I’m delighted to have been awarded the 2014 Bruce Jesson prize, to work on a book on wealth inequality in New Zealand. Wealth – as opposed to income – inequality is increasingly a hot topic. I also think it’s time that we looked not just at what’s happening in deprived neighbourhoods but also at how life looks for those at the top of the heap.

It’s not a conversation that we in New Zealand are very good at having; in fact, we tend to find it embarrassing. But we need to find ways to talk about wealth and privilege, given their growing force in our culture. That’s what I’ll be doing for the next while.