A group of Auckland charities have quietly started lending money at zero interest rates to low-income families in a pilot project which may drive loan sharks out.

Women heading back into the workforce after a long break and worried they have nothing to wear to a job interview are getting a boost of confidence from the team at Dress for Success.

Editorial: When the Children's Commissioner set up an "expert advisory group on solutions to child poverty" this year, many New Zealanders will have cheered.

I'd like to see church ministers being proactive in curbing violence before it happens. It is good to see church ministers taking a positive step to curb violence.

The noticeboards in the public area at the Hobson St headquarters of the Auckland City Mission make grim reading.

Government-backed low-interest loans to undercut "loan sharks" could be on the cards in the wake of a pragmatic final report of an expert group on child poverty.

Despite 40 years of investment, the under-performing tail is as stubborn as ever and will remain so as long as educational policy is driven by ideologies, writes Jim Traue.

Winston Peters has defended the expulsion of NZ First list MP Brendan Horan from the party.

Northland has the highest rates of rheumatic fever in the country and last week visiting US expert Dr Stanford Shulman met health professionals to help with solutions.

Drug policy has to start from a base of logic, writes Kevin Tamati. "Peter Dunne has reasoned that it's the health consequences that provide a rationale."

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders will be excluded from Australia's new national disability insurance scheme.

Paula Bennett has admitted that Work and Income may have paid airfares for some beneficiaries to take up job offers in Australia.

A campaign has been launched to demand equal pay for women after finding that, on average, men are paid at least 10 per cent more than women. Have your say here.

The first Sikh guardsman to be given permission to wear a turban instead of a bearskin while on duty outside Buckingham Palace is under pressure not to break tradition.

I lost my virginity in my second year at university. Freak eh? It makes me quite the deviant in today's sexy-and-you-know-it world.

Prison bosses have admitted that they expected riots when they banned smoking in jails last year.

When Mike King used Twitter to help find a high-profile sports star to promote the marriage equality bill, you could almost see the tumbleweed roll by.

Here's a quick quiz. You are a child. Who is most likely to kill you. Your mum? Your dad? Stepdad? Rodney Hide says police have the answer.

A man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia tried to kill his brother-in-law days after being released from a mental health unit at Auckland Hospital.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage is likely to be amended to explicitly state that churches would not be forced to marry same-sex couples.

The respected policy expert charged with finding solutions to child poverty has challenged men to take responsibility for children's well-being - it's not enough to leave it to the womenfolk.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.