Statistics NZ boss Liz MacPherson was unusually blunt for a Wellington bureaucrat as she assessed the damage to her department's headquarters.

It is a year since terrorists launched co-ordinated attacks in Paris and slaughtered 130 innocent people.

Once again the worst of circumstances brings out the best in New Zealanders.

Emergency housing funding marks the Government's acceptance that it must ensure every New Zealander has adequate shelter.

New Zealand experienced something last weekend even more rare than an All Black defeat. It was a defeat accepted with good grace.

The proper response when someone is terminally ill is to offer support and comfort.

After 240 years since independence, and in light of the man who craves the job, Clinton would be deserving as the first woman in the White House.

The Labour Party is by no means alone in worrying what to do about 74,000 young people who are in neither employment, education or training.

It is unbelievable that a difficult child could be locked in a tiny cell at any New Zealand school nowadays.

Not many Kiwis may be satisfied by the Auditor General's report into the propriety of the Government's gift of a sheep-breeding establishment to a breeder in Saudi Arabia.

The email story has been the most conventional element of this most unconventional campaign.

Labour's pledge to invest $680 million in a light rail system has rightly been labelled "pork barrel" politics by Steven Joyce.

It will be a sad day if New Zealand decides to charge for access to tracks in its national parks.

The police tactic of gathering details of individuals by setting up a drink-drive checkpoint would seem to stray from the powers granted to police under the Land Transport Act.

For a day this week, Paula Bennett was PM. How she tackles two new roles in Cabinet will define her chances of one day taking up that job permanently.

It is galling to realise so many former MPs are still claiming up to 90% of the cost of air travel for themselves and their spouse from taxpayers.

EDITORIAL: The public have a right to ask what is going on at Whenuapai if a mission such as this one cannot be executed successfully.

Trump is giving Putin dangerous encouragement and the rest of the world can only hope it will end with the election.

Just when it seems Donald Trump could not go lower in his quest for the US Presidency, he does.

A short statement issued by the Prime Minister on Wednesday marked the end of an era in New Zealand's defence and foreign relations.

Young New Zealanders value very highly their right to stay and work in some other countries.

The Prime Minister, an endlessly agreeable politician, entertains talk of tax cuts whenever the Budget surplus turns out to be higher than expected.

A year out from the next election, a political bidding war has surfaced over police numbers.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee got a stern rebuke from China when he made the mildest of observations about Beijing's expansionist maritime policy.

New Zealand Rugby is moving to repair its tarnished image after a series of unedifying episodes involving at their core the treatment of women.

Helen Kelly, the trade unionist who died yesterday after a brave and public battle with cancer, never shirked a fight. She campaigned

Under mounting pressure as housing costs dominate public debate it looks like National is finally gearing up on social housing.

Restaurant Brands, struck a deal with the Unite Union in which workers' hours and shifts will be guaranteed on a permanent basis.

The garden will be completed in time for the centenary of Passchendaele, finally a place of peace where far too many young NZers died in the horror of war.

EDITORIAL: Donald Trump is already a monster in the popular imagination - especially in this country.