Getting a seat on the Security Council is not seen by many as a big deal. But it is, writes Audrey Young. And with the deteriorating state of relations among the five permanent members at present, it is an even bigger deal.
All weekend, Act supporters and friends of the Act Epsom MP were saying John Banks would "do the right thing", writes Audrey Young.
To understand the demise of Judith Collins, it helps to understand what a powerful role she has carved out for herself in the National Party.
This has been by far the best week for Labour this year, due in equal parts to the Williamson scandal and Labour's management of an important policy, writes Audrey Young.
There may be an explanation as to why Maurice Williamson's political judgment deserted him to the extent he interfered in a police investigation that cost him his ministerial post.
Tiny parties are rarely in the spotlight and rarely get the chance to set the news agenda. Whyte squandered his opportunity, writes Audrey Young.
A bunch of colleagues from the Press Gallery yesterday were showered with a suite of insults by NZ First leader Winston Peters on his way into Parliament, writes Audrey Young.
John Boscawen took a risk in holding the meeting, writes Audrey Young. It might have been a miserable turnout but it was a respectable 100. It could have been disrupted by enemies outside the party, or even inside but it wasn't.
John Key this morning scoffed at speculation that National might consider any power-sharing arrangement with Winston Peters as though it were complete fantasy, writes Audrey Young.
National's decision to potentially work with Winston Peters and New Zealand First after the next election is not without risk, writes Audrey Young.
To understand Paula Bennett's value to the National Party, you just have to see how much Labour cant stand her.
Misery united Parliament yesterday - until politics intervened, writes Audrey Young on Greens co-leader Russel Norman's climate change speech.
Cunliffe implied that National's opposition to the policy is because it received big donations from the insurance industry in 2005, writes Audrey Young.
Apec's focus is trade liberalisation, writes Audrey Young. The East Asia Summit focus is wider; leaders will talk about regional questions of the moment, including security issues such as North Korea.
The absence of US President Barack Obama from the Apec leaders summit leaves a gaping hole, and a lot of disappointment, if not misery, writes Audrey Young.
New Zealand really likes being characterised as the firm but fair "honest broker" in matters of world affairs, writes Audrey Young.
New Labour leader David Cunliffe received less than a third of the support of caucus when the votes were counted yesterday.
It has been a leadership not so much in decline, as never taking off, writes Audrey Young. Shearer was a risk his supporters thought worth taking in 2011.
Conference 2013 was meant to be the conference of good ideas. Political editor Audrey Young looks at whether it delivered.
The Herald's political editor Audrey Young says the Press Gallery hunts as a pack and panics as a pack during a quake.
There are three things John Key could do in the coming week to make the GCSB bill more acceptable than it is now, to the public and others, writes Audrey Young.
At the start of the week, I would have put Shearer's chances of surviving at 80/20. Now they would be closer to 50/50.
I'm not sure about the timing, but the day after Labour leadership coup rumours swept through Parliament, deputy leader Grant Robertson delivered a brilliant speech.
Most Western intelligence agencies had analytic teams that had developed whole disciplines around making sense of data, writes Audrey Young.
One can only hope that John Key doesn't run his Cabinet meetings the way he is running the Intelligence and Security Committee meeting, writes Audrey Young.
The Air Force kapa haka group and band spent several hours yesterday with a couple of schoolboy rugby teams in Washington DC.
As a former Prime Minister and a man very firm in his views, Jim Bolger has always been a bit stroppy, writes Audrey Young.
The late Parekura Horomia was universally liked and respected across Parliament when he died, but he didn't always have the respect, writes Audrey Young.
When John Key met his second Chinese vice-premier in two days yesterday, he and Wang Yang shared a joke about the photo Key had seen of them hanging in Guangzhou's Foreign Affairs Museum.
Why does the world biggest country pay so much attention to such a small country as New Zealand?
Prime Minister John Key begins his Shanghai schedule today where chicken is likely to be off the menu.
Sir Bob Harvey arrived in China yesterday morning for the 22nd time.