OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Book ban proves it - we're not safeFrom Into The River to Little Red Riding Hood, there's much to disapprove of, Toby Manhire finds. What should be banned next? There is a long list that isn't getting any shorter.10 Sep 09:21 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Let's run up the red flagThe shunned triangular concept is less annoying than stylised ferns and a marsupial's backside, writes Toby Manhire.03 Sep 09:33 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: To sleep, perchance to dreamNotorious hacker Lambshank has been at it again, leaking Toby Manhire the contents of the 'Dreams' folder in the Prime Minister's Hotmail account.27 Aug 09:56 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: In defence of flying sheep to Saudi ArabiaHave you heard the one about the New Zealand sheep that flew to Saudi Arabia? Of course you have, but chances are your eyes glazed over, writes Toby Manhire.13 Aug 09:58 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Rockstar economy? The star isn't wellThe rock star is not well. Probably it's nothing to worry about, just that sniffle. But we can all do our bit to get it back on the road, writes Toby Manhire.31 Jul 12:57 AM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Sleeping while the Pacific sinksIt is not for us to lead, says Tim Groser. Far from leading, however - apart from on emissions, where we're fifth per capita of developed countries - we're dragging our heels, writes Toby Manhire.09 Jul 05:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Lamingtons are ka pai, kereru pie isn'tIn the most recent Roy Morgan poll, the National Party was shown to be plummeting, all the way down to 49.5 per cent support, writes Toby Manhire.02 Jul 09:31 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Colin Craig and other great poetsPoets, wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1821, "are the unacknowledged legislators of the world". "You would say that, you're a bloody poet," legislators have harrumphed ever since.25 Jun 09:23 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Minister for dealing with foreign buyers?Three ministers is not enough, writes Toby Manhire. "To have a hope of slaying the many heads of the housing crisis hydra, there may need to be even more new ministers appointed."12 Jun 03:08 AM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Thirty days hath SepterememberJunk Free June joins the trend of coaxing people on a monthly mission. Here are some more for the suggestion box from Toby Manhire.04 Jun 09:29 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Ugly scandals mar gameThe truly bloodcurdling disgrace is the death toll among foreign workers imported to construct the tournament edifices, most of which will be torn down when it's over, writes Toby Manhire.28 May 09:40 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Campbell's style irreplaceableThe real blow for the primetime ratings of TV3 was to lose the rights to the Australian soap that led in to 3 News at 6, writes Toby Manhire.21 May 08:53 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Jafantasising about slurplusWith "quaxing" now a thing, Toby Manhire finds life in contemporary New Zealand rich with source material for other potential neologisms.14 May 09:35 PM
OpinionToby ManhireUK election clouds make Sun shineThe British tabloid yesterday morning, drunk on metaphor juice, splashed with the coverline, "It's a Tory!"30 Apr 10:16 PM
OpinionToby ManhireLeave the Prime Minister alonePity the Prime Minister, writes Toby Manhire. Imagine the poor fellow, having to make a humiliating apology during a layover in Los Angeles Airport.24 Apr 12:11 AM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Behind the scenes at the museumA couple of years ago, Chris Finlayson, then culture minister, tooted his bugle and heralded "a golden age for the arts in New Zealand". It doesn't feel very golden today, writes Toby Manhire.16 Apr 05:00 PM
OpinionToby Manhire: Behind the scenes at the museumA couple of years ago, Chris Finlayson, then culture minister, tooted his bugle and heralded "a golden age for the arts in New Zealand". It doesn't feel very golden today.16 Apr 05:00 PM
OpinionToby Manhire: Northland's grand circus in reviewWhat a madcap couple of months. The Northland byelection campaign has had all the infantile pranking, ill-discipline and personal baggage of an Auckland airport carousel at Maadi Cup time. Here, from....26 Mar 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Finding Auckland's next top mayorBlame injustice, meddlers, wretched fortune, or just plain old karma, but the bell is ringing for Len Brown, writes Toby Manhire.19 Mar 08:45 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: The kauri files - byelection leaksEquipped with an Apple Watch and a coathanger, the fugitive hacker Lambshank has probed parliamentary servers and published a trove of top secret internal documents, writes Toby Manhire.12 Mar 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: All-seeing PM a match for Five EyesThere is something breathtaking about the Prime Minister's scattergun pre-emptive denunciations.05 Mar 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Troops to Iraq - There are many ways to show gutsBad news, peaceniks. If you oppose the deployment of NZ troops to Iraq, you are gutless, a coward, at least in the estimation of the Prime Minister, writes Toby Manhire.26 Feb 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Time to bail out of SkyCity bailoutPretty much everyone (oh, all right, except Mike Hosking) had a casino-themed metaphor for why taxpayers shouldn't cover the centre's bloated budget, writes Toby Manhire.12 Feb 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Bumbling Abbott Key's best friendAs spill-prone as a pissed kangaroo pouring cocktails, Australia could soon see its fourth change of Prime Minister in four years, writes Toby Manhire.05 Feb 11:55 PM
OpinionToby Manhire: Look at the state we're inThe National and Labour leaders’ grandly titled annual “state of the nation” addresses were about as dynamic as dry rot, writes Toby Manhire.29 Jan 04:00 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: I spy next boss of secret agencyOnly fitting, really, for a spy boss to exit under a shroud of mystery. And so it is with Ian Fletcher, writes Toby Manhire.15 Jan 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: A Welcome to Newzild tourist guideAbout this time last year I generously put together a compendium of advice for international visitors.08 Jan 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Robo-cars will soon rule the roadsHaving some moron driving right up your rear bumper at high speed. If there were any real justice in this world, such tailgating boors would be personally deported by Chris Finlayson.01 Jan 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Welcome to Ellison WonderlandOracle Team USA's defence of the America's Cup in a tiny tax haven in the Atlantic with the population the size of Southland is a joke, writes Toby Manhire.04 Dec 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Another round of 'blame the victim'?The Roger Sutton case and some men's reaction to it show we still have to change attitudes to workplace harassment, writes Toby Manhire.20 Nov 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Welcome to the G21, NZThe big kids are having a party, and this year it's at Australia's place. New Zealand, as the host's little sibling, gets to come along, too. We're under strict instructions not to touch the buffet and to stay well away from the fruit punch.13 Nov 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Some hope left in sex-case inquiry'I accept," said Police Commissioner Mike Bush, in a classic bit of police-diplo-speak, "the decision not to lay charges will prompt a range of reactions."30 Oct 08:30 PM
OpinionToby ManhireToby Manhire: Pomp and tosh in fantasylandIn Britain, they get the Queen to hold her nose and announce - "my government will..." - the legislative programme. We get instead her guy in Wellington, writes Toby Manhire.23 Oct 08:30 PM
