COMMENT: Appropriately the internet has plenty of material devoted to the proposition that the best things in life are free.

COMMENT: According to the person who may well be the next leader of the free world, the only things that would survive nuclear war are cockroaches and Helen Clark.

COMMENT: 20th century totalitarian ideologies of left and right were quasi-religious movements that replaced an absentee God with flesh and blood messiahs.

COMMENT: We're venturing into the unknown. There have been demagogues in American politics before, but none became a major party's presidential candidate.

COMMENT: Why do some political leaders change their tune on drugs once they're no longer actively involved in politics?

COMMENT: As never before, the international community wishes it had a say in the American presidential election.

COMMENT: Given the sordid, coercive and traumatising nature of most incest, it seems a little reckless to push a "my DNA made me do it" line, even in unusual cases, writes Paul Thomas.

COMMENT: The US President holds mankind's fate in his or her hands, which is why we all have a stake in this election, writes Paul Thomas.

History, they say, is written by the victors. And few victors have relished the opportunity as much as Sir Paul Beresford, MP.

COMMENT: West will never thwart each and every attack, but the power to undermine propaganda is in our hands.

COMMENT: The rich and powerful are manipulating the media and the public in order to increase their wealth and power. Does that matter?

Moral dilemmas often pit narrow self-interest against the greater good, writes Paul Thomas.

It seems most Kiwis fit into at least one of the following categories on the question of whether to stick with the current flag or replace it, writes Paul Thomas.

COMMENT: The barbarian is no longer at the gate. He's inside the castle and heading for the throne room, writes Paul Thomas.

Here's an interesting statistic: since 1840, life expectancy at birth has risen three months each year, come war, epidemics or advances in medical science.

The meaning of the New Hampshire primary is that Americans are in open revolt against the system, fear of the future and rage against economic inequality.

This week the Herald reported that the exodus to Australia, for so long part of our social and political furniture, is officially over, writes Paul Thomas.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Just as England summoned Winston Churchill from the political wilderness in 1939, English rugby in its darkest hour has turned to its black sheep.

Oxford Uni's new vice-chancellor pinned her colours to the mast with a robust defence of the traditional British values of tolerance and free speech.

When you reach a certain age having acquired a degree of worldliness, there aren't many news items that make your jaw drop, writes Paul Thomas.

COMMENT: Unicef comes across as both controlling and ungrateful in their response to All Black's tweet showing dead children, writes Paul Thomas.

Statistics show Americans have a far greater chance of being shot dead in shootings perpetrated by their fellow Christian Americans than in terrorist attacks by Muslims, writes Paul Thomas.

It's a given that plenty of politicians play fast and loose with the truth, especially on the campaign trail, writes Paul Thomas. Trump isn't hyping his policies or exaggerating his opponents' shortcomings, he's slandering an entire community.

Both Key and Malcolm Turnbull have embraced causes not normally associated with conservatism.

Muslim communities have to be more forthright in their commitment to Western values and less indulgent of those in their midst who preach and practice hatred, writes Paul Thomas.

It's a good week to be a New Zealander: we won the Rugby World Cup (again) and were ranked one of the most prosperous nations (again), writes Paul Thomas.

Richie McCaw was at risk of missing the RWC final through being suspended for foul play. Paul writes how media could be the blame for this situation

Unlike the parliamentary system which requires the Prime Minister to be an MP, the presidential system is open to practically all comers, Paul writes.

Russia's presence in Syria under the pretence taking the fight to Isis is a strategic triumph for Vladimir Putin and an embarrassment for Barack Obama, writes Paul Thomas.

For the benefit of recent rugby converts, herewith a guide to the Rugby World Cup tournament thus far, writes Paul Thomas. A is for Australia.

Imagine being David Cameron's public relations adviser, writes Paul Thomas. "How did this come about, according to the book? I mean, was it a dare? Did he trip?"

A narcissistic blowhard leads the Republican presidential race. Australia goes through PMs like a banana republic on fast-forward. What's going on?

Paul Thomas asks, if there's a special pathos attached to death by drowning when in sight of a safe haven, what about the boatloads of Libyan refugees who didn't make it across the Mediterranean?

