Nau mai haere mai and welcome to your newsletter.

It’s not all politics this week, despite the election being just over a fortnight away. In Wellington, the draft spatial plan has polarised residents due to the proposal that blanket protections of pre-1930s “character” houses be removed. Morten Gjerde from Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University offers some perspective, pointing out that housing density on its own isn’t the answer to the city’s challenges either.

Out on the school playing fields there’s debate raging too, this time over the wisdom of televising secondary school sports. Authors Chris Whatman and Simon Walters from AUT discuss the evidence that too much pressure and expectation can harm young athletes – to the detriment of elite sports, too.

And in our Climate Explained series, we learn why so many of us say they would pay more for climate-friendly products, but then never follow through.

But yes, there is still politics. Richard Shaw of Massey University has been watching the opinion polls and wondering, with Labour more often than not in a position to govern alone if it maintains its popularity, whether we are defeating the purpose of MMP. If a major reason for adopting a proportional electoral system was to stop the tendency towards “elected dictatorship”, maybe we haven’t quite solved that problem yet.

Well, we’ll know more in 18 days – and there is some excellent pre-election analysis coming in the meantime. Until then, happy reading and all the best.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.