If ever there was a dangerously inappropriate political football, it is the potential sale of Crafar farms to the Chinese company, Shanghai Pengxin and the hysterical xenophobia it has induced. While the furor has managed successfully to paint National into a very uncomfortable corner, it has also made all future overseas purchases significantly more difficult. Like [...]

Thanks, Trevor, for inspiring not one, but two neologisms: mall·ar·dy [mal-ar-dee] noun, plural -dies. 1. a disorder in which the sufferer has a propensity to damage his/her own team by random acts of stupidity. 2. a pathological desire to ride a bicycle while trying to blog. See quackers Quack·ers [kwak-ers] informal 1. a packet of thin, crisp upper-class biscuits. 2. an extreme lack of social [...]

The media feeding frenzy that is whirling around regarding Mojo Mathers and her request for an electronic note-taker has to be the most meaningless of this weeks media beat ups. Here is the reality: Ms. Mathers will need the note-taker in order to function in parliament. It is the cheapest option I (the taxpayer) will [...]

Public submissions for changes to the MMP system are now open until the 31st May but the MacDoctor will not be bothering to make one. Besides my general laziness, there are two other reasons for this. The first is that the two most worthwhile changes – altering the number of seats in parliament and the [...]

So the traffic cops are extending their 4km-only tolerance limit until the end of the month and are looking at making it permanent. This has a feeling of pre-concieved inevitability about it. Although Acting Superintendent Rob Morgan assures us that the permanent adoption “will really be an evidence-based decision”, we all know that this is complete [...]