Opinion: PM's midterm programme unfortunate for ex-ministers
Opinion: PM's midterm programme unfortunate for ex-ministers
National's opponents beware.
John Armstrong
Opinion: Shearer still needs a hook to capture voters' attention
Opinion: Shearer still needs a hook to capture voters' attention
Winston Peters did it by combining oratory with outrage while flashing his disarmingly seductive smile and exploiting the elderly's nostalgia for a New Zealand that never was.
Opinion: Labour looks to its history to chart the way forward
Opinion: Labour looks to its history to chart the way forward
For the first time in a long time, Labour has come up with something radical on the policy front which may grab the public's attention, and which National cannot really get away with copying.
Labour conference delegates hand National a big stick
Labour conference delegates hand National a big stick
Barmy; loopy; stupid; crazy. Last weekend's Labour Party conference witnessed so much political madness, both on and off the conference floor, that the proceedings could well have been deemed certifiable.
Opinion: Conference a chance for Shearer to make his presence felt
Opinion: Conference a chance for Shearer to make his presence felt
David Lange could certainly do it. He could turn it on and off like a tap.
Opinion: Treasury drops a hint it may be open to new ideas
Opinion: Treasury drops a hint it may be open to new ideas
After nigh on three decades of constant and unflinching devotion to free-market economic orthodoxy, the Treasury seems to be opening the door to fresh thinking, albeit only slightly.
Opinion: Pike River lessons hard despite Wilkinson's soft exit
Opinion: Pike River lessons hard despite Wilkinson's soft exit
Opinion: The 440-page report of the inquiry into the Pike River mine disaster is an exemplary piece of work - thorough, comprehensive, rigorous and surely one of the most hard-hitting produced by a royal commission.
Opinion: Peters' Bill focuses attention on role of Reserve Bank
Opinion: Peters' Bill focuses attention on role of Reserve Bank
Casting himself as some kind of self- anointed Harbinger of Economic Gloom and Doom, Winston Peters this week warned it was now only a question of time before New Zealand's currency reached dollar-for- dollar parity with its American equivalent.
Opinion: Labour shake-up badly needed
Opinion: Labour shake-up badly needed
David Shearer's reshuffle of his Labour team will be on the radical side. It has to be.
Opinion: Key needs to come clean on Dotcom bugging
Opinion: Key needs to come clean on Dotcom bugging
A genuine mistake? Or a deliberate flouting of the law?
Opinion: Banks' dream of 'Fortress Epsom' now pure fantasy
Opinion: Banks' dream of 'Fortress Epsom' now pure fantasy
In hindsight, it was not the smartest thing John Banks has ever said.
Opinion: And don't criticise what you don't understand
Opinion: And don't criticise what you don't understand
Here is a blunt message for a couple of old-school Aro Valley-style socialists: Get off our backs. Stop behaving like a pair of tut-tutting old dowagers gossiping in the salons.
Opinion: We need to get out of Afghanistan now
Opinion: We need to get out of Afghanistan now
If nothing else, the deaths of two more soldiers and wounding of six others have underlined the futility of New Zealand keeping troops in Afghanistan much longer.
Week in politics: National on target with policy, others scrambling
Week in politics: National on target with policy, others scrambling
If Labour thinks National's new five-year targets for improvements in some of New Zealand's ugliest and most depressing statistics are little more than a political gimmick, then Labour should think again.
Week in politics: Peters close to self-parody with specious immigrant rant
Week in politics: Peters close to self-parody with specious immigrant rant
So much for the theory that Winston Peters was mellowing into Parliament's version of everyone's favourite, if somewhat cranky and irascible, uncle.
Opinion: National fails to conquer foreign ownership bogey
Opinion: National fails to conquer foreign ownership bogey
When John Key unveiled National's plan for partial asset sales early last year, it was going to be win-win for everybody.
Week in politics: Key's missive to beleaguered National not before time
Week in politics: Key's missive to beleaguered National not before time
Still reeling from their public caning over the now-axed rejigging of class sizes and teacher numbers, National Party ministers got a blunt talking-to from the Prime Minister at last Monday's Cabinet meeting.
Week in politics: U-turn Parata needs education in politics
Week in politics: U-turn Parata needs education in politics
If Hekia Parata is to remain in the education portfolio for any length of time, she needs to stop spouting meaningless blather.
Week in politics: Greens must remain highly visible on mainstream issues
Week in politics: Greens must remain highly visible on mainstream issues
In the Prime Minister's not-so-good books on Monday; possum in the media's headlights on Tuesday; political road-kill by Thursday.
Week in politics: Nats will have to make big super calls sooner or later
Week in politics: Nats will have to make big super calls sooner or later
The ultra-orthodox Budget was sold on Thursday by Bill English as the last word in fiscal rectitude, but it lacked for one rather necessary ingredient.