Commodities are at the mercy of some unprecedented global trends...

Any traveller who has experienced a glacier-slow wait in an international transit lounge might have some sympathy for American defector Edward Snowden.

Full marks to Synlait bosses Graham Milne and John Penno for hanging tough in the post-global financial crisis environment and going offshore.

"Was it greed or was it just a case of really bad timing?" asks Liam Dann. "Probably the latter, as the Government must have been hoping for a result which would help promote the next three asset sales to New Zealanders."

Judging by Peter Dunne's Twitter feed, he had become obsessed by the agency's wayward behaviour and was very much focused on civil liberties, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

For some start-up businesses, collaborating with other like-minded companies is something they do from day one.

Since John Key's celebratory mission there in April, there has been a series of difficult and costly issues dogging New Zealand trade with China, writes Liam Dann.

Fonterra would have been startled to wake up yesterday to the Herald's front-page photo of Sir Henry van der Heyden emblazoned with "Don't ever trust them", writes Fran O'Sullivan.

I have a question, that you may or may not be able to answer, as no one else I have spoken with so far has been able to help.

What the assets are worth now depends on the future path of electricity prices and the effect that has on the company's cashflows, writes Brian Fallow.

Your savings invested in a KiwiSaver scheme and any returns generated by those savings are not guaranteed.

As we await another miserly Budget from Bill English we are entitled to wonder whether the Government is overdoing the fiscal discipline, writes Brian Fallow.

Insurance will represent a significantly higher share of the cost of living and the cost of doing business from here on, writes Brian Fallow.

If Meridian Energy had already floated, it's a fair bet that its share price would have dropped after the Opposition unveiled its electricity policy a week ago.

The onus is on those calling for radical, disruptive change to something as important as the electricity sector to demonstrate that it is broken and needs fixing.

Political commentators have been quick to point out that New Zealand voters now have a real choice, writes Liam Dann. Sometimes it seems we have two poor choices.

What if the authorities had swiped some of the money in my bank account, in the cause of keeping the bank open for business, writes Brian Fallow.

Tim Groser will make the final shortlist of two for the top job in global trade if enough WTO members agree on a merit-based selection process, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Business editor Liam Dann is stumped as to what possible benefit the rise in the value of his house offers him.

We're putting the focus on agriculture this week in the Business Herald.

When people like the PM talk of an orderly transition to a post-smelter environment, they are talking about the scrapping of generating capacity, writes Brian Fallow.