It's the job of MPs to push the policies they believe in. It would be constitutionally outrageous if they didn't.
Read MorePolitics
National pride: great country, okay government
After a year of elision and mishap, John Key's government has hit its stride
Read More'Voluntary' sterilisation – the crime that seems fine about speaking its name
Sterilsation is again being recommended as a solution to bad parenting. It's obscene, stupid and is another stigma attached to struggling parents by those devoid of compassion
Read More"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press"
Just what is there in Whanganui's water that makes people there act like morons?
Read MoreAuckland heads for a "Toyota Moment"
Auckland is heading for a real “Toyota Moment” – a head-on collision into the reality of out-of-control growth, with Rodney Hide in the crash dummy’s seat
Read MoreThe Heatley Question
You can argue 'til the cows come home about the rights and wrongs of Phil Heatley's resignation, but at the end of the day it's the perception of meanness that people will remember
Read MoreJohn Key’s broken promise, on National’s parks
Key promised no state assets would be sold or partly sold in the first term of his government. But that’s in effect what’s happening, to our biggest state asset of them all
Read MoreWorst ... resignation ... ever!
Probably not. But Phil Heatley's decision to fall on his sword over two bottles of wine is an awfully extreme act of contrition.
Read MoreMixed signals as confidence slips
John Key and Bill English are sending out mixed signals about the next government budget while public confidence in New Zealand’s economic recovery wanes. Why?
Read MoreHow to run a referendum
The question and process for the 2011 referendum on MMP have been announced. It's all good.
Read MoreMMP referendum -- Power levels the playing field
MMP could have been overwhelmed by nay-sayers, but Simon Power's process will make for a fairer referendum, mimicing Jim Bolger in the 1990s
Read MoreElectoral finance reform: first impressions
The Government has announced what it plans to do with the law on electoral financing. Not all that much, actually.
Read MoreThe cubicle dairy kaleidoscope
Last December’s uproar about whether we should have cubicle dairy farming in New Zealand was misinformed, because it’s already happening in New Zealand
Read MoreJohn Key - "National park miner"
John Key expects more mining in Crown land, which includes our national parks. Is this going to be his year for living dangerously?
Read MorePrime Minister’s statement: taxing questions
The Green response to John Key’s tax policy statement raises questions about who they’re representing, and some bits of their policy they momentarily forgot
Read MoreKey's uranium shares - gone by lunchtime, but what about the rest?
There's no scandal in the PM's uranium shares, but there is an opportunity for John Key to mine the politics of the situation by providing an example to New Zealanders on ethical investing
Read MoreThe ghosts of the civil dead
Paul Quinn wants to take us back to the days when all prisoners could not vote. Why on earth would he want to do that?
Read MoreFitzsimons' valedictory, and Values
Jeanette Fitzsimons’ valedictory speech in Parliament today ends a political era. Will it be the death of the Greens, or their coming of age?
Read MorePM's speech: Time for a scrap
Key's likeability is about to be tested as he tells voters that GST is on the rise. At last parliament has something tangible to get its teeth into
Read MoreParents and pupils—pawns in a power game
The stand-off between teachers and politicians over the introduction of national standards in schools is simply a side-show in a much bigger struggle over who controls the country’s education system
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