If Margaret Wilson leant any further left, she'd fall over!

"Labour's poll-driven lack of character and conviction has been confirmed! Their u-turn on racially based policies and the school review program has been the biggest turnaround since David first spied Goliath."

"They are panicking and are now in freefall," said Brian Connell, National spokesman for Commerce. "What other conclusion can one draw from the appointment of Margaret Wilson as Commerce Minister?"

"Businesspeople all over the country will be repelled and insulted by this appointment. If Margaret Wilson was any more left-leaning she'd fall over! Even Lenin looks like a moderate centrist beside her."

"Her anti-business rhetoric is legendary - though not for it's quality - and she is known to be in bed with the unions. Adding insult to injury, she was the architect of much of the present raft of anti-business legislation. The Employment Relations Reform bill is one case in point."

"There's no doubt that she has been dumped from the Labour portfolio because she is becoming a liability now that the whistle has been blown on Labour's anti-business and race-based policies."

"Businesses won't welcome the appointment as Commerce Minister of an individual who has shunned any dialogue with the productive sectors of the economy. Labour has not shed their distrust of the business sector."

"Given her anti-business background and her limited understanding of what makes business tick, foisting her onto the business community as Commerce Minister is a travesty and an insult which will have significant repercussions for the Government." "Mind you, I should thank Helen," added Mr Connell. "She's just made my job a whole lot easier."

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>