This week's Quebec election has dashed the dreams of the sovereigntists and unceremoniously routed the incumbent party for its disingenuous attempts to attack immigrants under the guise of equality through a strange interpretation of secularism.
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World News Brief, Tuesday April 8
India begins five-week elections process; Japan and Australia close to signing bi-lateral trade deal; US defense secretary tours China's first aircraft carrier; Nigeria becomes Africa's largest economy; UN expresses concern over violence in Venezuela; and more
Read MoreNothing except a battle lost can be half as melancholy as a battle won
John Banks will have a full trial on the charge that he knowingly filed a false donation declaration after his 2010 Auckland mayoral election defeat. That's not that surprising.
Read MoreNational’s muddled message on economy could help Labour
Open letter to David Farrar on his erroneous Kiwiblog post re Countdown
Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar has had a crack at TV3 for the work done by the team at The Nation on the supermarket story. I lead that team and on several points Farrar is plain wrong and on other points is misleading. So here's my reply
Read MoreThis is not a news story
Just because there aren't any important developments in the search for MH370 does not mean that the media should go out and invent "news" about it. Or, not everything Peter Jackson does deserves to be reported on.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday April 2
John Kerry and Benjamin Netanyahu meet in attempt to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks; US accuses China of "provocation" in South China Sea; pro-government majority expected in Thailand's Senate election; and more
Read MoreFrom a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back
Teina Pora is out of jail at last. Just how is it that he's spent more than half his life in there?
Read MoreDoes the Labour-National gap even matter under MMP? You bet
This was going to a comment, but I thought my telling off by Ian Mackay and Richard Aston on my previous post was worth a fuller reply
Read MoreUnderlying perceptions and the Cunliffe crisis: Poll analysis
It's getting late in the day for Labour to get it together, because its problems aren't first impressions but rather go much deeper
Read MoreUnderlying perceptions and the Cunliffe crisis: Poll analysis
It's getting late in the day for Labour to get it together, because its problems aren't first impressions but rather go much deeper
Read MoreClickbait: Do the Internet Party's rules breach the Electoral Act?
The Internet Party's candidate selection rules very well might breach the Electoral Act. This probably doesn't matter.
Read MoreThe Government's deficit is not like my credit card debt (this is not a blog about Dotcom)
The economy, thank God, does not resemble my household budget.
Still, National will tell us they have the books in order because they’ve listened to our grandparents' voice of reason: ‘don’t spend more than you earn, and if you get into debt, spend less and save more. Batten down the hatches and wait for the recession to pass.’
Imagine a country so blue, backwards it's adanaC
Canada's Conservative Government is in the middle of trying to change its election rules to benefit itself - while its PM Stephen Harper has become the thing he once most hated.
Read MoreState tenant subsidies, stigma and spirit
Stigma against state tenants is perpetuated when journalists fail to get the facts right
Read MoreHow the left could still win
I wrote a column in the National Business Review this weekend, and it’s driving right-wingers there nuts.
Parata & Sharples detective agency: 'I lost my money at home' - 'Let's look in the car'
When is a subsidiary not a subsidiary, but an independent and untouchable private fortress? When it's being investigated by the keystone cops at Parata & Sharples Detective Agency
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday March 20
New concerns for Syria; China dismisses any link between Uighur ethnic minority and missing Malaysian Airlines flight; Taiwanese activists break into parliament to protest trade deal with China; Ukraine's naval headquarters seized; Sri Lanka releases two human rights activists; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday March 19
Putin moves ahead with plan to annex Crimea; Thailand to lift Bangkok's State of Emergency; owners of Fukushima nuclear plant turning to unskilled workers to decommision site which may have contributed to recent leak; and more
Read MoreNZ First conundrum - the road more or less travelled
New Zealand First, we know, could go either way. And this weekend we learnt a little more about what Peters and his crew will be considering if they end up as the pivot party
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