What sort of crazy, ideologically blinkered party would require that a set proportion of its candidates be women? The UK Conservative Party, that's who.
Read MorePolitics
My outlook for 2014: Your guess is good as mine
Inspired by the rash of speculation this week, I figured it's time I gave people a chance to make fun of me a year or two from now by giving my take on where we stand ahead of next year's election
Read MoreOn coming first, yet losing
John Key is claiming that the party with the most seats after the next election has a "moral mandate" to govern. Well, you would expect him to think that, wouldn't you?
Read MoreSpying - everybody's doin' it, doin' it
We're learning this week just how common it is for countries to be spying on each other. Sir Geoffrey Palmer hinted last year that those in high power are quite aware of this
Read MoreAfter Ikaroa-Rawhiti - everyone has something to worry about
Mana and the Maori party must now co-operate or perish. All parties, including Labour should be worried about the low turnout - where's the mood for change? National is losing coalition partners at an alarming rate. But the big question - will the Maori Party survive? Does it deserve to?
Read MoreAnd the winner of the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election is ... Winston Peters?
The Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election result is bad news for the Maori Party. That's good news for Winston Peters and New Zealand First.
Read MoreIs Shearer Gillard-esque? And if so, who's our Rudd?
No points if you guess the answer - it's pretty obvious. The real question is if and when the electoral maths could compell New Zealand Labour to follow the same path
Read MoreHow much is that MP in the window?
Sue Kedgley worries that there is nothing to stop our MPs selling themselves to the highest bidder. There is - so they'll have to do it quietly.
Read MoreNational gets on track - and lands decisive political blow
The buzz is that National is about to back Auckland's CBD rail loop. And before you think the government's changed its roading stripes, let's consider the politics behind this
Read MoreSchrödinger's Parliament
Apparently UnitedFuture is no longer a party recognised for parliamentary purposes because doing so would cause too much trouble.
Read MoreThe Greens have done the right thing
The greens are right to back down on QE. Their critics on the left are wrong to make QE a symbol of progressive orthodoxy.
Read More"The ref's a moron!"
The NZRFU's code of conduct requires that players "never argue with the referee. Control your temper at all times." Peter Dunne could learn from it.
Read MoreNew Zealand's story: our shared story?
Steven Joyce’s Budget 2013 announcement says that his ‘New Zealand Story’ project will be all about innovation and resourcefulness, our Maori heritage, and a ‘welcoming, friendly’ approach. I think the Emperor has no clothes, and it's about time somebody said so
Read MoreSolid Lessons
Finance minister Bill English is arguing that we shouldn't second guess business decisions made by Solid Energy. His argument happens to be a convenient way to get him off the hook for government failings
Peter Dunne - what happens next?
Act One of Peter Dunne's departure has come to an end. What does Act Two hold in store?
Read MoreWhat the daft fluoride decision says about a Kiwi culture shift
Hamilton councillors are just the latest folk to fall prey to fear-raising arguments against 'mass medication' and in favour of individual choice, while ignoring science. What's going on?
Read MoreA tale of two Speakers
David Carter's decision on Peter Dunne's status was just as wrong (and as right) as Jonathan Hunt's decision on Harry Duynhoven's.
Read MoreOh my ... I do declare all this nastiness is giving me a case of the vapours!
Russel Norman dared to (gasp!) compare John Key's approach to politics with that of Robert Muldoon! Have you ever heard anything so outrageous (since the exact same comparison was made in relation to Helen Clark)?
Read MoreA bit of spotted dick goes a long way
In the words of Orson Wells ‘Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.’ School lunches could make citizens out of all of us.
Read MoreOffensive cartoons are OK, lazy & bullying ones are not
Al Nisbet and his editors have every right to argue 'freedom of the press', but that doesn't make them good cartoons... And the politics behind 'food in schools'
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