[...] the elderly’s enthusiasm for National’s traditional beliefs and values is readily understood. Unfortunately, for Simon Bridges, exactly the same factors are present in the equation that delivers elder support to NZ First.

THE POSTCARD says it all. There stands Auckland’s Mt Albert/Owairaka, circa 1910, gloriously naked. Not a single tree in evidence. None. If the Tupuna Maunga Authority (TMA) truly wishes to restore Owairaka to its original condition, then it will not limit itself to cutting down 345 trees, it will cut down every last tree on the mountain!

[...] Are National’s strategists correct in assuming that by taking NZ First out of the game they can deny Labour a working majority?

[...] What was it that drove these changes? The facts of dispossession had been known for centuries. Indigenous peoples held their histories close. Local historians could describe in vivid detail every battle/massacre. It was just that no one else gave much thought to the wet-work incidental to modernity’s advance.

Will aligning itself with the Left on Climate Change help or hinder National’s election prospects?