It feels almost as if global politics is being scripted by the Coronation St writers.
Something goes wrong? 'I'll put the kettle on, love - lets have a cuppa.'
David Lange started it all back in 1988, when he called time on Roger Douglas' economic reforms by proposing the nation"stop for a cup of tea".
Now, it seems, the kettle of political reconciliation is on a constant rolling boil.
When social development minister Paula Bennett was under attack for releasing two DPB mums' private benefit details, she phoned up one and they arranged to meet up for a coffee and a chat.
Prime Minister John Key has offered to have a similar chat with actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, after he somewhat rashly told her to butt out of the climate change debate and "stick to acting".
Overseas, American president Barack Obama caused ire by recklessly leaping into a stoush between a black Harvard University professor and the white police sergeant who had arrested him when he was seen trying to break into his own home.
Obama apologised for saying the police had "acted stupidly", and phoned the two men to invite them round to the White House for a friendly beer on the patio.
One can only speculate on how North Korea's 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong Il phrased his invitation to Bill Clinton this week.
'Bill, why don't you pop into Pyongyang for a cup of ginseng tea. We can have a chat about these two American journalists I've got in custody.'
Perhaps that's all that contankerous Act MP David Garrett was proposing this week, when he is alleged to have heatedly suggested that he and Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove "step outside". A nice cuppa at the tea rooms down the road from Parliament.
Of course, politicians could just save themselves a few dollars by thinking before they speak. But that wouldn't make such a good soap opera.
