It’s got all the right ingredients: local celebrity, an epiphany, cute animals, industry bad guys, hoodwink, public outrage - the media’s happy as a pig in muck, this week. But why did it take so long?
Read MorePolitics
Doing it for themselves?
Is the Minister of Women's Affairs betraying women by urging her ministry to engage more actively with men?
Read MoreGot the patches. Got the tasers. Get the guns?
Napier’s tragic siege will accelerate the provision of tasers to all frontline police. Whanganui can now ban gang patches in public. But why are tougher firearms controls so hard?
Read MoreGive us a fair go, Simon Power
The Justice Minister last week tried to tell the United Nations what a 'fair go' means in this country. He failed miserably
Read MoreLabour's links to Police, Hager exposed!
Don Brash might dream that Helen Clark hacked his computer, leaked the contents to Nicky Hager, forced the High Court to allow his book to be published, and then oversaw the police investigation which kept her role secret. The truth is more prosaic
Read MoreOn a wing and no prayer—at least not in public
President Obama has decided public prayer is not for him, stirring an unholy row with the Republican right. Meanwhile, the news delivers excellent examples of the dangers of mixing Church and State
Read MoreWhere has all the money gone?
According to the Electoral Commission, the political parties received far less in big donations for the 2008 election than in 2005. So just how did they fund their campaigns?
Read MoreWell, there goes the neighbourhood
The government is to give the Auckland suburb of Tamaki an extreme makeover, but is it all good news for the folks who live there, or band-aid politics?
Read MoreMt Albert – the nearest place to Hell
At the best of times, by-elections are never pretty. These are not the best of times, and
Purchase advisers: new dogs or old tricks?
National's decision to hire "purchase advisers" is another nail in the coffin of a neutral public service. Or is it?
Read MoreNational and the art of managing expectations
Pundit's latest poll of polls shows National cruising on a flat sea of likeability, overseas issues and carefully crafted PR. Even the 'dissent' is perfectly scripted
Read MoreSuper Fund: the pros and cons of contributions
A month out from the Budget, the government is facing a legacy-defining choice about the Superannuation Fund. Do you think it should continue its contributions, or suspend them?
Read MoreSuper-City – the shape of things to come
Official papers released by Local Government Minister Rodney Hyde show his blitzkrieg plan for
Super Fund wary of 40% home country bias: OIA
While the government wants the New Zealand Super Fund to invest 40% of its money in New Zealand, the Guardians' seem to pour cold water on the idea in their previously confidential briefing to Bill English
Read MoreAfghanistan – Our call-up papers arrive
Squawking seagulls, lunatics, and lone sheep
Debate quickly degenerated into abuse as the steam started rising over the Government’s bklitzkreig plan to unite
Getting Tied Up in Knots Over a Plastic Bag Tax
John Key shot down Nick Smith's idea of a plastic bag tax, much to the delight of the citizens of Palmerston North. But should he have given it a bit more thought?
Read MoreDecisions, dissent and the myths of collective cabinet responsibility
Pita Sharples attack on the Government's decision to drop Maori seats from Auckland's supercity proposals probably breached collective cabinet responsibility. So what?
Read MoreKiwi jobs for Kiwi workers
Sadly, New Zealand unions are delivering the same rhetoric as nationalist political parties worldwide
Read MoreSuper City - or Super Mess
Central Government is speeding into the stormy waters of local government in