The Herald met Nikki Kaye in 2013, she was a fresh-faced Cabinet Minister.

Longstanding National MP and former Speaker Lockwood Smith has used his final speech in Parliament to tell of his regret at voting against homosexual law reform.

As you'll know by breathless media reports, the old battle-axe Titewhai Harawira took the country to the brink of disaster just as the Prime Minister and other dignitaries were about to arrive at the lower Waitangi marae.

The lawyer hand-picked by Minister of Justice Judith Collins for a top state service job is an old friend of her husband, says a private investigator who used to work for both men.

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.

In between overseas trips, Murray McCully talks to political editor Audrey Young about his hectic year ahead.

Carter takes over as Speaker of the House despite Labour move to install Mallard

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.

He has more combativeness than the sort of bonhomie that endeared predecessors such as Don McKinnon, John Carter and Simon Power to political enemies but is still regarded as a pleasant enough fellow.

Justice Minister Judith Collins rejected the advice of an independent panel which recommended a woman lawyer for a top state service job and selected her own nominee, despite a plea from the Chief Human Rights Commissioner.

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.

Hone Harawira says dumped Cabinet Minister Phil Heatley is a "smarmy p****'' who jokes about the poor, but the Whangarei MP says he takes poverty seriously.

Disappointed but unbowed, Whangarei MP Phil Heatley says his dumping as a Cabinet minister means he will have more time to concentrate on his electorate.

John Key's promotion of Simon Bridges, Nikki Kaye, Amy Adams and Jonathan Coleman is designed to rejuvenate and modernise the National Party Cabinet before next year's election.

The first was being asked to chair the finance and expenditure committee.

It is said that Napoleon, on being told of the impressive attributes of a new general, asked, "But is he lucky?"

This has been another testing year for New Zealand businesses as they rock along the decade of "grumpy growth".

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

Normally, talkback in the week before Christmas is full of callers ringing in with lovely stories of family get-togethers and their own personal Yuletide traditions, and we wish each other well for the holiday season. Nice, warm, fuzzy stuff.

Several months ago, Education Minister Hekia Parata called a meeting in her office to discuss the vexed issue of Christchurch school restructuring. Post Primary Teachers' Association president Robin Duff was among those invited to the evening meeting.

When plans to slash $25 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's budget emerged early last year, Joanna Woods' book Diplomatic Ladies suddenly became a lot more topical.

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."

Editorial: MP Brendon Horan is right: it is not fair. He has been investigated only by his erstwhile party leader, whose verdict is final as far as the party is concerned.