Top five columns of 2019: Steve Braunias

Canvas columnist Steve Braunias. Photo / Dean Purcell

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 Canvas columnist Steve Braunias.

The Secret Diary of . . . The unruly tourists

January 2019 was a simpler time. The country was captivated by the ongoing antics of a group of rowdy British tourists who left a trail of destruction throughout the country. Steve Braunias got the inside scoop on this fascinating group - and the verdict? Rubbish.

The secret diary of Golriz Ghahraman

"War is over – and it's all thanks to the Green Party." In June, Braunias got inside the head of Green MP Golriz Ghahraman - revealing secret plans to get New Zealand troops out of Iraq and the pleasures of watching Mike Hosking "destroyed" by Chloe Swarbrick in a debate abut cannabis.

The secret diary of Brian Tamaki

Brian Tamaki of Destiny Church was in and out of the news in 2019, from his comments following the Christchurch mosque terror attack to his attempts to set up his "Man Up" program in New Zealand prisons. In a secret diary in May, Braunias revealed Tamaki's innermost conversations with his Lord and Saviour.

The secret diary of ... Greta Thunberg

Swedish teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg caused a lot of upset this year, particularly with columnists Mike Hosking and Duncan Garner. Steve Braunias discovered a top secret conversation between the three.

The secret diary of the Angry Right

There's nothing like being in opposition to raise blood pressure levels, Braunias revealed in his secret diary of the "Angry Right". And their biggest demon in 2019? Prime Minister Jacinda "Cindy" Ardern - also known as "the clown from the movie It".