Election not much of a fight so far

But there's a limit to how far you can campaign without having a visible rival to knock heads against.

Far be it from me to set the timetable for the election, but I remain perplexed on the length of time it's taking to choose a national candidate for Wairarapa, especially now an early election date has been called.

In some respects, it's gravy time for the Labour and Greens candidates, who are free to campaign with impunity.

But there's a limit to how far you can campaign without having a visible rival to knock heads against. Part of campaigning is trashing and rubbishing the strategies and philosophies of your opposition, and telling the public how your party can do it better. For the Green Party, their mileage is in getting as much party vote as possible, and with the Green's John Hart ranking reasonably high on their list, he stands a chance of becoming a list MP.

Labour's Kieran McAnulty would, I'm sure, like to have that visible opposition. So would we, of course - it's all bread and circuses for a newspaper.

So I can only conclude that either National are trying to get some devastating yet-to-be-revealed talent for Wairarapa, or they are content with their timetable and will choose from the two perfectly worthy candidates - Jo Hayes and Alastair Scott - and the other contenders, whom we expect to hear about this week.

Perhaps National are content with the pace because of the very visible work John Key has been doing in China. Even with the embarrassment of Judith Collins, New Zealand is enjoying an easing of the recession and the timing could not be more perfect for the National government. Put the words "China" and "deal" together and people start feeling better about the future. Anything that suggests money right now is clutched at greedily. It's probably why we let dairy farmers hose effluent into the rivers.

So it's very hard to find fault with the guy that appears to be bringing in the money. I think the National government has failed this country when it comes to inequality, poverty and hardship.

Things have gone too far. But economics are always going to be out of whack when rich people get really, really rich while many of us operate on a money system where that money only exists as a concept, not reality.

If there's one thing I hope next year's government tackles, it's putting some effort into establishing systems that are real, rather than systems that are little more than the combined will of a fragile confidence.