Challenging the definition of ‘coalition’ in New Zealand
One of the interesting points I stumbled across whilst conducting my research was an inconsistency around the use of the term ‘coalition’.  This became particularly evident in NZ when Winston Peters was appointed in 2005 as Foreign Minister, which roused a few sideways glances because he “wasn’t from a governing party”.  Folks asked “was he, or was he not, part of the coalition?”  Jonathan Boston (2007) noted at the time that his appointment “involved a number of important departures from previous inter-party relationships and agreements, both in New Zealand and abroad”. So the question needed to be asked:

Mind numbing brilliance
All we need now is for the Insert Name of Fringe Left Wing Think Tank Here to release the findings of its shadow task force that recommends raising income tax rates to %70 (with a corporate rate of ‘death by execution’), introduce drastic increases to twilight golf and te reo sing-along courses, compulsory moroccon cooking night-classes for all under 75s, and to release all repeat violent sex-offenders in order to fill the predicted increase in demand for babysitters that would be associated with all this extra night-class attendance.  Then politicians of the

Armstrong and Trotter on Goff
In the wake of Phil Goff’s Nationhood speech, two things worth reading this morning are;  Chris Trotter on the Liberal Left’s rejection of it, and John Armstrong who concludes that “the status quo is not an option. Goff has to take risks. If the strategy works, John Key will have much to think about. If it doesn’t, the Labour caucus will have to do likewise.”

Nationhood, take two
I figured I’d let this one settle over night, because at first glance a speech titled Nationhood about race relations by the Leader of the Labour Party (yes, the Labour Party), couched in the langauge of “where one New Zealander is turned against another, Maori against Pakeha” seemed like some kind of strange horrible alternative universe nightmare. Idiot/Savant was

Should parliamentary staffers be fair game?
A few issues doing the rounds at the moment, most of which disappoint, and a few of which I will blog on today.  In order of importance, beginning with the least important (the other one will be Goff’s Nationhood speech). Charles Chauvel, who I will begin by saying has been particularly strong for Labour in the House and with his media lines on the ETS amendment legislation in the past week, partakes in some rather less inspiring antics with this blog post on redalert.