Dieuwe de Boer

Prior to the shoplifting allegations that led to her resignation, I'd almost forgotten about Golriz Ghahraman.

My paternal grandfather ("pake" in Frisian) passed away at home aged 76 in the early hours of December 22nd after a long illness. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer eight years ago and was given nine months to live.

As part of public religious displays that Iowa allows in its state capitol, The Satanic Temple set up a display of Baphomet. This isn't the first time that has happened.

A few weeks ago, while the coalition was still negotiating, I wrote about the "measure of success" that the government would need to achieve. After its formation I started work on tracking their commitments.

We have a new government and they've made a lot of promises. The two documents between National-ACT and National-NZFirst contain a total of 213 different commitments with measurable outcomes.

Javier Milei in Argentina and Geert Wilders in The Netherlands both won big this week. What's in it for us?

The formation of a new government is in its final stage, perhaps even complete by the time you read this.

While the election results were finalised, and then re-finalised once a journalist found a host of errors, the coalition negotiations carried on quietly. They may be finished by the time this column gets published or they may go on for weeks.

It's always an Israeli-Arab conflict that turns everyone back into a warmongering ethno-nationalist in five minutes flat.

The final election results are in and so is my decision to hang up my coat.