Class war
One of the particularly unpleasant parts of the last budget was the cutting of funding for night school classes in conjunction with the […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Watercare – minons of the dictator
Rodney Hide, in his role of Minister for Local Government, has made himself the petty dictator of Auckland’s future. Therefore he is ultimately […]
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, […]
Media irresponsible to name her
I haven’t really wanted to get involved in the whole debate surrounding Richard Worth. It’s horrible and messy, and makes me feel sick […]
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 […]
Self-inflicted wounds
Whale Oil has a page of ‘trophies’. Little pictures of people he thinks he has dragged through the mud and embarrassed. Even made […]
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.
Let’s avoid an expenses side-show
Most people with an interest in politics will have heard about the expenses scandal in the UK. Their system allowed rorts of all […]
Nats slash education
Did anyone else notice that for all this supposed government waste that National was going to get rid of it made only $500 […]
Live blogging from Backbenchers
Jarbury is live blogging from backbenchers tonight 🙂
National: targeting the victim
So National’s latest tactic in the Richard Worth affair appears to have been to leak the identity of the first complainant against Richard […]
Where’s the trap?
Yeah. Great honey-trap. – First, target a minister that doesn’t matter with a woman who is openly Labour – Second, delete the most […]
“From the Edge”
Kevin Roberts has a new post up on his Herald blog, “From the Edge”. What a load of bloody waffle. To think in […]
A sign of things to come
A few facts unpin a lot of spin
The Tories are throwing all the muck they can at Goff. Trying to get him to back off on the Worth thing. Their latest is […]
Crosby – Posturing with little substance
Lynton Crosby of the political spinners Crosby/Textor, who ‘advised’ both John Key and Don Brash, has finally given up on trying to pursue […]
Why the Herald’s polls are stupid
Audrey Young: Goff right, Key wrong
The Herald asked this morning whose word was more credible on the Worth issue, John Key or Phil Goff. Their political editor Audrey […]
Productive debate
There was nothing in the Budget for productivity. Education, the foundation of producitivty, was actually cut when you take into account inflation and […]
Fight for Auckland’s local democracy
Red Alert, the Labour MPs’ blog, has a list of upcoming meetings on the supercity. Mt Albert – 5.30pm Tuesday 9 June, Owairaka […]
Kneecapped
Until now, Melissa Lee’s only remaining selling point in this train wreck of a campaign has been that the party she’s standing for […]
The Tory nose-dive roundup
I never seen a government crash so quickly, so hard. The Standard was saying before the election that Key was a two-faced facade […]
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 […]
It’s called sovereignty, stupid!
The Minister of Agriculture David Carter really outdid himself in the house last week. First he completely dodged and didn’t address the question […]
Key endorses Banks
As if denying Aucklanders the chance to have their say on the super city wasn’t enough National now seems determined to tell them […]
Rhetoric & Reality 3: Crime
One of the most tedious and predictable right wing electoral tactics is to try and whip up a frenzy of fear about crime, […]
Brains Trust
Whaleoil, John Key, and Melissa Lee. National’s policy wonks discuss transport modalities in an oil- and carbon-constrained future.
More opposition than ever to supercity
While the mishandling of the Worth scandal grabs all the headlines, the mishandling of the supercity process is still grinding on. And Aucklanders […]
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 […]
She was lying there with her inbox open and her cellphone pulled up
The Queen of Thorns at Ideologically Impure has a post with this wonder title about the type of victim bashing that the some […]
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 […]
Looking forward to the weekend
Will be fun to read the Armstrongs, Rolstons, Laws, Holmes, Hooton and the other assorted rightwingers that besmirch our weekend papers. See them […]
Piggy in the middle
Key is describing himself as ‘piggy in the middle’ in the Worth sexual harassment affair. Says he had two conflicting stories and couldn’t […]