Almost a full economic quarter has passed since the election, and still we're waiting for government action on the worst recession since World War II. Tax cuts are still two months away and National is cutting back on infrastructure
Read MorePolitics
Canadian PM's near-death experience forces budget about-face
Canada's minority Conservative Government has survived its first budget test after prematurely proroging Parliament late last year. However PM Stephen Harper is on a tight leash
Read MorePay freeze tango begins
Obama’s White House has a freeze on $100,000 plus salaries. Key’s Beehive wants no increase in MPs' salaries this year. But what kind of example are these pay-freezers setting?
If a crime tax is the answer, what was the question?
The government's proposed Victims' Compensation Scheme seems to a victory of politics over principle and purpose. What's it meant to achieve? And if we all think victim compensation is such a decent idea, why don't we pay for it?
Read MoreIt's a good day for human rights and justice
Obama today signed an executive order closing the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay and ending America's use of torture
Read MoreIt’s whisky time for Labour
A close look at voting patterns reveals that New Zealand First and the Maori Party will be firmly in Labour's sights as they plan a 2011 comeback
Read MoreThe party may be over but history has been made
A report from Washington DC on Inauguration day, when Americans found a reason to be proud once again. And boy, did they show it!
Read MoreThe real work starts now, Mr Key
Barak Obama’s first presidential speech glowed with golden rhetoric – but his best advice was contained in one of its most simple passages. It was a message that
Barack Obama inauguration: first impressions
Analysis of Barack Obama's inauguration speech and its most memorable lines
Read MoreBarack Obama: The audacity and the expectation
Barack Obama's audacity and hope is rewarded in the morning when he's finally sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Many worry about the pressure of expectation, but it might not be as overwhelming as they fear
Read MorePacking for Washington and The Inauguration
Every obnoxious security officer, crowd crush, and queue will be worth it to witness Barack Obama taking of the Oath of Office.
Read MoreThe Weldon Factor
Prime Minister John Key’s first non-party appointment reveals more about his governing style and offers free-thinking NZX boss Mark Weldon a chance to move off the business pages and into politics
Read MoreGaza and Bush from up a ladder
Even in the midst of DIY projects somewhere out beyond Gisborne, it was impossible to avoid the horror of Gaza and the sheer stupidity on display at George Bush's final press conference
Read MoreUS hypocrisy clouds Clinton's Mid-East headache
Can Hillary Clinton salvage a credible US foreign policy from its self-serving history?
Read MoreShalom and Salaam seem the hardest words to say
As the bloodshed increases and the desperation intensifies, it is time to ask what is the ultimate aim of the bombardment of Gaza, and how will the international community stop each side from harming the innocents of the other.
Read MoreAlan Greenspan's Icarus moment
As the pillars of capitalism collapsed around him, the man once called the maestro summed up 2008 by admitting, "I have found a flaw"
Read MoreCanada's souring Afghanistan strategy
Afghanistan will be one of Obama’s first tests in office, and his Canadian neighbours are in no mood to be persuaded to stay
Read MoreThe changing climate of climate change policy
The new government's climate change policy is killing innovation, undermining science and abandoning our role as an inspiration to other countries
Read MoreMERRY CHRISTMAS – The grinch can wait
On the day before Christmas, all through the nation, we jammed the malls, shared a little elation. The bills keep coming, we’re feeling the pinch, and our New Year’s guest could be The Grinch
Read MoreAn outbreak of political niceness
Our leaders have shown recently that, when they really try hard, they can be quite pleasant. Long may it continue
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