Up until recently, my partner and I had become totally cheesed off with the New Zealand political scene.
We have National selling us off overseas, Labour as fascinating as a wet day, the Greens advising money trees, and the consummate one man Winston band, looking after number one.
Add to the above, John Banks, Peter Dunne and a few Maoris, all vying for top duplicity rights and all in all, it's vastly disturbing, not to mention depressing.
Then, through friends, we were invited to the Conservatives first conference in Auckland.
And what a treat that was. We found a team of totally professionally focused and committed candidates and supporters, led by a young man who obviously says what he means and means what he says.
The press, to help sensationalise things, have painted this party with a Christian tag, but we saw little of that. Indeed, we came away with a renewed sense of hope for New Zealanders and their aspirations for their country.
We don't expect you to believe this, but we do suggest you keep an eye on this party, as they truly seem to mean business in a far more enlightened way than any of the other mobs are offering us at the moment.

R McGuiness, Tauranga.