Pulling up the ladder behind her
Paula Bennett’s image as a Westie solo mum who’s been on the DPB has been an important part of National’s centrist branding. By […]
Eddie
The scandal that wasn’t there and the one that was
The Herald really really wants to uncover an expenses scandal like in the UK. Think of the fun they could have. But they’re […]
On referenda and democracy
I have to disagree with the guest post below, which argues that because citizens’ initiated referenda tend to be brought by groups peddling […]
Baldock gets a smacking
The folks at The Yes Vote point to a hilarious exchange this morning between Sean Plunket and Larry Baldock on Morning Report. Challenged […]
Key chickens out
What the hell’s going on with John Key’s leadership lately? He’s just chickened out of answering the traditional question from the Leader of […]
Trust me, I’m the Prime Minister
Some thoughts on Key’s continuing refusal to tell us why he fired Worth. First, it’s tautological to say that a Prime Minister fired […]
Priorities
Noticed this comment in the Dom this morning [offline] about National’s decision to slash funding for night classes in the Budget: Finance Minister […]
Tiring of it?
Duncan Garner said something interesting during the Mt Albert by-election special: “I’ll tell you why John Key came back from overseas… He came […]
Has John Key misled Parliament?
On the day Richard Worth was forced to resign as a Minister, Key explicitly told Parliament the criminal investigation into Worth was the […]
Child beating lobby finished
Here’s a tip for the child beaters at Family Fist – if you’re going to whip up a storm of fear and misinformation […]
Hooton’s bizarro world strikes again
I think it’s fair to say that David Shearer’s thumping victory in Mt Albert has been widely viewed as securing Phil Goff’s leadership […]
Ralston vs Ralston
Two of New Zealand’s top political commentators (it pains me to write that) have gone head to head over the Mt Albert result: […]
Mt Albert results – Shearer in a landslide
David Shearer has won a bigger share of the vote in Mt Albert than even the great Helen Clark did just 7 months […]
Questionable
I was shocked, shocked, when I pulled up Kiwiblog just now and there wasn’t a long post of quotes by political commentators on […]
A place in the sun
Another bad week is about to end for John Key with a mammoth defeat of his handpicked Mt Albert candidate. What’s that now, […]
Poor Melissa, well, not so poor
She’s really trying her best. Even with only one news cycle to go, Melissa Lee is still out there, working hard to get […]
Back to basics
Radio NZ is playing John Key saying that, following the letter from the woman in the sexual harassment saga, he has “washed his […]
John’s recession-buster: a party, in 2 years
On Monday, John Key promised he would make a ‘major tourism announcement’ today. Apparently, we’ve just had it. In a speech today, Key […]
Marxism, whoo!
All going according to plan, I’ll be there. Hungover in the back row.
The plot thickens?
At his post-cabinet press conference, John Key continued to determinedly fly in a death spiral over the Worth affair. The journalists asked some […]
Old news
Saw this strange article from NZPA last night. National may be behind in the polls for the upcoming Mt Albert by-election, but nationwide […]
Joke candidate cracks a funny
From Lee’s presser yesterday: “I am the only candidate that Mt Albert voters can vote for that will be inside John Key’s Government.’ […]
Brains Trust
Whaleoil, John Key, and Melissa Lee. National’s policy wonks discuss transport modalities in an oil- and carbon-constrained future.
Should Key have appointed Worth at all?
On Q+A this morning, Phil Goff was asked by Paul Holmes for more detail on why John Key wasn’t surprised when he took […]
Wait, didn’t he say ‘women’?
There’s still a lot of confusion on the Right, in particular, about the sequence of events in the Worth saga, so I’ve tried […]
Time for a change
Sorry for the long post. This is my transcript of John Key’s interview with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint last night. It’s just incredible. […]
Quandary
This evening, Labour tabled in the House, with her permission, a statement from the woman that Richard Worth harrassed with his corrupt ‘jobs […]
Worse and worse
This just gets worse for Key. It has emerged that Worth was offering ‘jobs for favours’ for a young woman. Goff passed her […]
Question time
John Key’s making a real hash of this latest Worth scandal. There was the secretive way he went about things yesterday, which is […]
Update on Worth
From the fuzz: Police confirm that a complaint was made in Auckland two weeks ago and related to a recent alleged incident. Preliminary […]
Cullen’s two cents
Quite rightly, Michael Cullen has avoided getting involved in the debate over National’s starvation diet for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, known as […]
Journalists not falling for Nats’ $8 billion con-job
This part of Vernon Small’s article today deserves an extended quote: “The numbers are stark. If full payments resume in 2020, contributions will […]
The $8 billion robbery
On Q+A this morning Guyon Espiner interviewed Bill English. Guyon had received papers from a treasury official that apparently show the cost of […]
Turei new greens leader
Metiria Turei has been elected at the Green Party National conference to replace Jeanette Fitzsimons are female co-leader. Her election is no real […]
Time for a change
Remember that month when John Armstrong was away when up and comers like Patrick Gower and Eloise Gibson were getting to write pieces on […]
Government waste
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the right when Labour and the Greens filibustered the other week to draw the […]