Articles

The use of cute labels to market bad ideas is what you do when running the country seems like a process similar to selling soap […]

John Key’s credibility has taken a hammering this week – at least among the 50% of the electorate who have always had doubts about him […]

As anyone who’s ever encountered him around Parliament will verify, Chris Finlayson’s arrogance is matched only by his sense of self-esteem. On RNZ this morning […]

Suddenly, we’re awash in inquiries and reviews. (It feels almost as if the Greens won the last election.) Caught out by the damning inquiry by […]

Could this news report serve to explain – in a nutshell – why Prime Minister John Key has not ruled out the SAS forming part […]

So Andrew Little has won the leadership – by the narrowest possible margin – from Grant Robertson, and has already been depicted by commentators as […]

It hasn’t been a great year for Trade Minister Tim Groser. The Trans Pacific Partnership deal has been deadlocked all year, amidst increasingly desperate attempts […]

As New Zealand scopes out the training role that we’re likely to play in Iraq next year against Islamic State, we should perhaps be keeping […]

Now that the Labour leadership pageant has finally ground to a halt, the voting (and the guesswork about the likely result) can begin in earnest. […]

Despite having had months to prepare its story about the threat allegedly posed by Islamic State, the government’s rationale for its line of response is […]

There are two dimensions to the security measures announced yesterday: (a) the deployment of New Zealand forces in ‘training” roles inside Iraq, and (b) the […]

Every now and then Parliament gets an MP who is regarded kindly by those in the opposing ranks as being a basically good sort who, […]

By co-incidence, one of the prime dangers of the government’s new employment relations law has been underlined by the release of the death and injury […]

If the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal wasn’t such a serious matter, this would be pretty funny. Here’s Trade Minister Tim Groser on RNZ this […]

Was John Key born lucky or what? Political performance tends to be judged on three things – the unemployment rate, the petrol price at the […]

Ridiculous reported comments on RNZ this morning by Trade Minister Tim Groser, as he sought to dampen down concerns about yesterday’s leaked draft of the […]

The release by Julian Assange on Wikileaks of the draft Trands Pacific Partnership chapter on intellectual property – including drug patents – contains some pretty […]

Apparently, the Key government is still pondering how New Zealand will contribute to the fight against Islamic State. Long may it ponder, given the lack […]

The politicisation of (a) the public service and (b) the operations of the Official Information Act have been highlighted by the policy advice package on […]

So the Key government is about to launch a four week review of the ability of our existing legislation to deal with “suspected and returning […]