New Zealand’s COVID-19 response might be the envy of the world, but that hasn’t stopped New Zealanders themselves getting angry about it this week.
In short, there appeared to have been breaches of isolation orders by people linked to the Papatoetoe cluster that sent Auckland into level 3 alert last weekend.
It subsequently emerged that confused messaging and contradictory advice might have been responsible. The official Unite against COVID-19 website appeared to contradict the prime minister’s claims that a KFC worker had broken the rules and failed to isolate.
Public health and political considerations collided and 1.5 million Aucklanders were left wondering precisely what happened that caused them to be locked down again.
Recent political arguments about policing methods aren't supported by the evidence: New Zealand crime rates are static, and even declining in some categories.
Trump might have popularised the idea of fake news, but 26 centuries ago Plato and Thucydides were convinced intellectuals and poets were duping the people and undermining democracy.
The first year of dealing with the pandemic has taught New Zealand many lessons including how we might tackle systemic social and environmental problems.