All we have agreed on in this search for a unifying piece of fabric is that those it is meant to unify can agree on nothing, writes Claire Trevett.

David Ellison writes: If NZ is to choose a flag with a silver fern, could we at least make sure it IS a silver fern?

Richie McCaw may be keen on using the silver fern in a new national flag - but NZ Rugby warned the design committee not to use its trademarked logo.

Iconic Kiwi businessman Lloyd Morrison would have been pleased to see New Zealanders now have four new options to weigh up should the vote be in favour of changing the flag, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

A Herald-Digipoll survey published yesterday - the same day the Flag Consideration Panel released its shortlisted four designs - revealed an intriguing situation.

Auckland motelier Peter Ranson says his five-month head start on flying one of the referendum flags came about entirely by chance.

Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum and Lady June Hillary go head to head in the flag debate.

Four shortlisted flag designs will be put to the vote in November but opponents of the process plan to gerrymander the referendum.

Looking at the uninspiring final four designs unveiled this morning it's tempting just to flag the whole flag changing thing and move on, writes Karl Puschmann.

I suspect Mr Key's thoughts on this issue don't run much deeper than corporate branding, writes Gareth Morgan. That's disappointing don't you think?

A online US retailer this week jumped the gun on our $26 million referendum and dumped the New Zealand flag for an alternative.

Prime Minister John Key explains why he thinks the All Blacks can give us a big clue on a winning design.

The flag consideration process could have been so much more than a mass pattern-recognition exercise. Unfortunately that's what we are left with, writes Claire Robinson.

As John Key's great flag debate slowly dies of public disinterest, there is another option, writes Brian Rudman.

Labour and the Greens risk alienating those among their supporters who want to make a choice.

Amusingly, the selection process to date closely follows the same format as a beauty contest, writes Peter Bromhead.

New Zealand appears to be repeating what happened in Canada 50 years ago when Canada chose a new flag. But I doubt we will end up with a new national icon.

The 40 designs selected this week from more than 10,000 proposals have given some focus to the question of whether we should change our national flag.

Determining a flag design is not akin to choosing a corporate logo - despite the PM's preference it be exactly that. We have plenty of those, writes Gareth Morgan.

An esteemed US newspaper has has suggested an image of a deranged cat might be better suited as NZ's new banner.

A new flag featuring a silver fern has the backing of some of New Zealand's most distinguished individuals.

A flag design featuring the silver fern is the frontrunner for an alternative New Zealand flag in a Herald poll.

There are ones with swirls or koru, there are a lot with ferns, a lot with stars but only one with the union jack, and even that is a stylised version: Hosking.

The longlist of flag designs features lots with the Southern Cross and silver fern but there's only one that has the Union Jack.

We could create a flag we can all be proud of and that doesn't represent the historical divisiveness of nationalist emblems, writes Peter Lyons.