It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.
Read MoreThe Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
Winston Peters
How Are We to Think About Winston Peter’s Fiscal Hole Claim?
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government.
Read MorePeters as Minister
A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.
Read MoreUnderstanding Winston
The picture the commentariat presents of Winston Peters is a misleading caricature. If we don’t try to understand the complexity of the man, we cannot understand what is going on in New Zealand politics.
Read MoreWinston’s Legacy
The future for an effective centre party in New Zealand?
Read MoreWinston Peters: The king is dying, long live the king
The Newshub Nation debate airing today revealed a king of fight-backs arguing with ghosts and seemingly coming to the end of his reign… and the rise of a new crown prince
Read MoreThe naughty prefect & the 'single source of truth'
Greens leader James Shaw has been under the cosh for his Green School decision, but what's going on behind the scenes and will it cost votes? Social media rears it's sulky head, vaccination lies and debate over 'the single source of truth'. Plus, is Winston Peters in cabinet or not?
Read MorePolitics Preview 2020: The one thing each party can control
Happy new election year! Each of the parties in parliament will be faced with an array of politics they can’t predict or control. But some things are clear, even on new year’s day. So these are the things they will be looking to control in 2020
Read MorePolitics Review 2019: Progress all round
The past year has been one of pretty positive progress by all the parliamentary parties. Let’s take a look at what they’ve achieved in 2019
Read MoreAbortion debate shows best of politics, which is why Peters' games are so jarring
Jacinda Ardern looks to have delivered a key election promise on a day when MPs showed how honest, civil debate works… except, that is, for Winston Peters
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 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 MoreWhy is New Zealand silent on Venezuela?
Some seem keen to ignore the chaos on Venezuela, not least because Donald Trump has taken a stance against the dictator Nicolo Maduro. But that's a mistake and New Zealand's silence only lines us up again alongside Putin's Russia
Read MoreWhat value do we put on the values worth valuing? How New Zealand First has it wrong
New Zealand First's push for an immigrants 'values test' has taken a dark turn, so let's have a look at all the things New Zealand First is getting wrong here
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?
Read MoreState of the Union: The 'when a child is born' version
The birth of a child is almost always a joyous event, but it's especially so for a government that desperately needs the time-out to re-set itself and rediscover its discipline and competence
Read MorePlaying political dress-up – Party leaders still trying on their new roles
Four of New Zealand's five most senior politicians are now under 45 and one the most notable features of this term so far is the sight of party leaders struggling to exercise power and to come to terms with the big jobs
Read MoreWhoops, sorry, the dog ate my Russian spy
Looking at the long lead-up to New Zealand's increasingly curious stance on Russia, the government seems to be wasting diplomatic capital at a time it should be storing it up against future need
Read MoreWho controls the past now, controls the future
Should NZ reintroduce legislation requiring MPs that leave their parties to also quit Parliament? The debate over that question involves a battle over what happened in the past.
Read MoreA very MMP election... & a manicured mandate
After a wee holiday, some thoughts on how the new government should play its hand... and reflections on some good decisions that laid the ground for the 'coalition of losers'
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