The Panel

Some bus services in Auckland and Hamilton weren't running due to drivers striking. The drivers want a country-wide fair pay agreement. The union representing the drivers says the way contrats are awarded to bus companies makes companies cut wages to be succesful. Dr Andrew Cardow from Massey University's School of Management explains why this operating model isn't working. A new study has found Canadian writers are earning 27 per cent less than they were three years ago. Avergae incomes dropped to just over $9,000 in that time. Many of the authors are over 40 years old. The panelists give their view on the situation. The Prime Minister says more care needs to be taken with the mental health of MPs following the news over the weekend that Jami-Lee Ross went into mental health care. The National party is also conducting a review into its culture, after the revelations last week about Jami-Lee Ross' conduct with women in the workplace. The mental health foundation has warned the coverage of the drama could be harmful.

The US Embassy in Australia has had to apologise for sending an inappropriate email.

Mary Ward who writes for Fairfax Australia has written a column about giving up her handbag and how liberating it is.

We find the answers to any queries you can think up.

The results of a longitudinal study which started in 1960 is bearing some interesting fruit. Hundreds of thousands of U.S high school students took a test, as part of Project Talent. Now tens of thousands of esults have been compared with medical claims and medical records. Lower scores in 17 areas of cognitive ability correlate with developing Alzheimer's and related dementias. The Director of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital Robert Prowse assesses some of the findings.

What the Panelists Jock Anderson and Nicky Pellegrino want to talk about.

"Nebraska. Honestly, it's not for everyone." A refreshingly honest regional slogan. But really, why bother?

A property company is using nostalgia and the idea of "kiwi-ness" in a promotional video for a kiwibuild development in Waikato."Do you feel like we've lost our Kiwiness" were the words on the video and that's been labelled disrespectful by sociology professor Paul Spoonley.

The phrase first coined by British PM Harold Wilson "a week is a long time in politics" couldn't be more apt for the New Zealand National Party this week. Political journalist Richard Harman sums up the accusations of "corruption", "electoral fraud", the betrayal, the texts, the tape, insults to Chinese and Indians, harassment of women, and other dastardly goings on.

A FREE waterfront Auckland stadium. A 50,000-seat covered stadium to be built by the Auckland Waterfront Consortium in return for the right to build 2500 dwellings and commercial buildings nearby, and the right to re-develop the land where Eden Park stands now. We ask economist Sam Richardson - what's the catch?