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.

David Shearer has conceded Labour's affordable housing policy will only be able to deliver small apartments or terraced housing in Auckland for a $300,000 price tag.

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.

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.

It is never easy seeing a dream lie in shreds, and for all the inevitability, the end of National MP Tau Henare's tilt to be Speaker was no exception, writes Claire Trevett.

Unless he's softening him up as a potential coalition partner, writes Brian Rudman. "But better fun surely just to sit back and enjoy the sight of another of the New Zealand First leader's hand-picked acolytes going rogue."

Labour leader David Shearer says insults such as those John Tamihere has handed out in the past few days would be unacceptable from a member of his caucus.

It may have more to do with the still very slow erosion of National's support flowing from 12 months of unrelenting mini-scandals, sideshows and distractions, writes John Armstrong.

Bars, restaurants and liquor stores will be forced to move to new trading hours and tighter alcohol rules in their peak season.

National still believes that all growth is good growth, but it isn't, writes Russel Norman. "Growth that leads to more debt, pollution and environmental destruction is bad growth."

Recent polls have shown that Labour's popularity is on the rise, with one indicating Labour, with support of the Greens, would hold enough seats to run Government.

The former MP who in 2005 suffered a calamitous fall from grace has been allowed to become a member of the Labour Party once more.

Labour's ruling council has decided that former Cabinet minister John Tamihere can rejoin the party.

It is a major worry when the arithmetic of the Opposition's finance spokesman goes awry as David Parker's went yesterday, writes John Armstrong.

Three Labour MPs will attend the red-carpet premiere of The Hobbit tomorrow despite strong criticism over the deal to appease the movie's makers.

I had an email from someone close to David Shearer, who was "saddened" by my recent column on the Labour leader, wrties Tapu Misa.