COMMENT: Up and down the country our society is becoming more punitive when we should be doing more to help.

The Government has been accused of gutting a major longitudinal study tracking the experiences of kids growing up in New Zealand, after a funding cut resulted in the number of its participants being slashed by two thirds.

Women's refuges, church agencies and other community groups will soon have to hand over their client details to the Government in

OPINION: A lot of married people say that cheating is a deal breaker, but many don't follow through. Perhaps they are issuing the statement as a warning to their spouse.

Just how racist are we? It's a question New Zealanders don't like to discuss but these Kiwis share their stories of racism.

Australian children will be taught about "male privilege" and shown images of men cleaning dishes and women playing football in a drive to break gender stereotypes.

COMMENT: The Government's proposed reforms to our child protection laws are regressive, myopic and likely to have unfortunate outcomes for children.

Vegetarian cafe Revive will again donate leftover food to the Auckland City Mission.

It will now be tougher for would-be migrants to gain residency under the skilled migrant and family sponsored categories.

COMMENT: The burqa isn't some post-feminist freedom from a bad hair day. It's a mistake we made to get here.

As a gang member held a knife to his throat, Jarrod Gilbert wondered if he was about to die.

COMMENT: To reduce inequality, politicians need to ensure Maori views are not frozen out by mono-cultural agencies and majority decisions.

COMMENT: Set up support networks and make sure that local addiction recovery services are available. If not, agitate for them.

COMMENT: If you're looking for the best writerly word to sum up the times in which we live, you really can't go past Dickensian.

Top female chess players reacted with horror yesterday after being told they must compete at next year's world championship wearing a hijab.

COMMENT: There are important questions to ask about the type of society we want to be, writes Lizzie Marvelly.

COMMENT: The challenge is how do we improve employment opportunities for our intellectually disabled people?

We went to various communities to ask them what they want from a new mayor - here is what they said.

Marae, women's refuges and other social agencies have won funding to house 3000 homeless families and individuals a year in the latest

COMMENT: The rewrite of the Social Security Act is a good time to abolish the sanctions altogether.

The latest steps proposed by the Govt to try to curb this country's high rate of domestic violence do not appear likely to make much difference.

COMMENT: As we read yet again of huge gains by property speculators, are we not obliged to ask a serious question?

Androgynous YouTube star Kris Fox reveals how he received regular attacks and death threats online.

COMMENT: Of all the reactions arising from the investigation into the Chiefs' stripper scandal, the most apt was issued by the woman involved.

COMMENT: Spend any length of time in the US and you realise that the Star-Spangled Banner is not an anthem to be dishonoured lightly.

The gap between rich and poor continues to grow in NZ.

Kiwi mum said she had no idea how affected her daughter was by a classmate's taunts until it was almost too late.

Contrary to public perception, few overseas-born elderly Asians own a house and many are living in poorly maintained dwellings.

There's many ways to try to secure a job, but it seems one of the quickest methods for women to win that role might simply be to lose some weight.

This year's World Water Week, held in Stockholm, Sweden, will focus on water and sustainable growth.