Hard labour

It's tough going for Phil Goff and the Labour Party this week. We've just got home from Twilight Golf (and the meat we won is in the fridge!) to catch up with One News.

If Labour was expecting good news from the Colmar Brunton poll, they'll be terribly disappointed. The bleeding continues, with the General Election just 16 sleeps away; here's the news:

National and Labour have both lost ground in the latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll - but the drop is more damaging for Labour.

National is down two points but still scores 54%, which is enough for the party to govern alone.

Labour has also dropped back two points to 28%.

Oh dear. Isn't the gap between National and Labour supposed to be narrowing as the election gets nearer? On tonight's poll, National would have 68 seats in Parliament; easily enough to govern alone. Labour would get just 35 seats; barely half the number that National wins. On those numbers, there are going to be some high-profile casualties.

Whither now for Labour? The Capital Gains Tax policy, the Superannuation policy and the Welfare policy have all gone down like lead balloons with the electorate; is the only option now to ramp up the personal attacks on National and John Key?

Never mind; Labour's erstwhile campaign manager Trevor Mallard is bound to think of something; is that an Exclusive Brethren American bag-man over there?