1. The ambivalence surrounding the flag referendum is captured best in Toby Morris' Flag failure - Where did it go wrong? Morris feels the result is the right one, but adds "So why do I feel so rotten?" He wonders whether an improved process with a better alternative design may still have failed because, at the heart of it all, no one really knew why we were changing the flag.
2. Things began well, says Chris Keall. Sure there was no majority for change, but there was an openness to the debate that later disappeared. However, openness was also one of Keall's Five reasons the flag-change campaign failed: "there was just too much democracy with the crowdsourcing phase. No design was too stupid or piss-taking for the Flag Panel's site. As the more way-out designs were featured on Mashable and Buzzfeed and late-night talk shows in the US, the whole referendum process lost mana and momentum."
3. Audrey Young says Key is correct in surmising he has enough political capital to gamble some on this issue. She argues the result will not hurt him electorally and the way the referendum was run is largely defendable. However, she notes that Key's referendum loss is a rare mistake in which he has neither distance nor deniability: "The loss in the flag vote is Key's to own and explain because it was his idea" - see: John Key a loser on flag referendum but not a failure.
4. There are important Lessons to learn from flag vote Young says, in an interesting follow up column. She points out that the "call for reform is a constant feature of the political landscape and you never know when the next opportunity will present itself." Young analyses New Zealand's reluctant relationship with constitutional change to date and lays out a potential scenario whereby New Zealand could incrementally and painlessly become a republic. She says it is in this context we will see a change in our flag.
5. Patrick Gower and Lloyd Burr agree that the Flag fail won't break 'Brand Key'. Yes, they say, it will tarnish Key's reputation but it won't affect him at the ballot box, and as a "transactional politician" that's what the PM really cares about. The defendably close result shields Key from the worst of the fallout and "Getting out of town is all part of John Key's PR plan. He will chuck the Kyle Lockwood pin in his bedside drawer and wake up tomorrow and console himself with a Creme Egg. John Key has already moved on."
6. Despite his claims to the contrary, Tracy Watkins is convinced Key must regret wasting political capital on the failed campaign. She considers a loss of mana amongst his MPs and unnecessarily adding a niggling, negative footnote to his legacy as two more of John Key's top five regrets on the flag.
7. Legacy? Key doesn't have one, argues Duncan Garner - see: The flagging fortunes of a leader chasing a legacy: "Key has enjoyed a tonne of political capital and the disappointing thing is that he hasn't used it for any meaningful, lasting project." Garner says of course losing is anathema to Key, but he has already absented himself from the worst of the fallout by cunningly timing the result for the Easter news dead zone and "shooting through."
8. In the Guardian Toby Manhire points out the result was not an endorsement of the union jack: "It was altogether more muddled than that." By the time the final ballot came, Manhire says it was as if "our choice amounted to something much more than pitting this flag against that flag - and at the same time much less" - see: In New Zealand, the flag remains the same. And so does everything else.
9. Danyl Mclauchlan says he's Probably overthinking the flag debate, as he retrospectively tracks his changing thought processes over the course of the campaign. It's a thoughtful reflection from someone who wants to change the flag, disliked the alternative, but began to wonder over time whether the left - including himself - really did hate the Lockwood flag or just hated Key.
10.
The Guardian's Martin Kettle says
