Week in politics

One of the reasons why governments slowly decay and die is that the longer they are in office the more prone they become to ugly pragmatism and compromise of principle.

Does anyone outside the Wellington beltway really give a toss about Aaron Gilmore, a parliamentary nobody who beyond fulfilling his duties as backbench lobby fodder is an utter and complete irrelevance when it comes to matters of real political import?

The man who usually walked alongside the Labour leader to guide them on to a marae was not there this time. Instead, Labour's leader and his caucus were going on to a small marae in Tolaga Bay to farewell him.

In the week or so since it revealed its hugely controversial plan to slash power prices, Labour has bared its teeth in venomous fashion at anyone questioning the wisdom of breaking up the wholesale electricity market just as it is showing signs of functioning as intended.

The latest annual report of the Inspector-general of Intelligence and Security is not going to weigh down the briefcase of your average pie-eating, Penthouse-consuming spook.

For the past two weeks John Key has been under the cosh from National's opponents to a degree not witnessed previously during his four year-plus stint as prime minister.

Like every good public servant inculcated with the bureaucracy's ethos of caution and restraint, Iain Rennie chooses his words very, very carefully.

When it comes to delivering bad news about the fauna and flora of the nation, the same advice applies as to tramping near fairy tern nesting sites: tread with meticulous care.

Why has National remained so incredibly popular for so long despite suffering continuing calamities, embarrassments and unwanted distractions, many of them self-inflicted?

When it comes to dealing with Labour's enemies - or as he would prefer to say - dealing to them, Clayton Cosgrove displays all the sympathy and mercy of a knuckleduster-carrying Rottweiler.