Opinion

If nothing else, the steep and unexpected rise in unemployment figures to 7.3% - comprising in large part the young - should give us an indication that all is not well out there in the jobs market.

Prime Minister John Key's economic growth package is just tax cuts in disguise, says John Armstrong, of The New Zealand Herald.

If I were in a better frame of mind, it might have made me smile. But since John Key has set the smiling standard, beaming ceaselessly from the web, television, newspapers, and now the glorious pamphlet for parents on national standards in primary schools, I feel inadequate.

Tax, the prime minister proclaims, is a powerful lever for the Government to boost the economy's performance.

Gerry Brownlee takes issue with Meridian Energy's objections to the Government's proposals to transfer its Tekapo A and B hydro-power stations to Genesis Energy.