Top five columns of 2019: Heather du Plessis-Allan

Heather du Plessis-Allan. Photo / John Mailley

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 to sport, from business to entertainment and lifestyle, these are the voices and views our audience loved the most. Today it's the top five from Herald on Sunday columnist and Newstalk ZB host Heather du Plessis-Allan.

Was PM right to wear headscarf?

Following the Christchurch terror attack, Jacinda Ardern donned a headscarf while visiting members of the Muslim community, as an act of compassion and support. While du Plessis-Allan initially praised the PM for this, she found others - including former Housewives of Auckland reality TV star Gilda Kirkpatrick - to be more critical of the gesture.

Jacinda Ardern's Aussie interview only awkward because she got caught out

In a viral clip from July, The Project's Lisa Wilkinson asked Ardern about comments where she called the deportation of New Zealand citizens from Australia corrosive to the trans-Tasman relationship. However, she had also been making excuses for the policy to the Australian media.

NZ First feels very wrong in Govt after Christchurch attack

Questions were raised by du Plessis-Allan about New Zealand First's place in government, with a focus on the various scandals Shane Jones was caught up in during 2019. While Jacinda Ardern had made this government seem principled and progressive, NZ First were there to remind us "how she did a Faustian deal with the devil to get into power".

After Christchurch terror, now it's goodbye to hope and unity in politics

In the days after the Christchurch terror attack, "it felt like we could do anything", according to du Plessis-Allan, as she reflected on collective displays of unity around the country. However, in the weeks after, it seemed that unity had burned out and politics was back to normal.

Why 'Kiwi Jihadi' Mark Taylor needs to come home to face music

Back in March, 'Kiwi Jihadi' Mark Taylor decided he wanted to return home. Nobody wanted him - not his Syrian wife, not ISIS and not New Zealand. But the bad news, du Plessis-Allan wrote, was that he's our problem and we're going to have to take him back at some stage. But the Prime Minister wasn't making it easy for that to happen.