As we say goodbye to 2019 and welcome in 2020, it's a good time to catch up on the very best of the Herald columnists we enjoyed reading over the last 12 months. From politics
Liam Dann
Pressure mounts on Sir John Key as ANZ turmoil grows
Back in June, Dann wrote on how Sir John Key was already facing calls to resign before the highly unusual departure of ANZ chief executive David Hisco. The news of Hisco's departure, amid a cloud about personal expenses, added to the impression of disarray at New Zealand's largest bank.
Interest rate u-turn is middle-class welfare
News that the Reserve Bank's next move on interest rates was likely to be down was met with a very gloomy reaction in March. Despite this, Dann was feeling less gloomy about the economy at the time, but found the central bank retreat a bit of a downer. But what did worry him was the result of the u-turn being a "global dose of middle-class welfare".
Good news in Reserve Bank gloom as mortgage rates fall and shares soar
After the Reserve Bank indicated its next interest rate move was more likely to be a cut than a rise the dollar plunged and the sharemarket rose. Similar moves were made in Australia and the US, but Dann wrote that we shouldn't pretend the retreat by central banks in 2019 was something to cheer.