I agree with you about the need for focus here, and the distraction thats caused by dredging up the past for personal gain.

As I write this I noticed three things on the breakfast television:

1) Breakfast program put the young national and labour MPs they have been focused on all year on a national blue seat, which was not part of the normal set. They introduced the National womans dad in the background and gave her much more opportunity for exposure. I dont know if they helped dress the candidates in any way …but the labour guy had no red on whatsoever. It almost looked like they removed his tie even.

2. On TV3, they went into the billboard campaign by that has you and helen walking together. They went into the funding - suggesting how unbiased it was … and went into the fact that the libertarians basically emptied their coffers to do the billboards. They went through the contributor list …ridiculing the notion it was politically biased. They forgot the obvious link between Rodney Hyde and the libertarians - disgraceful journalism. They forgot that the libertarians are political in themselves - and profess to certain societal objectives that are contrary to NZ Firsts.

3. The spin on the Key-gate trading scandal was to focus on labour being desperate - not the fact that in an office like that of a struggling company - transactions like those suggested in the tens of millions would be carefully discuss by the senior people in the company, and the course forwards planned - and this is particularly important to such a company when there is crisis. I think the angle that should be thought about is the link in timing between keys resignation and the illegal trading. I think it is too coincidental personally and I feel that key should really be scrutinised - if not for any potnetial wrong doing - but that their is a strong possibility that he knew the dealings were dodgy, and thus left rather than participate. I would say thats my take on how people tend to respond to such situations … if you dont like the heat you get out of the kitchen! You might not say anything if your confidientiality agreement AND your future career (in a world of dodgy dealings) could be severely impacted. What does this kind of thing imply to me … well it implies that if Key did resign because he considered the firm he was working for was breaching rules (???) and he did not want to be involved … then it shows that he is prepared to compromise ethics for business gain potentially. Sounds like a typical politician to me! It is cynical I know - but maybe NZ First should come out and say that in light of ‘new evidence’, NZ First can only really work with national if they remove John Keys from leadership … put the shoe on the other foot!

Good luck with the election.