I make no comment on Corbyn's competence or his suitability to be the leader of the left. However, a portion of the blame still has to rest with the parliamentary wing of the party that have not supported him.

Labour has been a broad church for a long time, but since Blair it has seemed to the lefter membership that they have continually been ignored in favour of "electability".

The problem is a left Labour party is seen as unelectable, but without the work of the rank and file membership (who want a left party) there is no-one to get MPs elected.

I guess the membership got sick of being used and voted for someone who espoused their values.

Labour needs to make up its mind what it stands for and the others need to leave. If that means that neither wing is relevant then at least it is realistic.

I knew it wasn't going to work out when he made the speech criticising the ACC recipient working on his roof. I understand it is appealing to the centre and bene-bashing was working well for National, but it was a good way to alienate the left.

So I hope his new job goes well, and I think it will work better because he won't have many friends. In the end it was his friends that were harder to work with than his enemies.

Surely a “formal caution” is a yellow card? In a rugby game that is 10 minutes in the sin bin (or up to full time). Would the next offence be a red card and being banned for a season?

Good analysis of tactics, however I disagree on the bit about what Trump will actually do. Trump is dangerous for what he encourages other to do with his rhetoric of hate.

With both Clinton and Trump you can tell what they will do based on their previous actions and ignore what they say which is purely designed for elections.

Clinton will be a more rational version of GW Bush

Trump is a businessman. every decision will be based on value to him and to teh enterprise that is the US.

He is not going to go to war over a parking ticket.

Why did they choose 2010 as the finish point. If they chose 2007 or now the result would be vey different as the GFC had a big distorting influence.

I shall be voting for the new flag. I don't particularly like the idea of flags and haven't stood for a national anthem since watching the movie "The Bedsittingroom" in about the year 1980.

I respect all the arguments against it and I would probably vote against it if I thought it would lead to faster change of leadership.

But basically the reasons are:

1. There will not be another chance to change the flag in my lifetime.
2. I really dislike having the union jack on the flag
3. the new flag is significantly better (IMO) than the current one.
4. people who say that the new flag violates some principles are making stuff up. Some of the most loved flags would also violate these principles.
5. All the arguments put forward against the new flag were used against the current canadian flag. That grew on people over time, and I think the current option would also gain popularity.

I think all that you say is true, but...

I have rarely heard someone speak for a people and find that it applies to 100% of them. Some observations:

1. Mr Teitiota may have other reasons for wanting to stay in NZ but it doesn't mean that he is not at least partially motivated by fear of climate change caused problems in Kiribati.
2. There is not a binary point where suddenly climate change makes a place unliveable. Life gradually degrades over time, and people suffer (some dying prematurely). Different people have different tolerance levels and some will leave before everyone needs to.
3. The refugees arriving in Europe and Australia by boat (and the officially welcomed ones coming here) are not in imminent danger any more that islanders are. Yes they have had to leave home for fear of violence, and where they are in camps is "only" uncomfortable, dangerous and not how we would want to live (which covers half the world's population).
4. We are welcoming to qualified and wealthy immigrants and a small number of selected refugees but very cold-hearted when it comes to our pacific neighbours. the whole debacle reminds me of Muldoon's dawn raids.