Claire Trevett: Little's political cup runs over

Steven Joyce's hopes he had put that to rest by assuring the world that it was 'pretty legal' were dashed.

Put down the coasters because Labour's cup overfloweth. Labour's leader, Andrew Little, appears to have been blessed by the gods of timing. Hot on the tails of Mike Sabin's resignation came the revelation SkyCity wanted a bit of taxpayer cash to deliver a glitzy convention centre. The very next day came news that Eminem's representatives were pursuing legal action against the National Party for using in its election advertising a track that sounded remarkably similar to Eminem's Lose Yourself.

Steven Joyce's hopes he had put that to rest by assuring the world that it was "pretty legal" were dashed. Eminem was not persuaded by the Super Minister's grand defence and it will now be tested.

To cap things off, just around the corner will be the decision on deploying New Zealand troops to help with training Iraqi soldiers - something Prime Minister John Key has made clear is inevitable.

SkyCity's plea for government funding to fill a $70 million-$130 million budget blowout was the priority yesterday. SkyCity had presented a design of what it could afford within the existing $402 million budget. It said that was what Auckland would be lumped with unless the Government stumped up more cash to bling it up.

It was a canny manoeuvre, because New Zealanders are fond of bestowing nicknames on major buildings. We already have the Beehive and the Cake Tin. Should the Government refuse to buckle, it might well find we also have a convention centre dubbed The Stye to reflect the PM's description of it as "an eyesore".

SkyCity had clearly hit Google and discovered the remedy for a stye was to rub a bit of gold on it. Off it went to the Government's jewellery Cabinet. Even if SkyCity gets that gold and goes ahead with a flasher version, it might well find the nickname sticks. Such a blatant attempt to shovel its snout around the taxpayer's trough brings to mind a different type of sty.

So Little was having a field day deriding National's "Masters of the Universe" and the folly they were working on. But he was also concerned about the cost of more-humble structures: houses. It was here he nearly fell into a trap. He focused on the plight of young couples in Auckland. He had heard of one such couple, he told Parliament. They were in their 30s and had returned from their OE with a deposit for a house - a humble three-bedroom dwelling in Auckland. Alas, that meant they were now saddled with a $750,000 mortgage. His heart bled for them.

In almost the next breath, Little went on to slam Key for beating up Mr Little's views on Maori sovereignty as "separatism". Little insisted the only separatism he was interested in was that between the haves and have-nots - "those who are being kicked out of the housing market and those who are living in palatial residences, those whose incomes are getting less and those whose incomes are getting stratospheric".

This immediately raised questions. Were his young couple "haves" or "have-nots"? Were a couple who could afford a deposit on a house requiring a $750,000 mortgage and with sufficient income to secure that mortgage really that hard up? Little did not say which suburb this house was in, but even in Auckland a house costing more than $800,000 is not likely to be found on Struggle Street, whose residents Labour more traditionally claims to battle for.

Little best be wary his young couple don't end up the equivalent of the invalid beneficiary on the roof that caused David Shearer so much trouble within Labour's rank and file.

But such is the glut that nobody paid much attention to his couple. And Little's fates of timing even sorted out the Greens for him in a way his predecessors must surely be a bit green about. The Davids Cunliffe and Shearer often found their oxygen stolen by Green co-leader Russel Norman. Along comes Little and, ta-da! - Norman decides to step down as co-leader. Little has happily filled the vacuum. That has left the other self-proclaimed leader of the Opposition, Winston Peters of NZ First, to get his headlines where he can. He found them on the Prime Minister's head. After Key denied Peters' accusation Key was dabbling with the hair dye, Peters asked in Parliament why it was that "the curtains don't match the carpet".

Key objected, saying he took offence at Peters' insinuation he had had a personal viewing of the prime ministerial carpet. Let us only hope Key and Peters are not on the panel choosing the soft furnishings for the SkyCity convention centre.