What on earth did 47 Republicans think they were going to achieve by writing to Iran's Ayatollah urging him not to trust Obama? Their hate on Obama is so desperate there seem no depth to which they will not descend even if it wrecks what is left of their country's reputation.
Read MoreHow National is gift-wrapping Northland for Winston
National really is pulling out all the stops in Northland... they could hardly be doing more to help Winston Peters win
Read MoreOh go up to the king, and the sky is falling in
Even if National loses the Northland by-election (which I don't think it will), things won't change quite as much as voters are being told they will. So why all the forecasts of pestilence, blasting, mildew and locusts if Winston Peters wins?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday March 13
Iraqi forces march on Tikrit; South Korea slashes interest rates; Thailand-China rubber and rice deal in the works; UN Security Council blasted on Syria response; IMF approves Ukraine loan programme; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday March 11
White House criticises senators' letter about Iran; police and students clash in Burma; China reportedly building second aircraft carrier; Ivory Coast's former First Lady jailed for election violence; Venezuela hit with fresh sanctions over human rights violations; and more
Read MoreIf we're gonna go that way you're gonna need a bigger knife
David Seymour says he may take Winston Peters to court if he wins the Northland by-election. He doesn't really mean it.
Read MoreTo call each thing by its right name
Why did Mark Osborne get to tell Northland it was going to get ten new bridges that it might want, but doesn't appear to need? And why am I paying for him getting to do so?
Read MoreWhy Children are in Poverty
The Elimination of Child Poverty Requires a Universal Child Benefit.
Read MoreEverything to play for in Northland
Labour is in a bit of a pickle, but by opening the door for Winston is making life harder for National and ensuring and a close race in the North
Read MoreWhat drought really means for New Zealand
As we head into another drier-than-normal season, New Zealand needs to put more thought into water management
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday March 4
Netanyahu speaks to US Congress; Australia boosts its forces in Iraq; Obama criticises China's proposed counterterrorism law; Boko Haram video shows two beheaded men; EU likely to fall short of climate targets; and more
Read MoreHold the phone...35 minutes of time wasted in the US Congress
The Israeli PM's speech to US Congress is over with, unsurprisingly, no viable alternative to the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, but plenty of fearmongering, victimhood, condescension. Oh and fawning adoration from the mainly Republican audience. Netanyahu should have taken the sage advice to stay at home.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday March 3
Iraqi troops move against ISIS in Tikrit; North Korea test-fires two short-range missiles; Chinese central bank cuts interest rates; 300 die in avalanches in Afghanistan; Saudi diplomat freed in Yemen; and more
Read MoreWhat Is Happening at the Top of the Income Distribution?
The increase of the share of those on top incomes has not been caused by market forces but is the result of their more favourable taxation regimes they have experienced since the early 1990s.
Read MoreThe opposite of intervention isn’t peace
John Key hasn’t made the case for military intervention, which doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
Making the case means understanding what drives people to join ISIS and resisting the temptation to retro-fit our own causes onto theirs.
It means staring at the consequences of intervening - and not intervening.
It requires communicating clearly to New Zealanders, the legal premise for intervention, and telling us what peace looks like.
There are a few myths to debunk first.
Read MoreA fight with limits: The right choice against Islamic State
I've wrestled with this for days and part of me still wishes we could give peace more of a chance, but the limited and precise deployment chosen by the government seems to be the right choice for the time and threat
Read MoreCuriouser and Curiouser
Jami-Lee Ross appears to be a quite exceptional candidate for the National Party. He does things in relation to money given to him that none of his colleagues do - albeit only in relation to one particular donation.
Read MoreAussie foreign minister says NZ's Iraq strategy plays into terrorists' hands
John Key has put a time limit on our stay in Iraq, but Australia isn't impressed with that kind of thinking, showing the Wellington-Canberra divide on Iraq
Read MoreYou can't have it both ways
The National Party's treatment of Donghua Liu's donation is strikingly at odds with with how it treated all the other donations it received. That's not only wrong, but it may even be illegal.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday February 25
Greece submits reform plans to lenders; Indonesian president holds firm on executions; US and South Korea to conduct annual joint military exercises; UN climate change panel head resigns following sexual harassment claims; ISIS kidnaps 90 Christians in Syria; and more
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