For better or worse, National's failure to raise importance of economic considerations clearly underscores the public's bottom line.

We should welcome Australian Senator Ian Macdonald's goodwill towards improved access to Australian citizenship for New Zealanders.

These disturbing contracts seem symptomatic of an unfortunate attitude that has permeated the public service under this Government. Its "no surprises" principle seeks to control the release of any information which might be awkward to explain.

Phil Goff is the instant front-runner, if not a near certainty, to be the next mayor of Auckland.

It does not seem 28 years since legislation was passed requiring home swimming pools to be fenced.

A "hikoi for homes" in Auckland today may be the forerunner of social unrest on a greater scale.

In a week when we have lost one of our model sportsmen and marked the retirement of another, it is thrilling to see a good spirit catching on.

Ever since the party's former president, Mike Williams, stepped down there have been murmurs that his successors did not have the same persuasive touch with business donors.

It is possible that Jonah Lomu was better known worldwide than any New Zealander at any time, even Sir Edmund Hillary.

Next week everyone of voting age will receive an official envelope inviting us to select a new flag. The sight of a voting form can be sobering.

How hard would it be for the Prime Minister to apologise?

Investigations into six tertiary institutions, from Southland to the Bay of Plenty, have identified more than $25 million in misappropriation. One of them, we reported this week, has been stripped of its registration.

Labour MP Kelvin Davis is right. It is disingenuous of John Key to say Australia's detainees at Christmas Island are free to leave if they want.

Seldom has New Zealand seen, at any level of politics, a rise and fall as rapid as that of Len Brown.

Auckland house prices have been driven by speculative demand as much as - or probably more than - a shortage of supply.

Ron Mark's attack on Melissa Lee's right to criticise her adopted country would have been poor in public but is appalling in Parliament.

A war of words preceding the cricket test under way in Brisbane may partly explain the first two days' action in the middle.

New Zealanders and Australians have much in common, but not everything. Our respective attitude to knighthoods is one area we, in general, differ.

News media in other free countries would be amazed at the restrictions on reporting deaths in New Zealand by suicide.

When the All Blacks won the World Cup in New Zealand four years ago, it was hard to imagine any victory could be sweeter.

We have always wondered whether the very words All Blacks put terror into the hearts of other rugby nations. Now we know.

Migrants' choice to wear burqas may be alien to West but respect gives them space to adjust to new ways in their own time.

Both claim to be journalists, Cameron Slater and Nicky Hage have found their work subject to the scrutiny of the High Court.

Editorial: While it is in our interests to provide all reasonable assistance to enable them to establish a new life here, we should not sympathise with their predicament too much.

Sometimes historical mistakes are so monumental it is pointless to wonder what might have been.

The Auckland Council intends to hold a debate and a vote on whether to oppose exploratory oil drilling in an area of seabed off the west coast.

Employed people have not always had a year of notable achievements to celebrate on Labour Day but this year they do.

For six months former All Black Mils Muliaina waited to answer a charge of sexual assault in a Cardiff night club after a rugby match.

With revelations holding us up to ridicule, Key should treat his position with more respect.