Category: NZ Herald

Mike Moore was Prime Minister for eight and a-half weeks. Helen Clark next June will have been Prime Minister for eight and a-half years.

Moore, of course, went on to an international job far bigger than Prime Minister of a mini-country, so a comparison of his and Clark’s time in office is odious. The same goes for the fact that in Moore’s two elections as leader Labour’s share of the vote dropped both times, the first time by 13 per cent, while in Clark’s four elections there have been two rises and two falls for a net gain of 6 per cent. read more

Who owns New Zealand and does it matter? Purists say it doesn’t matter. But it seems enough people think it does matter to stop Arabs buying Auckland airport. Who’s right?

For nearly half a century from the late 1930s governments responded to our distance from markets and vulnerability to international economic shocks by trying to ringfence the economy. read more

The rise of John Key and Kevin Rudd are eerily alike — even, now, to owning up to an out-of-character jaunt to a strip joint. Shock, horror. The traders in the Alex cartoon, chronicle of life in Key’s London financial markets, seem to do half their business (so to speak) in lap dancing bars. read more

Another week, another upset for a twitchy government — this time an actually trivial but politically scratchy Iraq kerfuffle. But what of deeper matters?

This is a government which has claimed to be for the future, not the past, for a surer-footed, more creative people, richer in our (carbon-neutral) environment, our society and our inner selves. read more

You know things aren’t good when central banks start sloshing money into the financial system. Next, of course, come politicians’ reassurances of “sound fundamentals”.

French, German and Australian financial institutions, including funds run by the august Deutsche Bank, Australia’s star Macquariebank and France’s BNP Paribas, have got caught in the fallout from the United States lend-anything-to-anybody party. read more

John Key, still new to politics, is keen to show voters he has the breadth, the depth and the management and unifying skills of a Prime Minister. His gravitas-seeking slow conference speech fits that strategy. But he has much to learn.

Example: last week he could have taken the high ground on the trans-Tasman therapeutic products agency, stated he was going to broker a compromise that met his party’s policy objectives and laid some cosmetics over the government’s proposal that looked just that. read more

Members, money and momentum and a rival obligingly tripping up repeatedly — what more could a party want for its new leader’s first full conference?

David Benson-Pope kindly set the stage by getting himself sacked for once again not telling the whole story.

Down the ladder a departmental chief executive chose the less wrong of two wrong options but mucked it up with another wrong decision which caused his boss to wrongly write in an article that the minister wasn’t involved.* read more

John Key’s first act in foreign affairs has been to give Australia the fingers.

He has locked National into opposing the legislation implementing the trans-Tasman agency to regulate “therapeutics” — prescription medicines, medical devices, “complementary” medicines, herbal remedies and food supplements. read more

All health policymakers and administrators roast on this spit: “Free can’t be the best, best can’t be free.” Voters in modern rich societies want the best for free.

They also want it along with tax cuts and despite any self-inflicted damage from eating, drinking and behaving badly. read more

The Australian Labor party is promising to take an existing regulation off business for every one new one it puts on. The Labour party here has agreed to a select committee hearing for Rodney Hide’s Regulatory Responsibility Bill.

What’s going on? Aren’t Labour parties supposed to be trigger-happy regulators? read more