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Here are the results of the last four polls, released over the past four days. I've presented them in number of seats won and grouped the parties into Left and Right based on these facts: ACT is locked with National as the Progressives are with…
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Labour has unveiled its work rights policy, and it's a good one: - minimum wage increases at least at the rate of inflation or the average wage increase, whichever is higher. That would bring it to nearly $15 a year by 2011. Why they didn't…
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National's response to my revelation on The Standard that John Key owned shares had undisclosed conflicts of interest with Fletcher Challenge Forests is to deny the conflict. Let me restate the core conflict suscinctly: John Key owned shares in Fletcher Challenge Forests. Fletcher Challenge Forests…
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We received this by email and it's so kafkaesque we just had to post it: I had a dream last night. I had, for some reason, been roped into going door to door in small town New Zealand delivering National Party pamphlets. I found myself…
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When the Tranzrail shares came to light, Key was asked whether he had any other undisclosed shares entailing a conflict of interest. He said he didn't. That was not true. National Party Leader John Key failed to disclose his conflict of interest arising from his…
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This is from the discussion area of the wikipedia page on opinion polls. It is an analysis of biases between the polling companies by trewa. I know how much our own commentators are interested in the biases of different polls, so this will give some…
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Warning - this song will stick in your head!
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So, let me get this straight. The Right says that the minor parties have to support a National-led government if National gets more votes than Labour. Even if a National government would go against everything a party stands for, even if it is a complete…
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So, we can all make up dumb pictures and say 'beware of many-headed monsters'. Let's, instead, ask if National's attack makes sense. First, any new government is going to need support from a number of parties. A Labour-led government is likely to be dependent on…
act election 2008 greens labour maori party national polls progressives spin
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The Earl of Auckland wants New Zealanders to choose National with a "small number of other parties going in the same direction". That means National/ACT, and ACT means Roger Douglas. Someone recently called him a blast from the past - more like a croak from…
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Rather than argue about individual polls, it is more interesting to look at the overall trends. A number of people have put an excellent summary of the polls up on wikipedia. What is noticeable to me about this chart is that the National support looks…
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The New Zealand Herald is, as usual, uncritically repeating John Key's latest lines on the front page of its website. This time Key's scaremongering that a Labour-led government would be a "five-headed monster". Much better to go with a simple, straight-forward National government, says Key.…
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And the polls keep coming. Today's Roy Morgan poll has Labour down 5.5% and National up slightly, while the Greens rise to an astonishing 11.5% - that's 15 MPs. NZ First drops just below the threshold to 4.5%. Under this scenario an LPG+M arrangement is…
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National's MPs might be considering spending the next two weeks in bed, dreaming of victory. Because it seems every day they go out, one of them accidentally speaks their mind, which is costing votes. They've managed to alienate an impressive range of demographics in the…
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So, you're talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it's wrong but you don't have the arguments and facts at your fingertips to make a decisive point. That's where our election series, The Standard line, comes in.…
economy election 2008 kiwisaver national tax The Standard line
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So, you're talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it's wrong but you don't have the arguments and facts at your fingertips to make a decisive point. That's where our election series, The Standard line, comes in.…
election 2008 helen clark labour national sexism The Standard line
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If you missed Ali Ikram's view of the day (from yesterday)
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The latest Herald Digipoll presents quite a different picture to last night's 3 News poll. While TV3 had the Left and Right blocs neck-and-neck with the Maori Party as kingmaker, the Herald has National still able to govern alone at 50.4% and 63 seats. You…
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The Dom Post reports that ACT will have to file amended returns after failing to declare $20,000 of donated office space. Luckily for ACT nobody found out until they got past the time-limit for prosecution. Rodney Hide is, of course, not embarrassed. I'm reminded of…
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Tonight's 3 News poll has the election wide open with two weeks to go, putting the Left on 59 seats to the Right's 60. 3 News says that with the Maori Party in the kingmaker position it's too close to call, but when Colin Espiner…
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I've always regarded the possibility of a National-Maori Party governing arrangement as absurd, even grotesque. The interests of the Maori people, who are predominantly working-class, are clearly best represented by the Left. Under National in the 1990s, Maori unemployment reached 25% and incomes plummeted. Today…
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A different 'story of two National party guys' from 08wire:
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Now I'm not one to gossip (well, not too much) but in the last few days I've heard from several people that the NZ Herald has held back an opinion poll. Why might they do this? Well perhaps it's related to NZ First apparently polling…
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It seems DPF, Cameron Slater and John Ansell have pooled their collective genius and come up with a new campaign. Apparently they had some money left over from their earlier ramshackle PR fiasco so they're putting up more anti-Labour billboards as the Free Speech Coalition:…
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This is clever from Google labs - In Quotes. It allows you to compare people's quotes on a variety of issues, having pulled them from online news. The default "speakers" are McCain and Obama but you can change them. I tried with Clark and Key…
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UPDATE: The Pink Batts original is youtubed here.
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In the heat of the Lockwood Smith controversy yesterday, some of our right-wing readers had a go at John A for posting a link to National's racist 1975 election ad with the comment that "underneath they haven't changed". In light of this, I thought the…
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The OCR is down from 7.5% to 6.5%. That's an unprecendented cut in one go and further confirmation that we are entering tough economic times. Inflation has been high but the Reserve Bank thinks the increasingly likely global recession will remove inflationary pressure. Keeping the…
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Russel Norman at Drinking Liberally - Auckland last night on Lockwood Smith: Lockwood may think all Asians have small hands but what we really learned today is that Lockwood's feet are so small he can fit them in his mouth Classic.
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Yep, that's a pusy Roger Douglas zombie eye staring at you. Ew.