ecology, economy and overall quality of life in our distant isles?
When your house is in decay, a refusal to spend money to fix it is the opposite of prudent
We ask environmental critics of the original agreement whether the deal updated as CPTPP allays their concerns
'Pākehā' been used to describe Europeans, and then New Zealanders of European descent since before 1815. So why do people object to it so much?
From fan shortages to sweaty insomnia, New Zealand can't get enough of heatwave talk. But there's one subject that few media stories about high summer temperatures seem eager to discuss.
In purporting to deliver a disinterested appraisal of the US president’s first year, Heather Du Plessis-Allan creates a perfect storm of misinformation, argues Branko Marcetic
The current trans-Tasman tensions have nothing on the decades of covert and overt collaboration between the Liberals, National and the shadowy Crosby-Textor strategists.
Opinion: Green MP Golriz Ghahraman recently came under fire over a selective biography on the party site. Branko Marcetic dives into a bunch of other members’ bios.
Branko Marcetic asks around to see if the new government can keep both its trade promises and its climate change commitments. Jacinda Ardern melted the anthropogenically warming hearts of many an …
In New Zealand and around the world, modest boosts to the minimum wage have failed to trigger the catastrophic effects detractors prophesy, writes Branko Marcetic No sooner was the new government’s …
Did Labour's anti-immigration stance prevent it winning the 2017 election? Branko Marcetic crunches the numbers.
To find out what Winston might do, Branko Marcetic takes a hard look at what he did before – specifically the campaign and aftermath of the 1996 election.
In 1996, NZ First went into coalition with Winston Peters' old party. In 2005 it propped up a Labour government. Branko Marcetic looks back at those examples and how they fared.
Branko Marcetic talks to current and past members of Young NZ First about their role in a party usually linked to the old, about rivalries, radicalism and alt-right infiltration.
Parties are forever chasing the youth vote, but it's during election season when the power of young political supporters is at its height. Branko Marcetic meets the leaders of the parties' youth wings, and finds them fired up and ready to go.
The advent of Jacindamania has prompted hopeful comparisons between Ardern and other photogenic, likeable liberal leaders, including Canada's Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron. If that turns out to be true, the NZ left is going to be sorely disappointed, writes Branko Marcetic.
In a followup to his report as an embedded NZ First member at the party's conference, Branko Marcetic looks at how the Winston Peters bus is going through the gears.
The headlines don’t quite capture the core message of Winston Peters’ party, finds Branko Marcetic when he attends their pre-election conference.
The Todd Barclay affair has prompted many memory lapses, but perhaps none as powerful as Prime Minister Bill English's now-forgotten objections to cover-ups and deceit. Branko Marcetic looks back to 2002, when Helen Clark's Paintergate and Corngate scandals were making the news – and Bill English was making hay.
On Megyn Kelly's new show Keith Morrison delivers a glossy paean to New Zealand, where US citizens are apparently flocking following the demise of the American dream.
Emails between the New Zealand branch of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade offer a fascinating window into the way trade lobbying happens in NZ, writes Branko Marcetic.
A range of viewpoints is a good thing. But giving a platform to noxious, hateful, racially inflammatory propaganda is quite another. So why is Newstalk ZB so keen on Katie Hopkins, asks Branko Marcetic.
'Beggars pretending to look homeless by bringing props to streets' blared a recent One News report, citing as evidence a survey of the homeless population by Hamilton police. Just one problem: the survey doesn't appear to exist.
