Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

I'm sure, like many people of my generation who grew up through their 20s and 30s with Russell Brand as a big part of pop culture, the news that he is behind bars will have come as a shock. I'm not surprised, though. If you've been following the rape trial like I have, it would have dawned on you pretty early on in the testimony of those women that he was going to go down for this. Their stories of what he did to them were too compelling. They were not, in many cases, even dramatic. It was almost like they were explaining something as ordinary as folding socks. It just happened. The events themselves, and the way they unfolded, were so ordinary. So believable. And yet, of course, so completely unacceptable that it became clear early on, I thought, that the jury was going to believe these women, and they did. And it was a jury, by the way, of eight men and four women, and I think that makeup says a lot about how much those women were believed. Now, there are real questions that will be asked of the BBC again because Russell Brand is just the latest in a very long line of presenters and high-profile staff who have been caught up in sex-related scandals while working for the BBC. Jimmy Savile, Huw Edwards, Gregg Wallace, Rolf Harris. Brand is simply the latest. And he's quoted as suggesting that the BBC boss during his time there gave him a free pass for bad behaviour. He said she was incredibly tolerant of his inappropriate sexual behaviour while he was a star radio presenter and that she, quote, "loved me and gave me lots of room, so I took that room". He said that was basically how things were run during the mid-2000s. Now, maybe this is not exclusively a BBC problem. Maybe this is just what happens when you're employing really high-profile, highly valuable, bankable talent like Russell Brand. You give them free passes. But what everybody fails to remember when that is happening is that power, fame and bankability are passing phases. They pass. Eventually, you become an ordinary human being again. And as that list of men has shown, when you become an ordinary human being again, the consequences of your actions catch up with you. Brand is simply the latest to learn that. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One former National Party head is confident the coalition will secure a second term, despite the race being tight. Preliminary results give National, ACT and New Zealand First 67 seats, while Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Māori won 57 seats. Simon Bridges says the most likely outcome from all this is the continuation of the current Government, but the special votes are yet to be counted. "Even if they muck things around a bit, I still think - yeah, continuation of the current Government." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former broadcaster and now ACT MP Paul Henry believes there's no regrets, as a move to Wellington looks likely. ACT is currently sitting on 10.92 percent, giving it 13 seats based on provisional results - with Henry 4th on the party list. He says he'll be doing a great disservice if he changes his mind now. "There's no room for second thoughts, or I would have just completely wasted my time, wouldn't I? There's a huge job to be done."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former United Future leader Peter Dunne believes the National, ACT and New Zealand First partners will tolerate Opportunity if needed. Dunne expects parties will hold informal talks in coming weeks - while special votes are counted, for a final result. But he recommends the newcomers avoid formal arrangements. Dunne says Opportunity could stay on the cross-benches, and offer a confidence and supply agreement. "Their big task is not to reform the world at the moment, their big task is to ensure their political survival in three years time." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the morning after the election, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani recapped what we know so far, given the narrow election race. Do we consider this a win for the right bloc, or is it too early to tell?  Does National need to reach out to Opportunity to form a new Government, or is it just an insurance policy?  Do we see Chris Luxon hanging on to the National leadership role, regardless of how this all shakes out? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour's Michael Wood is quietly confident he'll get back Auckland's Mount Roskill seat - from National's Carlos Cheung. Wood is narrowly leading on preliminary results. He says special votes could see his margin increase. "There's actually the possibility that that number moves out a little bit more in our favour, but let's just hold fire." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior National MP Mark Mitchell admits the campaign to engineer an overhang distracted from the party's campaign.  Preliminary results give National, ACT and New Zealand First 67 seats, Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Māori 57 and Opportunity 7 seats.  The Electoral Commission estimates almost 400,000 special votes are still to come. National's overhang gives it no list MPs, putting Nicola Willis, Paul Goldsmith and Chris Bishop out of Parliament.  Mitchell says they'll be a big loss. "It just felt like we were sort of campaigning against weird campaigns like that throughout the whole campaign. Without a doubt, the split vote campaign was a big distraction."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Labour leader Phil Goff hasn't given up on the prospect of a left-wing Government, despite last night's preliminary results. The data shows that the right bloc currently has a clearer path to getting into Government, but there's still 400,000 special votes to be counted. Goff says New Zealand needed a decisive vote - and the nation didn't get it. "We won't know, actually, until the 27th of November - or maybe even a little bit later, if there's a vote recount ordered. We won't know for another three weeks what the actual result is."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Seymour says he's stoked ACT secured a record-high party vote for the third election in a row. The provisional results have the party on 10.9 percent, giving them 13 seats so far. But the ACT leader says the only thing that's certain now is that nothing will be clear for another three weeks. "We might not be in Government, and you've still got this Opportunity thing, you've still got this confusion about how their constitution works - if they want to go with us will they be allowed to?" LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand First is celebrating the party's 12 seats on last night's preliminary tally.   Deputy leader Shane Jones says anything could happen at this stage, but he doesn't think it's likely they'll have to talk to Opportunity.  "Let's face it, the Opportunity Party has done a fantastic job at seducing the opinion makers and the newsroom culture and the media of New Zealand." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.