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John Key called us to task in his interview with Wammo today: "every leftwing blogger out there has a field-day going on and on about the fact that Labour say I said climate change is a hoax...they should just get their facts right down at…
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This revealing quote is buried in the middle of today's Herald story by Fran O'Sullivan headed "All change on the gravy train". It does make one wonder where the real journalists are in that paper. If the Herald knows there is a major policy shift…
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According to the Colmar/Brunton poll, 50% of Kiwis don't believe National is being open about its plans vs 37% who believe the Nats are being upfront (presumably, the other 13% offered no opinion). That's got to be worrying for National. As I've said time and…
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Thanks to what I can only presume is a technical glitch at the Listener there's online access to a lot more of their current content than usual including Jane Clifton's column in which she's bemoaning the blurring line between bloggers and jounalists. Hilariously she focuses…
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The US presidential race in the States took a new direction with the McCain and Obama both appearing at a Forum on faith, held over the weekend, moderatorated by pastor and author Rick Warren. Commentators and opinion leaders are now disecting the event, offering their views. For example…
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Why are we spending $1 billion on Transmission Gully when by the time it is finished the price of petrol will be up to $10 a litre according to a study by the Australian CSIRO? Look, we can't expect better from National, they only just…
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What can we learn from the war in Georgia? Without going into the rights and wrongs of the combatants, what I'm interested in is the geo-strategic implications, specifically the future of the democratisation project. And it's not a pretty picture. See, for a while everything seemed…
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Tracey Watkins is said by some of her colleagues to be spending an 'unseemly' about of time hanging out in John Key's office, she's certainly spent enough time at National HQ recently to get similar with the wall hangings. So, it's fairly safe to say…
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National is desperate for you to know its party list is a diverse one. It's a diverse list alright. I mean you've got a woman at 7, another at 10, yet more at 17 and 20 - you're talking up to four women in a National…
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As I said last week, the polls that came out this weekend can not reflect any impact of the secret agenda tapes. The Roy Morgan poll was 50% over before the first tape even came out, and remember it was not until mid-week that the…
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Remember the photos of McDonald's wrappers strewn on a grass verge that John Key expected us to believe was evidence people had been rifling through his electorate office's rubbish? Was there ever a more transparent attempt to deflect attention from a bad story with an…
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The death at just 59 of alpine legend Gottlieb Braun-Elwert will be greatly mourned around the Tekapo community, and much further afield too. Braun-Elwert was one of those Europeans who came here and found our great outdoors intoxicating. He arrived in his 20s on a…
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When you look at the policy National has released, it's clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy that would work. There is a most appalling lack of detail - most of the policy one-page wonders from National have left…
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Colin Espiner on the Nats' energy policy: ...National's energy policy is conservative and lacking in new ideas... What it has delivered is a short-term, pragmatic policy lacking in vision. But unlike Labour, it is probably a policy in step with current public opinion. Maybe these…
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Quite a quiet week after the excitement of the secret agenda tapes last week. The Tories are keeping up their hunt for the person who exposed their secret agenda (God knows what they expect to do if they catch them). National's welfare policy was in…
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Today's our first birthday. A year ago I had the privilege of the first post. It was on John Key's contradictory statements about whether or not he wanted New Zealand troops sent to Iraq. The video's below. Since then there have been another 1440 posts.…
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A third Drinking Liberally chapter is underway. The first meeting of Drinking Liberally - Palmerston North will be next Friday at the Kingsgate bar. The guest speaker will be Hamish MacDouall, Labour candidate for Whanganui, David Bowie expert, brain box, and all-round nice guy. Now,…
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A positive and ambitious energy policy that reflects the personality of National leader John Key, was announced today. Old people wiped tears from their eyes and youths vowed never to tag another fence as they heard the ambitious vision National has developed for New Zealand's…
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A policy paper has been released on how the Government's goal of 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025 can be achieved. Micro-hydro projects and small-scale wind turbines will deliver power to rural areas. Reversibility of new generation will be built into new schemes as part of…
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A few mini-posts on National's relationship with the media in light of the secret agenda tapes. _______________________________________________ A signature Crosby/Textor move, seen here and abroad, is for their politicians to be matey with media as long as they run the lines, but, if they start…
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There's a Roy Morgan poll out today or tomorrow, then polls from Fairfax, TV1, and TV3 on the weekend. Naturally, people will be watching these closely to see if National has been damaged by the secret agenda tapes. Do not expect the polls to show National taking…
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Insight into Mr Key costing his tax policy (lots of clever bits, best viewed in fullscreen) - hosted by 08wire
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The secret agenda scandal has reminded many people that, behind John Key's smile, National's leaders are still the same bunch who were cutting benefits and flogging off assets in the 1990s, or people who came into Parliament hoping to continue those policies. That's not good…
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A lot of you won't remember it but there was a time in this country when being on a benefit wasn't seen as the fault of the person receiving it and the idea of a social welfare system was about just that: the welfare of…
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I've been awfully remiss in not posting on this earlier. Transition Towns, a group dedicated to developing the skills needed for communities to become more self-sufficient in the coming post-peak oil world, is holding an activist training session in Wellington this coming weekend. There's a…
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In December 2006, the United Nations adopted a major new human rights treaty, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance aimed at preventing and punishing 'enforced disappearance' - the kidnap and murder of political opponents by governments. 73 countries have…
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When the DPB was first proposed it had a very simple purpose, to allow mothers to leave abusive relationships, to allow them to protect their children from beatings, alcoholism and psychological abuse. It was intended to ensure that those children would have a real chance…
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ENGLISH: So we're sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They're facing a recession. The last thing we want is to spend the whole election campaign with families of four on TV saying 'Mr Key's taking money off us'. You can't do…
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'No ifs, no buts, no maybes' - that's the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching a coup against John Key after the election. It's a phrase that is burned indelibly into many New Zealander's memories, not least…