Last night's 3News-Reid Research poll has Winston Peters registering a thumping 54 per cent, writes John Armstrong. If replicated on Saturday, the result will be akin to a massacre of National.

John Key is bound for Northland where he will be campaigning alongside candidate Mark Osborne, two days out from the Northland byelection.

National's Northland byelection candidate Mark Osborne told supporters to brace themselves for some bad polls yesterday but insisted he was not out of the race.

A new poll has NZ First leader Winston Peters with a commanding lead in the Northland byelection even though almost half of the voters said they did not trust him.

National's Northland candidate, Mark Osborne, has defended his work for a community centre he set up which is now under review by the Far North District Council.

The Government was asked to reaffirm its commitment to upgrade Northland bridges after comments by Finance Minister Bill English caused confusion in Parliament today.

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

The pork barrels now being rolled out by an apprehensive National Party squaring up to the Peter Pan of politics has turned the Northland byelection into an unusually interesting event.

National MP Shane Reti initially defended himself against bullying claims, but later apologised.

The Northland byelection has been an opportunity for all parties to prove that predictability is the real lifeblood of politics, writes Paul Little.

Cartoonist Rod Emmerson's take on the Northland byelection.

The Government has a fight on its hands in what should be a safe rural seat. Geoff Cumming finds out why.

A struggling Northland charter school has removed its management team in what it says is a last-ditch attempt at avoiding closure.

One of the country’s flagship charter schools is now teetering on the edge of closure. Kirsty Johnston goes behind the gates at Whangaruru.

Northland learned this week up to $69m will be spent to upgrade 10 one-lane bridges in their electorate. With close byelection polls, this represented pork-barrel politicking at its most flagrant.

An upstream river paddle is fun and games on a budget for all the family, writes Rob Cox.

Equipped with an Apple Watch and a coathanger, the fugitive hacker Lambshank has probed parliamentary servers and published a trove of top secret internal documents, writes Toby Manhire.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters hopes to stand in Northland again in 2017 if he wins the byelection but will not commit to the seat if he loses.

Natalie Akoorie finds she's a little wobbly on her sea legs but her husband gets to enjoy the rich sealife of the Poor Knights Islands.

Tropical cyclone Pam has been upgraded to category 3 and weather experts fear it could reach supercyclone levels as it slowly moves towards Vanuatu.

A low currently sitting in the Pacific, which is likely to be upgraded to a tropical cyclone, will have some impact on Northland later this week, weather boffins have predicted.

Prime Minister John Key is unapologetic about rolling out multi-million-dollar promises during the Northland byelection.

Labour Party leader Andrew Little has wasted no time running up the white flag in the Northland byelection.

A Northland man who died after a 40mm cannon he was unloading from his ute went off yesterday had a "real passion" for firearms.

The National Party has promised to upgrade 10 one-way bridges in Northland as part of its byelection campaign.

Labour leader Andrew Little has given supporters a hint that they can vote for Winston Peters in Northland, but he rejects any comparisons to National's 'dirty deals' in Epsom.