Curwen Rolinson

Regardless of what and whether you feel about New Zealand military involvement in Iraq. Irrespective of whether you think putting Kiwi boots on the ground in Iraq makes us a target; or if you think that training up Iraqi forces somehow makes us safer here at home … the Government has lied, distorted, spun, manipulated and mislead its own people a score of times over this particular issue. There’s just simply no way around it.

First, *can* Harawira pull it off; and second … what are the likely effects going to be if he does, in fact, win Te Tai Tokerau once again.

The answers – particularly to the second question – may be surprising.

As we move closer and closer to the climactic events of the 2017 General Election, an ever-increasing (if not outright bewildering) array of political journalists, talkback radio hosts, and errant blubbery bloggers will mysteriously transmogrify themselves into ungainly combinations of soothsayer-entrail-readers spliced with Buzzfeed-grade clickbait provisioners.

Unquestionably the biggest political news of this week was the joint announcement by Labour and the Greens of a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to take them through to the next Election.

The increase in price for a packet of cigarettes to around thirty dollars apiece is projected to generate about 425 million dollars worth of taxation revenue.

Well this is interesting, isn’t it. The Australian media’s managed to join the same dots Winston has in the run-up to today’s Budget – yet which mysteriously appear to elude the general comprehension of our National party.

To quote Galadriel, the world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.