Barry Soper is Newstalk ZB's senior political correspondent
Barry Soper is Newstalk ZB’s senior political correspondent. He was ZB’s political editor for many years after first joining the station and the press gallery in 1980.
Barry Soper: Farmers should be treated as treasures, not as tyrants
OPINION: Like the rest of the business sector, farmers are feeling the pinch.
Soper: Collins should have been elected Nats leader two years ago
COMMENT: National MPs have done what they should have done on February 27, 2018.
Soper: Coalition cardigan starting to unravel
COMMENT: Coalition Govts are a bit like the Fair Isle cardie mum used to knit for you.
Soper: Ardern impotent on NZ First's bad behaviour
COMMENT: The Prince of the Provinces is taking a few days off to study the Cabinet Manual.
Soper: Shane Jones' harsh words for Fonterra seem justified
COMMENT: Fonterra's a cash cow for the suits but little more than M bovis for the farmers.
Soper: Govt's plan to push green vehicles a no-brainer
COMMENT: It seems they've come up with a pretty good way to do it but it'll take time.
Soper: What happened to tackling bottled water exporters?
COMMENT: Is it too much to ask that we all own the water for the purposes of export?
Soper: Govt steps up to farmers' plate usually served up by Nats
COMMENT: Farming is a business like no other.
Soper: No love lost for China from the misguided
The Key Government's management of the global financial crisis has been lauded.
Soper: Thank Trump for pausing South African land grab
COMMENT: Trump has used the power of his office to do something good.
Barry Soper: Mycoplasma bovis outbreak will get worse before it gets better
The dairy herd, despite all the the environmental critics, is vital to this country.
Soper: M. bovis could be storm cloud waiting to burst
COMMENT: Eradicating disease is a costly exercise but it's certainly worth trying.
Barry Soper: Winston Peters drove a hard bargain
Comment: The NZ First and Greens deals came at a fairly hefty cost to Labour.
Barry Soper: The lesson we should be teaching our kids
COMMENT: Anzac Day should be used to talk about what it means to be a New Zealander.
Soper: Peters little more than an irritant
COMMENT: At the moment Winston Peters is a little more than an irritant for PM contenders.
Soper: The matador and the bull on Chinese trade
There was plenty on offer to bolster the trade between our two countries.
Barry Soper: The chicken and the egg
As you crack that egg into the pan to spit away with the bacon, spare a thought for the hen who produced it and the porker who grew