SECTIONS

week in politics

NationalDecember 13

Opinion: Not putting a foot wrong makes Politician of the Year

Some of his victims never saw it coming.
Opinion: Not putting a foot wrong makes Politician of the Year
Opinion: Not putting a foot wrong makes Politician of the Year
NationalDecember 6

Opinion: Media junkie Colin Craig may find his condition fatal

A mixture of grin quickly swallowed up by grimace swept across John Key's face following Colin Craig's intellectually lazy and politically stupid verbal doodling on the non-question of whether man has actually walked on the moon.
Opinion: Media junkie Colin Craig may find his condition fatal
Opinion: Media junkie Colin Craig may find his condition fatal
NationalNovember 29

Opinion: Anadarko the perfect villain to galvanise Green voters

Stetsons at dawn? Even in their wildest moments of untrammelled optimism, the Greens - along with the wider environmental lobby - would struggle to come up with something which so marvellously helps their cause to quite the degree that the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation has managed to do.
NationalNovember 22

Opinion: Pike River dead stance reveals Cunliffe/Key difference

So, for failing the families of the dead, a bunch of company directors and their chief executives are going to be wined and dined by the prime minister.
Opinion: Pike River dead stance reveals Cunliffe/Key difference
Opinion: Pike River dead stance reveals Cunliffe/Key difference
NationalNovember 15

Opinion: Cunliffe appearing to be two different Labour leaders

Allies and enemies of David Cunliffe are fast discovering Labour's leader of two months is something of a two-headed hydra: it seems at times there are two David Cunliffes - one speaking from the heart, the other speaking from both sides of his mouth.
Opinion: Cunliffe appearing to be two different Labour leaders
Opinion: Cunliffe appearing to be two different Labour leaders
NationalNovember 8

Opinion: Crucial election battle looms in Dunne country

The song says you can't beat Wellington on a good day. Even a bad day, too.
Opinion: Crucial election battle looms in Dunne country
Opinion: Crucial election battle looms in Dunne country
NationalNovember 1

Opinion: Irrelevant remits a PC peril for Labour

Well might the Biblical warning about reaping what you sow haunt David Cunliffe as he delivers his first speech to a Labour Party conference as leader.
Opinion: Irrelevant remits a PC peril for Labour
Opinion: Irrelevant remits a PC peril for Labour
NationalOctober 11

Opinion: Cunliffe's promises lift spirits of despondent unionists

Maybe it was too early in the day, but the delegates' traditional rendition of the old union anthem, Solidarity Forever, was somewhat lacking in gusto at this week's Council of Trade Unions conference.
Opinion: Cunliffe's promises lift spirits of despondent unionists
Opinion: Cunliffe's promises lift spirits of despondent unionists
NationalSeptember 27

Opinion: Canny Cunliffe refrains from talking up poll rise

When it comes to commenting on opinion polls, there is a simple rule that all politicians should follow. Don't do it. It is a mug's game.
Opinion: Canny Cunliffe refrains from talking up poll rise
Opinion: Canny Cunliffe refrains from talking up poll rise
NationalSeptember 20

Opinion: Cunliffe's 'war footing' so far fails to gain purchase

David Cunliffe had been Labour leader for barely 24 hours before he was boldly declaring he had put his party on a ''war footing''.
NationalSeptember 13

Opinion: Cometh Cunliffe? If not, aggrieved will want good answers

Cometh the hour, cometh Cunliffe?
OpinionAugust 30

Leadership vacuum as Labour drifts

On the face of it, Labour would seem deserving of much applause for rule changes which now make the election of the party's leader a far better exercise in democracy.
NationalAugust 23

Opinion: Still plenty in the fight for the worst job in politics

There is an old saying that being the Leader of the Opposition is the worst job in politics. The role has one rather large thing going for it, however.
OpinionAugust 16

Shearer's new chief of staff could sharpen policy

A boadicea with a Mona Lisa smile plus a wickedly infectious chuckle to boot?
OpinionAugust 2

Key afflicted by a sudden bout of crisis management

Journalists are by nature deeply suspicious of politicians and the motives which drive them, and vice-versa.
OpinionJuly 26

Others find Bridges difficult man to cross

It is a rare day in Parliament that someone gets the better of Winston Peters.
NationalJuly 12

Opinion: Should Labour bring back Cunliffe if Shearer goes?

When rumours of a Labour leadership coup broke on Tuesday night, I bumped into a Green MP as I was racing back to the office.
NationalJuly 5

Opinion: Where goes the Maori Party from here, Mr Flavell?

Don't write the Maori Party off yet.
Opinion: Where goes the Maori Party from here, Mr Flavell?
Opinion: Where goes the Maori Party from here, Mr Flavell?
NationalJune 28

Opinion: Key steals a march on his opponents once again

National's decision - very much John Key's decision - to bite the bullet and set a 2020 start for building the $2.9 billion Auckland City Rail Link is a political masterstroke.
Opinion: Key steals a march on his opponents once again
Opinion: Key steals a march on his opponents once again
NationalJune 21

Opinion: Key goes back into attack mode ahead of by-elections

They are a bunch of ''bozos''; Winston Peters' attacks on Chinese tourists are ''madness''; and Labour's promotion of a capital gains tax is a ''dog'' of a policy.
NationalJune 14

Opinion: Labour now the dog that barks at every passing car

What were they thinking?
NationalJune 7

Opinion: Greens try to smell democratic and still get things done

As a gesture to the allergic and the asthmatic - a gesture which was inevitably interpreted by opponents as yet another tribute to the Gods of Political Correctness - last weekend's Greens' conference was officially ''fragrance-free''.
Opinion: Greens try to smell democratic and still get things done
Opinion: Greens try to smell democratic and still get things done
NationalMay 31

Opinion: Politics continues to make strange bedfellows indeed

It was bad news enough for Labour this week that two major opinion polls registered morale-sapping widening of the gulf in the party's support compared with National's rating - a gap which had begun to close in previous months.
NationalMay 24

Opinion: Asset sales millions flowing towards Christchurch

You do not have to burrow too deeply into the annual government accounts to uncover the untold story of last week's Budget.