If there's a positive to his stunning rise, it's that he's the absolute antithesis of the carefully groomed and packaged identikit candidate, writes Paul Thomas.

When is hacking good, and when is it bad? The Ashley Madison leak offers a curly conundrum, writes Paul Thomas.

When the Peters-Hosking stoush erupted, many must have asked themselves: whose side should I take or, for that matter, do I have a dog in this fight?

Why is Donald Trump holding a commanding poll lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination? Paul Thomas has some possible answers.

Paul Thomas says: Having just been through a move, I can confirm it's no walk in the park. But nothing is worse than the soul-crushing ordeal of hooking up to broadband and Sky.

Contemplating Greece's slow-motion train wreck, it's hard to resist the urge to trot out some old sayings, writes Paul Thomas.

The fact that so many Republicans are comfortable with the thought of Donald Trump in the Oval Office shows how warped the party has become, writes Paul Thomas.

We've all had the disconcerting experience of being told, often by someone who read it in Reader's Digest, that something we take for granted can cause cancer.

Wellingtonians have become understandably pessimistic, expecting the worst in order to limit their disappointment when the worst duly transpires, writes Paul Thomas.

Colin Craig seems to be in the long tradition of public figures who wrap themselves in a cloak of virtue but fail to live up to standards, writes Paul Thomas.

We think of death on the roads as something that happens to other people. But when that other person is someone we feel we know, it rams home the reality, writes Paul Thomas.

It's hard to know what else Hauraki could do to alert listeners to the fact that Like Mike is a piss-take, writes Paul Thomas.

The news that Islamic State (Isis) fighters have advanced to within 100km of Camp Taji where New Zealand's 143 military advisers are based wasn't the only bulletin from the war zone.

The fuss is another example of how the narrative threads of major TV shows have become ongoing news stories, writes Paul Thomas.

Most incoming governments take charge of divided countries, that's the nature of democracy. And the UK is really no more divided now, writes Paul Thomas.

If teenagers are getting their life lessons from porn, then we're not merely contemplating the end of innocence, we're contemplating the end of romance.

While the act in and of itself may be relatively innocuous, it symbolises something bigger, writes Paul Thomas.

There is an ideological dimension to this, writes Paul Thomas. If Campbell was studiously apolitical or unapologetically conservative, would he be getting the same level of support from the same people?

They came, they saw, they were mean. And, apparently, they committed career suicide.

Part of John Key's success is he is seen as a Clarksonian figure - someone who speaks our language, the voice of bluff, non-PC common sense, writes Paul Thomas.

There is a glaring difference between the two sporting products on offer: the cricket is exciting; the rugby is anything but, writes Paul Thomas.

That Netanyahu could play politics over such a grave issue is depressing, but this cloud may have a silver lining, writes Paul Thomas. His behaviour has infuriated the Democrats.

A mountain of anecdotal evidence and the build-up to tomorrow's World Cup grudge match at Eden Park all suggest that New Zealanders love Australia but can't stand Australians, writes Paul Thomas.

Sections of the left-wing intelligentsia appear to believe the Eleanor Catton brouhaha says something disturbing about New Zealand.

Eleanor Catton's Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries shows she knows a thing or two about astrology, but I doubt she foresaw the stoush triggered by her remarks.

Writer Salman Rushdie, who knows a thing or two about attacks on freedom of expression, calls them the But Brigade: those who deplored the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

My person of 2014 is the anonymous hacker who drew our attention to the accelerating conflict between the right to privacy and the public interest.

How many Pakistani children have to be slaughtered to stop a cricket match? We don't know, but it's more than 132, writes Paul Thomas.

Clothes may no longer make the man, but it seems they can still break him.

A recent cartoon shows a couple arriving at a dinner party. One of them hands the host a small box with the explanation, "We didn't bring a bottle; we got you these tablets for mild alcoholism instead".

Dotcom’s distractions couldn’t derail democratic process, and the resulting backfire left perpetrators puzzled and the victim victorious

This week, the Huffington Post website reproduced a piece from its Spanish offshoot listing the most common misconceptions about Spain and the Spaniards.