Much has been made of Shearer's inadequate response (compared with Cunliff) to Espiner in last weekend's "Q&A". He will quickly learn how ro deal with situations that limit him to soundbites. But in "The Nation", also at the weekend, where both Shearer and Cunliff faced much longer and more searching interviews by Plunket, Shearer more than held his own and, in my view, emerged the better of the leadership aspirants.