Now for the spin
It’s interesting to see how National’s spin doctors are trying to frame the Government’s pathetic and shameful emissions reduction target of 10-20% by […]
Eddie
Too far
Farrar’s attacks on climate change campaigners and the Greens recently have been pretty hysterical (‘they’re going to shoot the cows!’) but now he’s […]
More questions for English
Yesterday, John Armstrong talked about the Auditor-General’s 2001 report into eligibility for a Wellington accommodation allowance: the then Auditor-General David MacDonald scrutinised allowances […]
Govt backs tax cheats
There is $4 billion in overdue tax owing. Every dollar of that means someone is pocketing cash that should be paying for schools, […]
Stand up for free speech, stand against Bully State
As you know, when Natasha Fuller and Jennifer Johnston spoke up against the Key government’s cancelling of the Training Incentive Allowance, Paula Bennett […]
English in serious trouble
Over at Red Alert, Trevor Mallard has posted a form that all MPs wanting an out-of-town allowance must fill out. It asks MPs […]
One law for all?
Are you? a disgraced former minister who resigned from Parliament in shame? a National MP who rents from a National minister (Judith Collins […]
Key: Don’t join the conversation
By telling Keisha Castle-Hughes she should “stick to acting” and keep out of the climate change debate, Prime Minister John Key is signalling […]
Taito guilty
No surprises and a good outcome. That man betrayed everyone who ever supported and trusted him. He exemplifies how power can corrupt, something […]
Bon moat
We’ve been puzzling over how Bludger Bill can be spending all the $920 a week he is rorting for living in his family […]
What price citizenship?
“What price citizenship?“, asks Heather Roy. “$10 million“, says Jonathan Coleman.
Good potential, will it deliver?
17,000 youth jobs. That’s what Key has promised with a $152 million programme (some of this is existing money). Like Colin Espiner says […]
Snouts in the trough
NZPA reports: Taxpayers are contributing nearly $1000 a week to allow deputy prime minister Bill English to live in his own million-dollar Wellington […]
Brash speech confirms National’s secret agenda
This is simply stunning. Don Brash, our new productivity tsar, has just released a speech where he proves he hasn’t changed a bit […]
Substance matters
Last night, our positive and ambitious National/Act government: Voted against Green MP Metiria Turei’s bill to protect the 111 Maui dolphins left. Voted […]
Bully State
NZPA reports: An MP from government confidence and supply party ACT today told prison officers who spoke out against private prisons that they […]
Privacy Commission guidelines
Paula Bennett is trying, unsuccessfully, to dig herself out of her hole by arguing that the Privacy Commissioner’s website said the solo mums […]
Truly ambitious for America
America faces a hell of a lot of problems at the moment, but if there’s one man with the ability to inspire and […]
More cycleway spin
[At the outset of this, let me restate, once again, I’m all for cycleways. Indeed, I wish the Key government hadn’t cut millions […]
Goff: yes, stuff-ups: no
Bill Ralston quotes me and some other Left bloggers on the Burgess debacle suggesting it means Goff’s neck is on the line and […]
Nats grandstanding on legal reform
Today we saw Justice Minister Simon Power get a front-page story for proposing a ‘reform‘ of the justice system that is actually just […]
Show-pony
Y’know, as John Key tries to get stuck into Phil Goff, I think it’s time for a quick recall of recent history. Key […]
UMR has Len Brown ahead of Banks
UMR’s just released a poll showing Manukau mayor Len Brown as the preferred mayor of the Auckland Super City, slightly ahead of John […]
Phil, get your shit together
Phil Goff. Please get your shit together. This latest fiasco of running up a guy who owns several properties as a case of […]
It’s not fair, get over it, get it right
The ludicrous attacks by the media on Goff over the dole scheme show that this is not an even playing field. Key is […]
Plenty of pixie dust for the cycleway
John Key says there are “no pixies printing cash” to help Kiwis who’ve lost their jobs under his government’s watch. Funny, because there’s […]
Good jab, now land some punches
It was excellent to see Phil Goff laying down the gauntlet to Key yesterday. He announced Labour’s policy to temporarily relax partner means […]
“Creeping communism” a success
Missed this from a couple of days ago: For the first time in 25 years, the incomes of those in lower brackets grew […]
Time for a real debate on the economy
I wish Finlay MacDonald wrote more about politics and less about cats and kids and stuff because he’s well worth reading when he’s […]
Mike Smith steps down
Labour General Secretary Mike Smith has announced he will retire at the party’s national conference in September. He’s the last of the four […]
Elias is right, will we listen?
The rednecks have predictably got themselves into a tizzy over Chief Justice Sian Elias’s comments on the need for judicial reform. I think […]
Musings on fluff
Claire Trevett wrote me a very cordial email in response to my criticism of her reports from Key’s trip around the Islands. I […]
Key grins blankly, shrugs shoulders
I was going to do a fisking of Key’s ‘major speech‘ today. But there’s nothing to fisk, no substance, no ideas, no vision. […]
Leak: Key’s next big plan revealed
Today Key is giving a major speech on the economy. He told Oliver Driver on Sunrise yesterday that it would be “pretty high […]
Folic acid fiasco
I just don’t see why medicating an entire population to prevent a handful of spina bifida cases, which will only work if women […]
Nats can NOHSAC
One of the most fundamental rights at work is the right to come home at the end of the day healthy and safe. […]