Editorial: The job of Opposition is twofold. First, and most obviously, it is to unsettle the Government through trenchant and telling criticism. Secondly, it must present itself as a competent alternative.

Jobs, health, education and housing - along with economic growth (or the relative lack of it), those are the five big issues which Labour will hammer in the run-up to next year's election.

Labour MP Trevor Mallard says he willingly went out of leader David Shearer's Shadow Cabinet because he wants to be Speaker if Labour goes into Government after 2014.

Long-serving Labour MP Annette King has been confirmed as the party's new health spokeswoman in David Shearer's reshuffle of Opposition portfolios.

National has risen above 50 per cent again in the latest 3 News political poll, while Labour and the Greens polled 43 per cent between them - well short of a majority.

Labour's reshuffle this week is expected to include a surprise move in the return of one of the party's longest-standing and most effective MPs, Annette King.

Imagine an alternate reality in which a disgruntled caucus member leaks Labour leader David Shearer's first draft of his reshuffle, writes Claire Trevett.

Editorial: When Labour leader David Shearer announced the party's housing policy at its annual conference in November it sounded almost too good to be true.

Labour's MPs have endorsed the leadership of David Shearer in a confidence vote today, but will not release the results of the vote.

Labour MPs voting on leadership today are expected to overwhelmingly back leader David Shearer - whom Trevor Mallard has likened to Norman Kirk.

So coos the sugar-encrusted, but hollow-sounding real estate-speak intent on seducing would-be home buyers and hard-headed investors into succumbing to the charms of life at Hobsonville Pt.

Times are very tough in manufacturing. The global recession has merely contributed an additional woe to a sector whose share of economic activity has been declining for more than two decades.

"When was the last time, two years out from an election, an Opposition party policy pledge got a minister sacked?" asks Brian Rudman.

More leading export companies are on the verge of moving overseas due to the high dollar, Opposition MPs were told yesterday by manufacturers.

A lot of exporters of manufactured products had been waiting for an opportunity to vent anguish over the high exchange rate, writes John Armstrong. The targets of the anger - John Key, the Reserve Bank, Steven Joyce and the Treasury - were absent.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said Mr Shearer has come up with nothing but last year's slogans and no new policy in his State of the Nation address today.

Labour leader David Shearer has said he will gun for the Maori Party electorate seats next year, exploiting the uncertainty in the party - but co-leader Tariana Turia has retaliated.

David Clark, Labour MP for Dunedin North, tells political editor Audrey Young he is driven by the pursuit of social justice

Prime Minister John Key was left in little doubt that there was at least one place he wasn't the preferred Prime Minister: at Ratana Pa.

In a bid to keep the support of the Ratana Church Labour leader David Shearer will break with tradition by staying on at the church's anniversary celebrations an extra day.

Can Shearer come up with the right formula for a political elixir which intoxicates voters and generates a wave of popularity upon which he can ride into election year?

The Labour Party housing policy for first-home buyers has struck a chord despite the Government's attempts to write it off as expensive and unrealistic.

Newly released Treasury papers show it was sceptical about the chances charter schools will improve student performance .

The Government has spent more than $1 million on consultants as part of the switch over to Novopay, but ignored the results, Labour says.

Roll up! Roll-up! Hear the Singing Prime Minister. Watch the Bobbing Backbencher. See a true One Man Band joust with a de facto One Man Band, writes John Armstrong.