John Armstrong asks: What kind of pressure was exerted over the weekend to force Aaron Gilmore out? Has he done some kind of deal with the party?

Disgraced National Party list MP Aaron Gilmore has moved to spare the Government further embarrassment during a critical week by announcing his resignation last night.

There won't be any changes to legislation around the controversial partnership schools despite opposition parties continuing their objections to elements of the bill.

Handing state homes over to community providers may benefit corporate developers, the Green Party says.

Those who knew Gilmore in the lead-up to 2008 election said he was constantly talking himself up and often described himself as the next Energy Minister.

John Key and Bill English must sometimes wonder why National lost its nerve during the 2011 election campaign, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Does anyone outside the Wellington beltway really give a toss about Aaron Gilmore, a parliamentary nobody who beyond fulfilling his duties as backbench lobby fodder, is an utter irrelevance when it comes to matters of real political import?

The Green Party is calling for the restructuring of the Department of Conservation to be put on hold.

Aaron Gilmore has no future with the National Party. The only question is when the end will come - now or at next year's list selection process, says Audrey Young.

A Christchurch couple's romantic dinner was ruined by National MP Aaron Gilmore's "unpleasant" behaviour at the table next to them.

The number of ex-diplomats in Parliament will swell to seven when new National MP Paul Foster-Bell joins the Government next month.

Keep Our Assets protesters at the National Party's Mainland Region conference say their mock toll booth was so well-received it may be used again.

Former National MP Paul Quinn has ruled out a return to Parliament to replace Jackie Blue.

History will regard the Key Government as having been responsible for a further and possibly decisive relapse in a long-term economic decline, writes Bryan Gould.

Labour and the unions have cried foul over the appointment of MP Jackie Blue as the new Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner.

The brother of the man controversially appointed to New Zealand's top spy job after a nod by John Key is a former schoolmate and debating team member of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister John Key was pushing his childhood friend Ian Fletcher as a good candidate for a top-level government job as early as 2009, says Ian Rennie.

Claire Trevett says when it comes to delivering bad news about the fauna and flora of NZ, the same advice applies as to tramping near fairy tern nesting sites: tread with meticulous care.

Someone should tell David Shearer that getting all indignant about someone else's blunder was not the best of tactics to employ in Parliament, writes John Armstrong.

Were senior Cabinet ministers asleep at the wheel? Did they fail to step in soon enough when problems at Solid Energy were apparent? John Armstrong investigates.

Why has National remained so incredibly popular for so long despite suffering continuing calamities, embarrassments and unwanted distractions, asks John Armstrong.

John Key was touted as a dinner companion in a lucky dip contest fronted by a National Party minister - but never knew he was the prize used to lure entrants.

Since the 1980s, too, successive Governments have become increasingly high-handed, and ideologically driven, writes Anne Salmond.

Nine months in the political wilderness awaiting Lyn Provost's painstaking report may well have done the trick, writes John Armstrong.

Dame Sian Elias and fellow judges of the Supreme Court made a remarkable declaration of confidence in you and me and our adherence to a constitution this week.

Although it takes some swallowing, the Prime Minister's insistence that there was no plan B had the Supreme Court blocked the part-sale of Mighty River Power has to be taken at face value.

All manner of people, policies and practices are being blamed for the near-collapse of Solid Energy, the state-owned coal company that is burdened with $389 million in debt.