COMMENT: Spring has arrived and National's self-appointed canary is trilling with gleeful abandon. That canary is Act leader David Seymour.

Former National Party leader Don Brash says a new anti-separatist campaign may end up donating to one of his old enemies, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

COMMENT: Act's demand to do away with a Minister for Women shows how out of touch the party is with reality.

The Green Party is the first party to include a voluntary euthanasia policy in its manifesto.

A brief liaison with a man she didn't know cost a young Auckland woman $28 a week off her benefit for two years.

COMMENT: Late phase of election cycle adds further tension to Act and United Future's need to back National while keeping their own supporters happy.

Act Party leader David Seymour is accusing a teachers' union of bullying a state school which offered to share resources with a charter school.

COMMENT: It is not often that the big surprise in a Budget is something that will not be in it at all.

David Seymour used his keynote speech at Act's annual conference in Orakei to call for the sale of the state-owned farmer, worth about $1.6 billion.

The importance of National's support partners - Act, United Future and the Maori Party - has grown immensely since election night a year ago.

The French coq was possibly not the wisest example Act leader David Seymour could have hauled out to explain why a silver fern need not be on the flag.

The Government says it will consider an urgent change to liquor laws after a proposal to allow pubs to open early for Rugby World Cup games was shot down in Parliament.

Allowing councils to charge rates against Crown-owned properties such as schools should be investigated, most of the country's local authorities believe.

Epsom MP David Seymour says the authority which is planning to ban cars from the summit of Mt Eden has no evidence to support one of its central claims.

The hopes of euthanasia supporters appear to rely on Act leader David Seymour and the luck of the draw after both Prime Minister John Key and Labour chief Andrew Little ruled out putting up a bill on the issue.

The Electoral Commission has referred the Act Party to the police for a tardy disclosure of donations from its biggest backers Alan Gibbs and Dame Jenny Gibbs.

Nobody likes a nark but there was great entertainment value in Act leader David Seymour dobbing in National MP Maurice Williamson for an apparent waka jumping plot.

Act leader David Seymour has criticised the Government for not supporting a version of the Regulatory Standards Bill.

The Act Party has received another big donation from its long-standing backer Alan Gibbs.

John Banks is hoping the Court of Appeal judges - "some of the country's finest jurists " - will reverse their earlier decision and rule that he should not stand trial for a second time.

The most senior Crown lawyer in the country maintains that while Kim Dotcom's evidence against John Banks has changed since the first trial, the story remains the same in one crucial respect.

More charter schools will be opened next year if Act Party leader David Seymour's "quiet confidence" is warranted.

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? Is it the dawn of a new Rodney Hide, Perkbuster Extraordinaire?

Peter Dunne says he would look at revisiting his post-election concessions from the National Party if New Zealand First leader Winston Peters wins the Northland byelection.

Rarely has a political party conference been treated to a speech as brutally frank, writes John Armstrong.

Act is calling on other parties to allow the public to determine the future of New Zealand's taxpayer-funded superannuation scheme through a series of referendums.

From start to finish, it took David Seymour a good nine years to put together his treasured replica Lotus Seven sports car.

Mass media, citizen media, new media, and politician media management - it all gets frequently evaluated, criticised and sometimes praised, writes Bryce Edwards.