It is the PM's first week back after the long silence of his holiday, yet it is Max’s latest video clip that is getting all the attention, writes Claire Trevett.

Labour could learn a thing or two from the adaptable, influential, and canny businesswoman Taylor Swift, writes Claire Trevett.

After a range of World Cups and test matches in his seven years as Prime Minister, Key could now rival Usain Bolt in his sprint to the changing room, writes Claire Trevett.

There are many who appear to believe they are qualified to step up to the role Sonny Tau has vacated and act as bridge builder, writes Claire Trevett.

Like any soap opera the Colin Craig saga is full of shadowy villains, unrequited feelings, vengeance, wrath, and wronged wives, writes Claire Trevett.

Labour has an oddly prudish approach to money, writes Claire Trevett. Its struggle to get any is partly down to pride - nobody likes to beg.

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.

Bill English said the forecast super costs of $30 billion by 2030 were large but ruled out changing anything, saying it was affordable "at the moment".

By releasing spoilers in advance, Finance Minister Bill English's motto when it comes to Budgets is "boring", writes Claire Trevett.

I have watched Key fairly closely for eight years and how people react to him, writes Claire Trevett. In 2011, I noted that Key touched almost everyone he met - a casual thing aimed at reinforcing the connection.

The Green Party's leadership contest has had moments similar to the cocktail parties that cap off each day on The Bachelor, writes Claire Trevett.

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

The member of Parliament-elect for Northland, Winston Raymond Peters, returned to the House this week, a Phoenix rising, a man transformed, writes Claire Trevett.

Election campaigns are packed with exaggerations, scaremongering and obfuscation. The Northland byelection is no different.

The Northland byelection would be a dream for country and western singers, such has been the focus on roads.

Despite John Key's claim that such antics are commonplace in by-elections, they are not, writes Claire Trevett. It is more traditional to emphasise how policies already under way will benefit the electorate in question, rather than promise new things.

The self-appointed Pied Piper of the North, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, has the words "Follow Me" on the back of his campaign bus.

No sooner was the announcement made that New Zealand was heading to Iraq, the war of words broke out.

Very few NZers vote on the basis of knighthoods, writes Claire Trevett. Public support for knighthoods tends to depend more on who is awarded them and their behaviour than the title's historic origins.

Gareth Morgan looked about as comfortable as the turkey before Christmas as he arrived at Ratana Pa yesterday, writes Claire Trevett.

It was a year of sorrows. It was a sorry excuse of a year. It was also a year of sorries. As of yesterday, they were still flowing.

Parliament wound up yesterday leaving just a sour taste lingering in the mouth. It was a most peculiar year, replete with villains, writes Claire Trevett.

It is a time-honoured tactic for the Opposition. Identify the weakest link on the other side and target them remorselessly, writes Claire Trevett.

Claire Trevett asks, "What does it say that the very first time Cheryl Gwyn tests her powers of inquiry, John Key decides to trust the version of his pet "blogster" over her own findings?"

After weeks of things moving slowly in Labour, things are now moving very quickly indeed.

So much for the catchphrase "Don't mention the war" - these days no leader in want of a free trade deal should let a historic war go to waste, writes Claire Trevett.

Claire Trevett writes: The hardest working participant in Labour's leadership contest was Iain Lees-Galloway's van.

Woe betide Green MP Steffan Browning, for who knew the Green Party could be quite so ruthless?

We are now halfway through the three-week marathon of what Labour likes to call hustings meetings for its leadership contestants but what Brian Edwards describes more colourfully as "cavorting....

Attempts to put a ban on the word female in Labour have failed. It seems to be like having a sore tooth they can't help poking, despite the pain, writes Claire Trevett.