KEY POINTS:
It is time to mark the report cards for our top politicians in the school for scandal that was Parliament 2007.
Helen Clark C
The Prime Minister has to get a pass mark, if only because she is still clinging to power as Head Girl, but 2007 is the worst year she has had in her eight-year administration. Her formidable powers of leadership are slipping, with ministers resigning, being sacked, red-carded and otherwise benched. She has almost exhausted her political capital with the hasty, ruthless, passage into law of that nasty Electoral Finance Bill. Must try harder? Must try!
John Key B
The National Party leader has taken his party to a huge lead in the polls and if it wasn't for his nasty habit of flip-flopping on various issues and occasionally allowing himself to be dragged into the political muck in the chamber he could have rated higher. But, then, maybe that's the thing about John Key - you expect him to be more than he really is.
Winston Peters C-
With NZ First struggling to make the 5 per cent barrier in the polls it hasn't been one of Winston's great years. For a man supposedly uninterested in the baubles of office, he loves limos and those long overseas trips. This year both Labour and the Nats have been sucking up to him in case they need him after the next election. If he fails to get back in, watch them drop him like a hot kumara.
Jeanette Fitzsimons D
You have to wonder what the Greens have accomplished in the past 12 months other than being a doormat for Labour. Maybe they are too nice to ask for anything? The party also struggles to reach 5 per cent but can probably count on a resurgence of greenie support in 2008, especially if it can summon up another issue like genetic engineering.
Tariana Turia/Pita Sharples B+
The Maori Party co-leaders have been fast learners in the kohanga reo of the House and their party has emerged stronger than it started the year. These guys will be the real kingmakers after the next election and don't automatically expect them to anoint Queen Helen.
Peter Dunne B-
The United Future leader may preside over the Amazing Disappearing Party but Mr Commonsense keeps quietly plugging away. He, too, is ambidextrous when it comes to selecting a major party to link with after the next election.
Jim Anderton D
Mike Moore summed the Progressive Leader up when he said, "Is he still alive?" The answer is, no.
Rodney Hide F
Twinkletoes seems to have forgotten he leads the Act Party. He has not only shed a hell of a lot of weight but his political bulk as well. Still, like John Travolta after the disco years, there is room for a comeback.
Michael Cullen D
A once bright, witty, "straight-A" student who now prefers playing the role of a grumpy old man. Bitter, bereft of new ideas, and twisted out of shape in the past, the Finance Minister resembles the New Zealand economy he is responsible for.
Bill English B
The National Party deputy is the perfect sidekick. If he continues to play well with others and share his toys with John Key he should be an unstoppable part of a dynamic duo.
Phil Goff B+ Diligent, hardworking, extremely able, he is Labour's shining hope for the future - if only because all his rivals have resigned, been fired or demoted.
Trevor Mallard D
Trevor should have got a pass mark this year but he inexplicably dropped his bundle whacking Tau Henare, slagging people off and having trouble pronouncing the word "sorry". He gets some marks for accidentally proving politicians are human beings after all.
Gerry Brownlee B-
National's bully boy has stomped, kicked and neatly knee-capped his opponents this year. He's like Trevor Mallard but not as fit.
BEST NEW ENTRANTS
Darren Hughes A-
Now a Cabinet minister and deputy leader of the House, the chipper carrot top is the youngest member of Parliament and probably the nicest. Bright, capable and enthusiastic, with a decent attitude to people, he undoubtedly has no future in politics.
Hone Harawira A-
You have to admire someone who blatantly doesn't give a hoot about parliamentary etiquette and who says what he thinks, even if you don't always agree with it. He also manages to completely enrage and send into fits of apoplexia all the foaming right-wingers in the House. Highly entertaining.
Paula Bennett B+
A perky Nat list MP who can get quite feisty in the House. Comes across as a human being in a building bereft of humanity.
OVERDUE TO BE EXPELLED
Taito Phillip Field, Gordon Copeland and David Benson-Pope: What a waste of space these three have been.
The good thing about Christmas is that it is only 11 months until the next election. Perhaps that's the worst thing, too?
