Spin-busting: Govt could have used surpluses for tax cuts
With the economic situation deteriorating the surpluses the Government has run for the first eight years have turned to a deficit. National’s line […]
political parties
national
Reverting to type
Fearing a PR disaster over their tax-cut package announcement later this week, National has reverted to type, shedding the moderate facade and proposing […]
Depressing
I see National has released a knee-jerk reactionary crime policy this morning, and it’s been reported largely uncritically by a news media that’s […]
Wage gap decreasing thanks to pro-worker policies
As The Standard first reported on April 1 and Radio New Zealand picked up today, Treasury figures show that the wage gap […]
Rhetoric vs reality
With expectations about National’s tax cuts justifably very high (thanks to National talking them up for nine years), National is suddenly trying to […]
Great expectations
John Key is being pretty evasive on his tax cut plan. He won’t say whether the famous ‘$50 a week for the average worker’ […]
National lies, again
National just can’t stop lying. We’ve covered National’s lies on wages and migration in the past and our last two posts have debunked […]
Nats’ ‘NZ sucks’ campaign vs the facts
08wire produces some of the most well-thought out and best argued pieces on the blogosphere, as well as great videos. Well, I know […]
Between the lines: Nats’ RMA free-for-all
The RMA is a quick and cheap process in the vast majority of cases, and it is regarded as a world-leading piece of […]
Nats: Pay cuts for you, tax cuts for the rich
Bill English has put out a press release whingeing about Helen Clark’s promise to lift wages for low-paid school support staff, and fearmongering […]
When did lying become OK?
On Breakfast this morning, failed National party candidate Paul Henry and Guyon Espiner discussed the possibility of the Maori Party and National working […]
The Kingmaker but only one potential King
Let’s get serious about the idea of the Maori Party working with National. Yes, they want to play up the possibility to enhance […]
Still nothing personal
National desperately wants to portray any criticism of John Key as a personal attack. Don’t be taken in. Look, PM is a powerful […]
Attack on democracy
National have quietly released their policy on electoral law and have promised to abolish the Maori seats once treaty claims are finished, repeal […]
Nats desperate to silence grassroots activists
An email from a reader: “A friend and I were putting up some Vote with Both Eyes Open posters on Lambton Quay the […]
Nats’ ‘NZ sucks’ campaign continues
I remember the first time I met Simon Power, when he had just come into Parliament. He struck me as a man who […]
What a shame
Bob Clarkson chose not to speak during his valedictory speech. Instead, he just held up a sign saying ‘bye bye’ (in the same […]
Why National won’t win
National has four fatal problems that will prevent it from winning the election. Or, rather, it has two problems, both with two parts. […]
Right Court: charges don’t match the facts
[more great work from 08wire]
Diversion tactics
Key’s three defences on the share scandal are ‘no-one asked how many shares I had’, ‘it didn’t matter how many shares I had’, […]
Credit where it’s due
I’m usually no fan of Paul Henry as an interviewer but I’m prepared to give credit where it’s due. He certainly didn’t let […]
Nats relying on ignorance
It’s really easy to present misleading statistics. David Farrar shows how it’s done with a post on migration today. Note how his figures […]
Questioning politicians
We’re keen to help you get active this election campaign. That’s why we’ve launched Campaign Hub 2008 and its Facebook group to give […]
Kerr shows how the Right lie to themselves
The Business Roundtable held another in their series of forums on political issues targeted at young people on Thursday. The aim is obviously to get […]
Unacceptable
From Newzblog: “Local activist James Sleep was today exercising his democratic right to protest when he was approached by an entourage of 4WDs […]
Key on scrapping four weeks annual leave
Thanks to the wonders of Scoopit I’ve just come across this old TVNZ footage of John Key’s first day as National’s finance spokesman. […]
Key still wishes we had invaded Iraq
Helen Clark made foreign policy judgement a campaign issue today when she told a Grey Power meeting that if New Zealand had invaded […]
More slippery attacks, still no solutions
Yesterday, John Key “attacked Labour’s economic record, which he said amounted to overtaxing voters so it could put money into its pet projects” […]
Chutzpah
When the EPMU released its investigation notes on Shawn Tan it was obvious that some right-wing bloggers would seize on the fact that […]
How would Nats cut tax? Where would the money come from?
Bill English has confirmed that National still intends to give the average worker a $50 tax cut. That’s $18 a week more than […]
Nats’ dirty tricks exposed?
Cameron Slater, aka Whaleoil, is a nasty piece of work. If you’re a leftie and you get into the media, he’ll dig whatever […]
Disappointing
I just have to say, it’s incredibly disappointing that a simple prank, a google bomb, gets three newspaper articles and coverage on TV3 […]
No policy?
A reader just sent us the screenshot below with the attached explanation: Thought I should start to read up on some of the […]
National on student loans
Nats still getting money from trusts
One of the great things about the EFA is that donations over $20,000 must be declared within 10 working days. Because of that, […]
Video: Take aim and wave goodbye
Is this our first real Youtube election? 08wire is doing its bit with another new video: