Rich reaction roundup
Colin Espiner reckons that Rich’s departure will hurt the Nats. “She represented”, he says, “precisely the sort of social liberal, moderate, youthful face […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
PM announces plan to tackle graffiti
Helen Clark has just announced a range of measures aimed at cutting down on graffiti vandalism. Presumably the initiative will be supported by […]
National seeks to stop free speech
Vernon Small reports today that National party blogger David Farrar has taken out a complaint against the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s registration […]
Peters’ reply to the PM’s statement
The Herald covers it pretty well: ‘He begins poetically – a narrator hooking an audience – with “furrowed brows in the dusty roads […]
National’s house of straw
Affordable housing is the topic de jour. The foundation of affordable housing in New Zealand and other developed nations has long been houses […]
The Dummies’ Guide to National’s wage policy
I never really understood how National planned to make wages grow because every time our man John Key is asked about our wage-gap […]
Affordable housing
Not in my back yard. Alright, maybe in my back yard but only if the state isn’t involved. UPDATE: No Right Turn has […]
Key hopping on Hobsonville
Just spotted this statement from Maryan Street up on Scoop which suggests at least one reason why Mr Key would like the issue […]
National’s last moderate falls on her sword
Katherine Rich was one of only 2 women on National’s front bench and its last moderate MP. The only surprise in her resignation […]
Rich resignation a huge blow for the Nats
The Press reports that “Senior National front-bencher Katherine Rich has resigned her education portfolio and will quit politics altogether at the election…” Rich […]
Every cloud
The latest in a long line of failed protests on the Electoral Finance Act has ended badly with Steven Franks taking legal action […]
Key disappoints
I’ve just listened to Key’s reply to the PM’s speech. I’m underwhelmed. Instead of using it to promote any sort of policy platform […]
Clark targets housing affordability
In her speech today, the Prime Minister announced a slate of government plans on housing affordability. New land will be freed up for […]
Key conjures up cuts
John Key tells us that he would cut ‘wasteful government spending’ to pay for upper-bracket tax cuts bigger than Labour’s cuts. But do […]
Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan’s latest poll is out. It shows a big drop of 6.5 for National and a corresponding swing to Labour and the […]
Getting ALL the facts right
This contribution was sent through by a reader who did some digging after reading that Helen Clark’s research is letting her down in […]
Peters ought to stop playing the race card
Winston Peters vexes me. He has a long list of worthy achievements, including free doctor visits for under sixes and crippling the last […]
Media and our National Day
The decision of TVNZ’s CloseUp to pay to assist Tame Iti to travel to Waitangi this year was the focus of Media Watch […]
Push polling
Tony Milne responds to National Party blogger, David Farrar’s recent post on push polling. Tony points out that any push polling undertaken during […]
Solution to wage-gap in hands of business
Larger (but still small) numbers of kiwis are leaving for Australia and higher incomes are part of the attraction. At the same time […]
KiwiSaver – what if…
Kiwis are showing their canny side in the way we’ve been flocking to sign up to KiwiSaver – now over 400,000 strong and […]
Greens/Maori Party cooperation good for the Left
The Maori Party and the Greens are discussing an informal alliance ahead of the election. This makes a lot of sense. The two […]
Cullen puts tax cuts in context
In a speech today to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce Cullen has further differentiated the role of tax cuts under National and Labour. […]
Key not competent to lead New Zealand
The Sunday Star-Times had an article titled ‘Who Is John Key?’. It’s remarkable that we’re still asking this question a year after Key […]
TV3 poll presents challenge
The latest TV3 poll comes hot on the heels of Labour MPs gathering for their first caucus meeting of the year. “National can […]
Spot the difference
I’ve just had a chance to read Key’s speech properly. Call me a nit-picker but I don’t reckon it was a “state of […]
Mobile democracy
Another release on the state-owned telecommunications company Kordia from Murry McCully this morning which starts: Helen Clark’s claim that Kordia’s cellphone tower work […]
Dead rats
This cartoon from Moreu got me thinking… If interest free student loans, Kiwisaver and Kiwibank are dead rats for the Nats, what the […]
SST: Nats call in secret donations
The Sunday Star Times reported yesterday that “The National Party pulled in 11th-hour funding from its secret trusts and anonymous donors in a […]
Clare Curran takes Dunedin South
News just in reports that Clare Curran has won the Labour nomination in Dunedin South over former cabinet minister David Benson-Pope, Don Pryde, […]
National Party U-turn on student loans
National have just backed down on their opposition to interest free student loans. Back in 2005 Key called this ‘a policy that tells […]
Substance, not style
I don’t know if this is breaking some cyber protocol (oh, but I don’t much care if I am) but I want to […]
Dull
I haven’t had time to do a thorough analysis of Clark’s speech but from a quick once-over I can say with certainty that […]
Key speech: strategic blunder?
So this is John Key’s ambition: throwing troubled teens in boot camp, beating up on beneficiaries and criminalising our children. I’ve only had […]
Granny Herald’s campaign fails
Hidden away today at the bottom of the Herald’s story on further data from the latest DigiPoll is the news that only 3.8% […]
Shadbolt launches “Freedom of Sleaze” campaign
Terrible Tim has launched another campaign to attack the Electoral Finance Act by using as much sexual double-entendre as possible for Truth’s Page […]