Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, March 8th, 2015 - 30 comments
A National government which loves to cut taxs + workers and business being overcharged ACC levies = levy cuts, right? Wrong!
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, March 6th, 2015 - 204 comments
The first polls in the Northland by-election are grim reading for National. It looks likely that Winston will win and National will lose their Parliamentary majority. Have the Tories snatched defeat from the jaws of victory?
Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, March 4th, 2015 - 117 comments
I’ve been getting tired of the fantasy elections that some political commentators seem to enjoy playing. Currently the fantasises is in Northland, with the same old tiresome lines. It is a pity that most of those playing this game don’t ever seem to think about the behaviours of real voters, real candidates, and real parties.
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, March 2nd, 2015 - 53 comments
Whether it’s about election donations or portfolios, some people do seem to think MPs should always get the benefit of the doubt.
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, March 2nd, 2015 - 64 comments
The release of the candidate donation returns has shown us that the National Party are still rorting the system. However, there are issues for the NZ Labour Party as well. Four MP’s have taken money from sources that do not have the interests of the Labour party or, indeed, the majority of Kiwis at heart. Brassneck or bought and sold?
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, March 1st, 2015 - 20 comments
Andrea Vance on the Labour leader’s first 100 days in office.
Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, February 27th, 2015 - 376 comments
NZ First leader Winston Peters is to stand in the Northland by-election. A three way race between NZ First, Labour and National will make for an interesting campaign and factors outside of National’s control may determine the result.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, February 27th, 2015 - 17 comments
Congratulations to Nigel Haworth who has been elected President of the Labour Party and commiserations to Rob Gallagher.
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, February 26th, 2015 - 64 comments
Its 100 days since the NZ Labour Party elected Andrew Little as its leader. What an inspired decision that has turned out to be! Little has galvanised the party, united the caucus and looks set to be the next PM. How has he turned Labour around?
Written By: - Date published: 6:48 pm, February 25th, 2015 - 231 comments
Carmel Sepuloni’s mother has had charges of benefit fraud being laid against her. Andrew Little has done the sensible thing and stood down her as its social development spokesperson. While I’m sure that we will still get the dribbling trolls, this is how potential conflicts of interest should be handled. Updated.
Written By: - Date published: 5:51 pm, February 20th, 2015 - 136 comments
Politics involves competition, opposition and robust debate as parties jostle to capture media time and to promote their policies and points of difference. But Andrew Little has recently mismanaged his relationship with the Green Party. There is an acceptable line between promoting the interests of ones own party and maintaining a working relationship with future coalition partners.
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, February 19th, 2015 - 107 comments
Sometime in the next few days, Winston Peters will announce whether or not he will stand in the Northland by-election. He should run unchallenged by the left and Labour and the Greens should endorse him for the greater good.
Written By: - Date published: 6:35 am, February 18th, 2015 - 440 comments
It might well be in Labour’s best interests to cut the crap now and go into coalition with the National Ltd™ Cult of John Key. It would be the honest thing to do. Kiwis will then know where the boundaries lie and who actually is working to oppose the implementation of the wider neo-liberal ideology.
Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, February 17th, 2015 - 153 comments
It’s looking more and more like Labour has found the right leader at last.
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, February 12th, 2015 - 92 comments
Zero-hour contracts are the perfect illustration of when “flexibility” in employment relations goes all one way.
Written By: - Date published: 10:26 pm, February 4th, 2015 - 3 comments
The Labour Local Government Council ran a hui last Friday in Wellington. I went along and it was one of the better Labour events I have been to in a long time – community-based organisers sharing and discussing what works. Crosby/Textor is onto it too.
Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, February 4th, 2015 - 302 comments
Issues surrounding Mike Sabin highlight the handling of the matter by Andrew Little. With commendable restraint he chose to privately notify the Prime Minister’s office that one of his MPs faced problems. And his recollection of matters is clearly better than Key’s recollection.
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, February 2nd, 2015 - 216 comments
Labour have bounced back well from the disastrous election result. But how do they keep up the momentum?
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, January 30th, 2015 - 163 comments
A by-election is imminent – so how does Labour win in a safe National seat?
Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, January 28th, 2015 - 43 comments
The choice is clear.
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 28th, 2015 - 302 comments
The speech notes from Andrew Little’s State of the Nation speech delivered this morning
Written By: - Date published: 6:59 pm, January 20th, 2015 - 150 comments
Sometimes a simple graph is much more eloquent and powerful than a whole lot of words …
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, January 20th, 2015 - 17 comments
Guyon Espiner has a paywalled profile of Andrew Little up at The Listener.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, January 20th, 2015 - 97 comments
Nick Smith today announced proposed changes to the Resource Management Act. It is likely he will resuscitate the reforms that were stalled after Peter Dunne refused to support them last year. ACT’s David Seymour has said he will support the changes even though he did not know what they are. Treasury are to release a paper with proposals for change. Updated lprent – yep National stupidity reprised.
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, January 19th, 2015 - 94 comments
Andrew Little will give his state of the nation speech on 28 January. What can we expect to see in it?
Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, January 17th, 2015 - 39 comments
TV3 recently interviewed Cameron Brewer to provide adverse commentary on a story about Labour seeded by David Farrar and Cameron Slater. And they did not even mention Brewer’s links to the National Party.
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, January 13th, 2015 - 81 comments
Political Scientists Bronwyn Hayward and Mark Boyd were interviewed on Radio New Zealand yesterday on New Zealand politics in 2014 and what happened during the election. They talked extensively on dirty politics, on the role of the media and how things can be improved in 2015.
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, January 6th, 2015 - 146 comments
Charlie Mitchell of the Dominion Post has analysed John Key’s formal speeches since 2007 to see what has from time to time been uppermost in Key’s mind. The results are interesting to say the least.
Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, January 2nd, 2015 - 275 comments
Yesterday, on Outspoken at RNZ, Craig McCulloch interviewed Jeanette Fitzsimons, Gareth Morgan and Metiria Turei on the future of the Green Party. Morgan wants the Greens to shift away from “scary” economic policies. Turei and Fitzsimons explain why not.
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, December 29th, 2014 - 27 comments
Claire Trevett in the NZ Herald has an article on her chosen top MP tweeters, now that Judith Collins has vacated her (alleged) position as “Minister of Twitter” Not quite my list of top tweeters… and yours?
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, December 15th, 2014 - 6 comments
Well worth a look. A straight talker, with a sense of humour, freshness and vigour.
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