Tapu Misa says we need to hear more from inspirational Maori and Pacific women.

When Selina Tusitala Marsh goes to schools young Pasifika girls come up for bear hugs.

Everyone agrees we're a low-wage economy but the impact of that on families has been lost behind a haze of judgment and indifference, writes Tapu Misa.

A Christmas story from an associate, who was in a Salvation Army op shop when a family - mum, dad, and three children - stopped by to drop off a new bike.

You'd expect Joe Karam to rail against Justice Minister Judith Collins' handling of Justice Ian Binnie's report into David Bain's compensation claim. But a miscarriage of justice? Let's not get carried away.

I had an email from someone close to David Shearer, who was "saddened" by my recent column on the Labour leader, wrties Tapu Misa.

The housing crisis is complex and many years in the making, but even so the current Government's response is woefully inadequate, writes Tapu Misa.

David Shearer has been wholly unconvincing - seeming not only to lack a real understanding of the issues, but the conviction of his words, writes Tapu Misa.

It's not hard to see why so many of us have a vested interest in the system, as damaging and unfair as it is, writes Tapu Misa.

The message seems clear, writes Tapu Misa. "Being poor isn't that bad. We feel your pain. We've struggled, too, and look how well we've done."

"Paula Bennett is right when she says poverty isn't an excuse for child abuse," writes Tapu Misa. "There is no excuse for child abuse."

Good teachers matter, but the problem with conflating education and poverty is that the focus can narrow unhelpfully on one piece of the puzzle, writes Tapu Misa.

Tapu Misa says John Banks lied to reporters. "He misrepresented the truth and misled the public on more than one occasion. All while a minister of the Key Government."

Cost should not be only driver of social policies; principles matter, too, writes Tapu Misa.

What part do facts play in the welfare debate, and how much is "truthiness" getting in the way?

Economists are right when they say that people respond to incentives, and teachers are no different, but the responses aren't always the ones we'd want.

Why is the idea of helping poor children so difficult to sell in a country with a supposed 'socialist streak'?

It's disconcerting when you find yourself in the corner with people you've seldom, if ever, agreed with.

A child psychologist asked to fix a delinquent child knows what the parents seldom recognise...

"There is always a solution to every human problem - neat, plausible and wrong," wrote H.L. Mencken.

Think of preventive health care as the condom that most governments don't want to wear.

One former businessman's compassion reaches across Auckland's growing cultural divide