by Heather Hastie | Sep 23, 2014 | Democracy, NZ Politics
On 20 September, New Zealand re-elected prime minister John Key to a third term in office, and gave his centre-right party enough votes to govern alone, which is virtually unheard of in a proportional representation system like ours. The main reason for his success is...
by Heather Hastie | Sep 18, 2014 | Democracy, Great Britain & Europe, International Politics
It’s only a few hours now until voting starts in Scotland’s referendum to choose whether or not they stay part of the United Kingdom. The latest poll of decided voters is 49% pro-independence (Yes) and 51% pro-Union (No). Five percent of voters are still undecided and...
by Heather Hastie | Sep 17, 2014 | International Politics, Middle East, Religion, Terrorism, US Politics, USA
President Barack Obama has received much criticism, especially domestically, for his foreign policy, and it has to be said that much of that criticism is justified. However, his strategy in relation to the self-styled Islamic State is a good one, and has a far better...
by Heather Hastie | Sep 12, 2014 | Democracy, NZ Politics
New Zealand has a general election on 20 September, just a few days away. Most polls show the centre-right National Party is more likely to be able to form a government than the centre-left Labour Party, but results are close enough that they cannot be confident. So...