From the vantage point of the netball world, Heemi Taumaunu, if he’s acknowledged at all, is just Waimarama’s little brother. Not that, even in his own judgment, he’d expect much of a rating when it comes to sport.

But, just over 30 years ago when his dad persuaded him to give up his army career and turn to law, Heemi began taking steps that have been leading not just towards more fairness, especially in youth courts, but also to a growing feeling in a number of Māori communities that maybe they should abandon the belief that they shouldn’t ever count on justice in our courts.

OK, personal disclosure time. I don’t do “twitface” preferring, like the good nuns at our annual school ball, at least some degree of respectable social distancing...pauses for collective sigh of “Ok Boomer”. That said, there is such fun to be had in reading the mistypes of others as they breathlessly spew 280 characters onto a page and instantly tap ‘enter’ without pause for thought, context, or grammatical sensibility. It’s been an exhausting 12 months on Twitter. Will the site survive another year? Who cares.! Martin Hemming found these gems for The Sunday Times.

Words have such power, especially when eloquently spoken. Like science, eloquence can do great evil or be a force for good. Hitler’s ranting persuasions sent his audience pouring out of a stadium to conquer the world. Churchill’s answering quite literally pushed back the Reich.

In its Greco-Roman golden age, rhetoric was the key to civilised persuasion and therefore to society itself. Wrote Cicero: “I have thought long and often over of whether the power of speaking and the study of eloquence have bought more good or harm to the cities.” As Cicero knew it depends. Eloquence implies premeditation in an age that has made a virtue of spontaneity and gossip preferably scribbled on ‘twitface’, where personality far too often outweighs issues.

One who knows the power of the word is the President of the Ukraine. President Zelenski. During his inaugural address in 2019 he told lawmakers: “I do not want my picture in your offices: the president is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead and look at them each time you are making a decision.”

His speeches have been compared to Winston Churchill’s. Now his messages – of hope, defiance, bravery, anger – have been collected into a remarkable book. Here. Volodymyr Zelensky handpicks a selection.

The economist Milton Friedman once opined that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. That is, of course, a huge overstatement. As the world is now witnessing, many factors affect inflation, including government spending stimulus and global supply shocks.

For all their complaints about inflation, one wonders how prepared voters are for yet another deep recession. Monetary policy has a big effect on politics; the economic cycle is a strong predictor of elections almost everywhere in the world. But as the current crisis has made clear, politics also affects monetary policy.

It is true that central banks can bend long-term inflation rates to their will if they are patient enough and independent enough. But it is unclear how far they can go if the global economy continues to suffer seismic shocks.

The Prime Minister’s parting remarks to caucus last week to go home over the summer and think hard about cuts in spending will present a worrying but entirely predictable exercise for our Justice fiscal minders. In this long-read Professor Rogoff considers the pandemic price of stability in the USA.

KENNETH S. ROGOFF is Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003.

Last months review of our Coroner’s Court attracted much interest. This post expands on the role of the coroner through the words of the Chief Coroner of the United Kingdom, HHJ Thomas Teague QC, given during the annual Leeming Lecture at the University of Bolton.

Someone said: “a picture is worth a thousand words”. This month as we remember her majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of New Zealand we simply offer these images as a reminder of a life so very well lead by our most noble kuia. Rest in peace.

The death last week of the monarch — in whose name justice is done and laws are passed — has already triggered changes for the legal profession. This article, originally published in The Times, looks at the changes that King Charles’ ascension to the throne brings to the legal profession.

Since 2012 I have participated in the annual Court Futures survey which lists the top 10 trends identified each year by comparison with past years’ surveys. This year was the eleventh survey since 2012. The last two years have been challenging as events unfolded at such a rapid pace. Despite this challenge the survey captured so many critical but similar challenges that courts from around the world are facing into the next decade.