The Panel with Michelle Boag and Brian Edwards (Part 1)

Topics - Phillipstown School will bring another round of legal action against the Education Minister Hekia Parata over her final decision to merge it with Woolston School. Ministry officials arrived at Woolston and Phillipstown schools yesterday to tell them the merger would continue, but the children at the school will be able to see out the current year. The former Reserve Bank governor Don Brash has revealed that he considered taking his own life "to end the pain" following the failure of his two marriages. In his autobiography Incredible Luck, published today, the man who led the National Party for three years says the end of both his marriages had been "hugely painful" - and in both cases had led him "to the point of contemplating suicide". Local Government New Zealand has warned that basing rates on property values alone may soon no longer be sustainable as the sole taxation form for many councils.