When David Lange made his famous remark in 1998 about the country needing to stop for a cup of tea and take a break from the task of economic reform, he probably had not idea that his metaphor would enter the national vocabulary in the way it has. The call for a teabreak symbolised the loss of momentum and direction of the latter years of that Labour administration. In fact the teabreak turned into a long lunch. Only the intervention of the 1990 election averted the risk of it becoming an all-night drinking session.