Latest from Social Issues

School appeals Asperger's ruling

An Auckland high school which excluded a student with Asperger's after a dispute with a teacher is appealing against a judge's ruling to quash the expulsion.

Fashion designer tackles violence

A mentoring programme aimed at helping women victims of domestic violence is the brainchild of fashion designer Annah Stretton.

Editorial: Drop in home ownership no great calamity

Editorial: It can be easy to jump to assumptions about statistics, especially if they appear to support a particular agenda.

Robyn Yousef: 'B' word nothing for our girls to shy away from

Ban Bossy is an American initiative creating worldwide interest and lots of flak, writes Robyn Yousef.

Sue Kedgley: Time to swallow hard truth on mercury

Looking back, the once common practice of painting lead on to women's faces to lighten their skin seems bizarre.

Closing the gaps: On the road back to health

Jason Tamaiti Kihi Phillips admits he was one of those guys who was too shy to ask for medical help until it was nearly too late.

Closing the gaps: Longer life expectancy

Maori are living longer and their infant mortality rate will soon be the same as Pakeha - but they're still over-represented in poverty statistics.

Closing the gaps: The ethnic job divide

New Zealand is still wasting its "demographic dividend" of young Maori and Pacific people reaching working age.

Students put sex and satire in the city

Architecture students have imagined how Auckland will look sporting a new super-brothel, and Wellington's future if sea levels rise.

Govt calls for overhaul of sex ed

Respectful attitudes to sex would become a core part of sex education in schools under an overhaul recommended to the Govt.

Brian Fallow: Playing politics with poverty hides truth

If the issue of inequality and poverty is to loom large in this election year there are a couple of cherished beliefs on both sides of politics that need to surrender to evidence, writes Brian Fallow.

Editorial: Bringing some vital balance to social media

Never has the downside of social media been more apparent than over the past week, after TV presenter Charlotte Dawson was found dead in her apartment.

Nanny care no longer a luxury

Once a luxury for the rich and famous, having a nanny is becoming an affordable childcare option for NZ families.

Govt to veto 26 weeks of baby leave

Families are all but certain to get more paid parental leave in this year's Budget, but not 26 weeks as proposed in a Labour bill.

Poverty data leaps after OECD request

Statisticians have discovered thousands more children and the elderly living in poverty than have been reported previously.

Troy McEwan: How to tell a troll from a stalker

Online abuse can range from one-off racist, sexist or otherwise distasteful comments to threats of rape and violence and sustained campaigns of harassment, writes Troy McEwan.