Went down to Parliament yesterday to try to "catch the vibe" of the new Government. All I caught was the scent of tequila, and that was coming from me.
There really isn't much happening down there at the moment. It's been a bit of a ghost-town since the election, outside of those (metaphorically) smoke-filled rooms, and even that's done now. All the Ministers have gone home reading up on their portfolios ("Is immigration the one with an 'e' or an 'i'?" "Whaddya mean the Minister of Racing don't have any powers over boy-racers?"), and all the staffers are busy brushing up their CVs for the upward game of musical chairs.
Will be interesting to see who takes over as Labour Whip, after Jill Pettis stood down. As my learned tequila-buddies were saying this afternoon, there will be a lot of big egos in the Labour caucus this term, and a lot of maneuvering - subtle or otherwise - in preparation of the Dear Leader's ascension from the Beehive. Caucus discipline will become an issue and the Whip could be the key to the stability, and/or a strategic rallying point for the leadership battle.
When everyone gets bored with picking the next National leader, I'm sure it'll be ripe time to start putting odds on the next Labour leader. Heard David Parker's name mentioned twice today. Never met him myself, and don't know much about him, but as one of the new Favoured Ones to be brought into Helen's loving embrace, I understand he's going to get a fair bit of the spotlight on him soon enough.