The raising of interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve late last week is the best news in seven years for the world's economy.

Ko's year special by any measure and sign of what's to come but rugby heroes claim standout moment.

Search for New Zealander of Year recalls ethical dilemma of terminally-ill lawyer's legal battle for right to end her own life.

Strange and costly things can happen to an economy when a government decides its wisdom is better than the signals of a market.

The elusive surplus has disappeared again. It is just two months since John Key and Bill English were celebrating the final figure for 2014-15, an unexpected surplus.

The latest report tells us 29 per cent of children lived in poverty in 2014, up from 24 per cent the previous year. About 14 per cent live in material hardship, lacking several of the items most New Zealanders would consider essential.

Getting so many nations, including "developing" nations such as China, to sign on to emissions reductions certainly makes the agreement historic.

Climate change may still seem a distant threat, but a "Super El Nino" summer is already evident.

What more could a national holiday do except reopen old wounds and invite continued debate? We have enough of that around Waitangi Day.

For the past year, the Office of the Ombudsman has been reviewing the Official Information Act.

Judith Collins' return to John Key's Cabinet is a credit to her. It would have been easy for someone of her temperament to have reacted differently to her dismissal.

Gun sales in the US have increased. Requests for access to courses at shooting ranges are up.

Rob Campbell, once one of the sharpest young minds in the trade union movement, has kept a lower profile since his thinking changed radically in the 1980s.

Four years have passed, another Rugby World Cup has been won, and still the "people's wharf", "party central" of 2011, languishes largely forgotten.

Pharmac is possibly the most publicly respected body in this country.

As the Prime Minister said, "It makes no sense to be calling for emissions restrictions on one hand while subsidising emissions on the other."

When Brendon McCullum testified at the trial of Chris Cairns, the defence asked why he had not come forward with his allegations much sooner than he did.

Admit it, the ballot paper is still sitting on the sideboard while you wonder what to do.

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.

COMMENT: Announcement that Len Brown is going to the world climate change conference in Paris will anger many.

Paris is a special place, a city the world associates with romance, culture, good times and the fine things of life.