John Key: How his party could lose, FMA must lift Milford lid, Are electric vehicles New Zealand's future?

In NBR Print today:

POLITICS: John Key: How his party could lose

ENERGY: Are electric vehicles NZ's future?

TECHNOLOGY: Big fine for online bullies

PROPERTY: Watercare's scrutiny and accountability derided

REGULATION: FMA must lift Milford lid

SPECIAL FEATURE: Spotlight on Whanganui

National will have to keep “re-inventing” itself to earn a fourth term, Prime Minister John Key tells Rob Hosking.

Silent vehicles powered by renewable energy and drifting down recharging highway networks could become New Zealand’s norm over the next two decades, as a gradual shunning of fossil fuels and more advanced battery technology mean electric vehicle uptake is on the rise. Calida Smylie asks how their adoption will affect the energy sector.

A “mutual distrust” between the imprisoned Joseph Yu and his former employer Zespri over a laptop taken by Chinese Customs has led a judge to ask Zespri if it contains documents that might lead to “self-incrimination.” Hamish McNicol has the story.

Water connections to new Auckland houses costing more than $12,000 have raised the ire of many developers and now the Productivity Commission has put its oar into the debate. Sally Lindsay reports.

The significance of the Milford Asset Management investigation is that mystery surrounds what happened to cause a $1.5 million settlement. This leaves questions over the details of any offending and whether Milford’s stellar performance against its many rivals had anything to do with it. How can there be a wake-up call for the industry if it doesnt know what took place? Shoeshine asks.

As the inexplicable popularity of on market share buybacks continues, shareholders should be asking companies to justify them in plain language, writes Tim Hunter, citing Nuplex [NZX:NPX] as one example.

Whanganui might be under water this week but that won’t dampen its business spirit. Infrastructure will need assessing after the recent floods but how much damage occurred, or how long the clean-up might take, is unknown. NBR's special report looks at how what some describe as a Zombie Town is picking itself up.

Get ready to be a lot more careful about what you say online – or what contributors and commentators on your website say about others. Chris Keall delves into the Harmful Digital Communications Bill – aka the Cyber-bullying Bill - which returned to Parliament this week and is close to being passed into law. 

While the rest of the nation is in the icy grip of a cold snap, it appears there’s a thaw underway in the previously frosty relationship between Auckland’s mayor Len Brown and the National-led government. Nick Grant reports.

Wynyard Group [NZX:WYN] wants to show it can break even in calendar 2017 but it may choose not to. Jenny Ruth analyses the technology firm.

NBR's In Depth columnists Rob Hosking and Matthew Hooton look at the week in politics, while Nathan Smith covers the latest in Greece's financial crisis.

In Heartland, Jacqueline Rowarth says farm animals cannot be compared with "humanised" companions. Pet owners sometimes forget this, underlined by the fact that Americans spent nearly $1 billion on Valentine gifts for their pets this year.

All this and more in today's National Business Review. Out now.