Stories by Guyon Espiner

Vast new pine forests are being hailed as a solution to NZ's carbon emissions deficit - but not all environmentalists see them as a silver bullet and farmers say they could gut rural communities.

Green Rush - Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in conversions of farmland to forestry after a rural backlash. Video

The former prime minister could be forced to stand down from one of his banking roles because of a potential conflict of interest. Audio

People with epilepsy say their lives are being turned upside down by seizures after Pharmac switched their medicines in a cost savings drive. Warning: Graphic images.

Yesterday smoking researcher Marewa Glover told MPs that children could heal from exposure to smoking in cars. But perhaps most controversial is the source of $1.5m of her research funding - tobacco… Audio

The tobacco giant tried to gain access to an Auckland poverty group as well as a South Auckland DHB in a bid to get its new tobacco products marketed to poor people.

A tobacco company is targeting Māori with its new e-cigarette because it wants to make money and not because it's concerned about public health, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says.

Smoke and Mirrors - Philip Morris is visiting marae and sports clubs to offer free trials and discounts on its e-cigarette as it targets Māori. Guyon Espiner investigates. Video

Smoke and Mirrors - A US vaping product, which is so popular with young people it's under fire by the FDA, is coming to NZ. Guyon Espiner reports.

Desperate patients are being left in the dark as to when Pharmac will fund medicines. Guyon Espiner asks why the drug-buying agency operates with such secrecy. Video

Guyon Espiner reveals how lung cancer patients are buying cut-price drugs from India, as other Kiwis fundraise, petition and apply for clinical trials to access medications Pharmac won't fund.

Pharmac is making 10,000 people with epilepsy change medication, despite Medsafe's opposition the move. Guyon Espiner asks why it carries out up to 60 drug switches a year.

An endocrinologist says New Zealand's type 2 diabetes drugs are 'third world'. Guyon Espiner asks why Pharmac won't fund the medicines experts want.

First Person - This is my final week on Morning Report and I'd like to tell you why I'm leaving, what I've learned and what I won't be apologising for. Video

Analysis - Simon Bridges isn't running out of luck. He never had luck. It's his caucus that is running out, running out of reasons to keep him on.

Analysis- We were promised a moment of truth and now it has arrived, writes Guyon Espiner.

First person - Christchurch used to seem like a place where nothing happened, writes Guyon Espiner. Now an offshore horror has wormed its way in. Or perhaps it was here all along.

Analysis - Like Sonny Bill, the defensive game from Shane Jones has been aggressive and entertaining although he sometimes plays the man rather than the ball.

Analysis - Labour will count itself lucky the Newshub-Reid Research poll was held for nine days and released the night before MPs returned to Parliament on Tuesday.

Analysis - This assessment may surprise you coming from someone who spends his professional life criticising and critiquing politicians: Over the past 20 years we have been among the best governed…

Analysis - When it comes to tension between the US and China, National and Labour are on the same side. It's the side that, having taken one side on security and the other side on trade, says we…

Analysis - Simon Bridges has been severely tested in the salacious saga of Jami-Lee Ross, but the real plot twist for National doesn't lie here but in the dry prose of the Treasury, Statistics NZ and…

Analysis - There were two big housing stories this week, two quite different approaches to them and one clear signal where the government's focus lies, writes Guyon Espiner.

Analysis - For Simon Bridges, emerging unscathed from the Jami-Lee Ross saga is the political equivalent of escaping from Alcatraz, writes Guyon Espiner.