As ‘Chippy’ the new Prime Minister is sworn in today he has the chance to reset his party and its chances at this October’s election. So what arrows does he have in his quiver? Two stand out…
Read MoreIntroducing Chippy, the new bloke
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern's popularity is saving Labour from its 1st term track record
Crisis management and an unimpeachable personal reputation have been the features of Jacinda Ardern’s first term. Which is lucky for her because her track record on housing, poverty and climate hasn’t come close to her promises
Read MoreTest Fail: Is Labour bordering on trouble?
National and New Zealand First have released border policies that try to out-tough each other as they seek to capitalise on Labour’s test failure. And why Jacinda Ardern’s two lines can’t both be true
Read MoreAnother big C week in politics: Community Covid, conspiracies & constitutional conventions
Labour won’t want to change the election day, but it’s going to get hard to resist if campaigns are delayed much longer. If National gets the gift of time, however, it will want to do better than seed conspiracies. From Caucus
Read MoreA happy warrior comes home: Mike Moore's funeral
Mike Moore was laid to rest yesterday at his beloved Dilworth College. And so were some of the demons that surrounded him and the Labour Party and quite where he fits in New Zealand politics
Read MoreIf only the Czar knew…
Jacinda Ardern is getting the benefit of the doubt over claims of sexual assault by a Labour Party staffer, just as the Czars did in olden-days Russia. But facts will out and so far her actions have hardly screamed leadership
Read MoreLet’s do This: A guide to the Third Way. The Giddens Project Part 4
In the minds of most social democratic politicians, the Third Way is yesterday’s news. But it hasn’t been that easy to come up with an alternative vision of progress. Maybe what Giddens had to say might yet be a good starting point – if only to disagree
Read MoreDear friends: please stop hating on Clarke Gayford
Everyone loses when families become fair game. That goes for the attacker as well as the target
Read MoreAnother chance to be transformational rejected... Labour's cautious welfare response
Big benefit increases and cutting sanctions have been recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group, yet the Labour-led government has rejected the groups call for urgency. So is it running out of ways to be transformational this term?
Read MoreThe impossibility of being Simon Bridges
It's not slushies or Judith Collins doing for Simon Bridges. The fact is that he was the longest of long shots when he took the reins and events tell us he'd need a miracle from here
Read MoreJacinda Ardern thuds back to earth thanks to NZF's 'carefully generated torpedo' (CGT)
A humiliating defeat for Jacinda Ardern and Labour on the Capital Gains Tax is a reminder of how political power works and where the struggle for that power – and next year's election – really lies. Peters has swung the tax axe, with impunity
Read MoreAfter the terror, fear must not win
As we start to wrestle with the pain and lessons of this heart-rending act of terror in Christchurch, let us not fall into the trap of being driven by fear and ignorance. Because that's how this all began
Read MoreCapital Gains Tax - now it's a numbers game
The spadework has been done and the Labour-led government now has to decide whether it can afford to walk through the door labelled 'Capital Gaints Tax'... and they need to know who will follow
Read MoreNewshub poll: If this is the winter of Bridge's discontent, he can't be too discontented
I'm shocked I tell you. Shocked... Shocked that anyone would be surprised by tonight's Newshub-Reid Research poll. The seasons of politics are turning as expected. The complicating factor is Judith Collins.
Read MoreIf Jacinda Ardern wants inspiration on Brady & China, she can look to Khashoggi & Trump
The open letter to Jacinda Ardern to show some spine over alleged crimes against Anne-Marie Brady feels vital in the face of a less than urgent response thus far. The professor was only a mechanic away from being another Jamal Khashoggi or Fernando Pereira
Read MoreDon't give me culture - the question of character
As a practical people we have been well served by a focus on policy and outcomes. But the Jami-Lee Ross controversies raise the question, 'how much does character and integrity matter?'
Read MoreDon't give me culture - change it
The leaders of the main two parties both seem determined to miss a moment when voters would love to see them grapple with the unhealthy culture pervading our political life. It's time to move beyond the same old excuses
Read MoreWhat the Prime Minister Should Have Said to Business
Jacinda Ardern Did Not Say Enough at a Recent Business Breakfast.
Read MoreJacinda returns: Baby under one arm, political capital under the other. How will she spend it?
The coalition government has lost its way after the burst of policy in its first 100 days. So Jacinda Ardern's return this weekend signals a key moment in its life... and its path to 2020
Read MoreMaking sense of the Winston (six week) era
Late on Thursday night Winston Peters will turn back into a minor party pumpkin... or, um, Foreign Minister. So how do we judge his rein as PM? The Winston weeks... the Peters period...How do we make sense of this political epoch?
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