Bill English thinks he was pro Springbok tour
Bill English says that he was probably for the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand although has hinted that he has since changed his mind.
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Power Up!
Some moment in time will be that moment in time when reality’s faced; when both actions and words accord with it. That moment might as well be this moment as opposed to any other.
Dodgy foreign trusts – will English take action?
Matt Nippert continued his excellent work on foreign trusts yesterday in The Herald. Will Bill English clean up the mess that John Key was determined to ignore?
The CIA files on NZ
The release online of a trove of declassified CIA documents includes several pertaining to NZ. The Herald’s David Fisher has given us a fine summary.
The shame of homelessness
A rich old white idiot, who would only be amused at our anger, has vented about the homeless, in a piece that shouldn’t be rewarded with our clicks.
Labour Greens plan joint state of the nation
Good to see the effects of the MOU in action!
Women to protest Trump’s inauguration
Various events are planned in protest around Trump’s inauguration. One of them is a series of marches organised by and for women. There are (at time of writing) 386 marches organised world wide, including in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
How do we increase voter participation?
Fewer people, particularly young people, are voting. How do we turn this around?
English’s three strikes
The Herald’s John Roughan is not impressed with Bill English so far. And today English put his foot in it again.
More Multi-millionaires than ever!
In this glorious ‘go ahead’, ‘get ahead’ land of opportunity…
English in England
The usual media suspects are digging pretty deep to try and find anything supportive to say about English’s UK visit. English himself sounds like he has been put in his place.
Spinning ‘social investment’
Bill English has co-opted the old term “social investment” to replace another old term “targeted welfare”. Simon Wilson (writing at The Spinoff) has bought into the spin and written a deeply confused piece about it.
Refreshing honesty from English
English – “One of New Zealand’s benefits is because we’re a long way away and fairly small we don’t attract too much attention.” Nice contrast to the usual Nat hysterical style. I guess there’s no need for all that domestic spying apparatus then?
Julie Anne Genter to stand in Mt Albert by-election
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter will be standing in the Mount Albert by-election to be held on 25 February
Ten steps towards victory for Labour
A guest post by Labour Activist Enzo Giordani on what Labour needs to do this year to win the election.
Know Your Place (this is a White Man’s Island)
Just remember that
NRT: Denying the obvious
I/S at No Right turn writes on Revenue Minister Collins’ denial of obvious tax avoidance.
The end of ‘governing from the centre’?
And a return to the politics of division by Blinglish…
The CIA Director confirmation hearings
Mike Pompey is Donald Trump’s chosen head for the CIA. He is someone who believes in the mass collection of all metadata and combining it with all publicly available information. Are we going to see the unprecedented destruction of rights of privacy?
Screwing more out of Auckland renters
Already sky-high Auckland rents are set to rise further.
Refining that dog whistle
Bill English has used a proposal for timing of his Waitangi speech to wrongly claim that he is being silenced. And most of the media bought it.
English won’t attend Waitangi Day
I don’t think it does a PM any harm to shut up and listen for a change instead of talking, but this does not seem to be possible for the Nats.
Wikileaks unravels
In the space of a day Wikileaks managed to complain about another entity leaking information, threaten to dox pretty well every reporter, delete the tweet and then sound like Donald Trump.
Hacking Schmacking
In all seriousness. Apparently.
The St Johns Industrial Dispute – #HealthyAmbosSaveLives
St Johns is one of the first organisations to use new Industrial powers brought in by the Government and is attempting to refuse to negotiate with First Union and is docking workers pay for wearing a campaign t-shirt.
The return of Kim Dotcom and the Internet Party and the NZ journalist seeking asylum in Russia
In strange news Kim Dotcom is talking about resurrecting the Internet Party and claims have been made that a New Zealand journalist is seeking asylum in Russia. Update: I am satisfied the application is for real.
New Zealander of the year
The Herald has managed to overlook choosing Helen Kelly as its New Zealander of the year.
I have an idea
Advantage muses on the meaning of Christmas and how our response to it says a lot about who we are.
Well done Murray McCully
Murray McCully has had New Zealand co sponsor a successful Security Council resolution condemning Israel for violating International Law through its resettlement policy.
Nats take a plunge on the Roy Morgan roundabout
The erratic Roy Morgan poll has swung around again, Nats down 4.5% to 45% and Labour/ Greens up up 5.5% to 43%. Worryingly for the B-team, government confidence fell a “whopping” 10 points.
Rudman on Nats’ total housing fail
Rudman: “The Prime Minister, in his role in charge of Housing New Zealand, and Smith have spectacularly failed to solve Auckland’s housing crisis over several years.”
Steven Joyce rewrites history
Steven Joyce believes that doing something is the same as not doing something.
Nats not contesting Mt Albert
Bill’s National is out of steam already.
Crushed Collins to ACT?
What next for Collins? Burning ambition, a significant personal following, no future in National. Time jump to ACT? She must fancy her chances of taking over that pretend party and building it up to a “kingmaker” role.
The great Cabinet reshuffle
Bill English has announced his cabinet reshuffle.
Denial in Politics
There’s a lot of it around. The Democrats and their media and spook allies are in a complete lather over Putin’s supposed personal influence in the US election. Confident of victory and its spoils up till midday on election day, the Clinton team are incapable of assessing just what a debacle of a campaign they ran, still less what they need to do now. Lessons abound.