Poor, poor Phil

We woke up early this morning, and flicked the radio on for a while on Newstalk ZB. Much of the talk was about the continuing saga of Chris Carter. The latest instalment in this compelling drama has Carter buying himself an additional two months whilst he goes on sick leave, during which time the Labour Party can't touch him.

What does this mean for poor Phil Goff? Well, we reckon that it's the stuff of Goff's worst nightmares. He wanted Carter gone, if not by lunchtime then at least by next Saturday. That's not going to happen now, and Goff must be privately seething. What makes it worse is that Labour Party president Andrew Little has given a de facto endorsement of much of what Carter alleged.

The next three days in Parliament will be interesting. Will the Carter situation be the elephant in the room which everyone tries their hardest to ignore? Or will the government find creative ways to introduce the source of Phil's nightmares into the discourse? We'd lean towards the latter, and suggest that tomorrow's General Debate could be most entertaining. We'd be highly surprised if the government speakers' theme was not Phil Goff and the paucity of leadership options in the Labour caucus.

So we'll be at our most magnanimous best this morning as we wish Chris Carter a speedy recovery from whatever ails him, and as we wish Phil Goff a sound, nightmare-free sleep tonight ...