Sales pitch
He just doesn’t give up does he? Maurice Williamson was spotted this morning still trying to sell his toll booth idea to Auckland […]
political parties
national
Whom to believe?
On Agenda on Sunday, National’s Transport spokesperson, Maurice Williamson, said National would impose tolls on major new road projects – Transmission Gully, Waterview […]
Nat: our ‘diversity’ is just a gimmick
Unless a party has a systematic bias towards one sector of the population, it would be normal to expect that their candidates would […]
Adapting to the end of cheap oil
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows […]
Mythbusting: Half of new generation is thermal
Reading National’s energy policy last week I was surprised to learn that of 1942MW of new generation that has come online since 2000 […]
Key demands we publish full quote
John Key called us to task in his interview with Wammo today: “every leftwing blogger out there has a field-day going on and […]
National’s “major policy shift it talks about behind closed doors”
This revealing quote is buried in the middle of today’s Herald story by Fran O’Sullivan headed “All change on the gravy train”. It […]
Kiwis don’t trust Nats
According to the Colmar/Brunton poll, 50% of Kiwis don’t believe National is being open about its plans vs 37% who believe the Nats […]
Nats: some of us look like youse
National is desperate for you to know its party list is a diverse one. It’s a diverse list alright. I mean you’ve got […]
An election strategy, not a governing strategy
When you look at the policy National has released, it’s clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy […]
Energy policy fails to energise
A positive and ambitious energy policy that reflects the personality of National leader John Key, was announced today. Old people wiped tears from […]
National and the media
A few mini-posts on National’s relationship with the media in light of the secret agenda tapes. _______________________________________________ A signature Crosby/Textor move, seen here […]
Into hiding
The secret agenda scandal has reminded many people that, behind John Key’s smile, National’s leaders are still the same bunch who were cutting […]
Should the sins of the father be visited upon the children?
When the DPB was first proposed it had a very simple purpose, to allow mothers to leave abusive relationships, to allow them to […]
Wait, what’s working?
ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is […]
Bill’s big wink
‘No ifs, no buts, no maybes’ – that’s the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching […]
Cartoon: Attacking the poor
The Child Poverty Action Group thinks that National’s welfare policy is likely to hurt vulnerable children.
Gordon Campbell on Nats’ welfare plan
Dog whistle politics to some, beneficiary bashing to others. But is there logic to National’s policy on benefits? Gordon Campbell asks: Will John Key’s policy […]
Sensitive about security
National activist/advisor Matthew Hooton on Nine to Noon: ‘the National Party leadership group is very sensitive about security. They look at the last […]
Nats bashing on solo mums
Wonder of wonders, the Nats’ benefits policy has an 11 page document attached to it. Oh, wait, it’s mostly just stats ripped from […]
3 more points on the secret agenda tapes
1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the […]
Ambitious for beneficiary-bashing
That nice man, Mr Key, the one who says the old Left/Right divide is over, that he’s a new man with a new […]
Policies for the wrong time (again)
We’ve heard a lot about the ‘private’ opinions of some senior National MP’s this week. What we haven’t heard much about is the […]
Giving with one hand, taking with the other
I’ve gotta admit feeling a little bit sorry for Key over the story of his offer to donate “a good part” of his […]
A hard place
Kudos to Crosby Textor for doing such a good job of changing the secret agenda debate to the issue of who taped the […]
Semantics
The SST reports that English says that he will “never” challenge Key for the leadership. Yet I’m told that over the past couple […]
Once too often
Last week Colin James wrote that behind National’s one-page wonder policies there was actually a substantive body of work. The publicly-released work rights […]
Desperate Nats reduced to bounties and bribery
When there’s a strike on, it’s common practice for bosses to offer individual workers a bonus payment to scab on their comrades and […]
On botox and pet grooming
Pansy Wong’s supposed outrage over ACC “shelling out $750,000 for staff to indulge in day spas, manicures, and botox” has nothing to do […]
When you smile….
Hitting the email circuit is a video on the leaks within the National party over the Hollow Men.
Quote of the week
Maybe we should take submissions in the comments but my vote’s with Michael Cullen’s assertion from the House yesterday that the leaked tapes […]
It’s about principle
The clamour for ‘policy’ from National is actually a slight misnomer. What Kiwis want to know is the principles that National stands for […]
Cui bono?
So, who stands to gain from National borrowing $5 billion if it becomes the Government? Ultimately, the people who lend the money are […]
Gordon Campbell on the ethics of taping politicians
You’d be hard pressed to have missed the story on what some National MPs have been caught saying behind closed doors. We’ve seen discussions over the […]
English calls for own resignation
A reader has alerted us to this article from the NZ Herald where Bill English explains why he should resign or be sacked […]
Nats, have some pride in what you believe
So, now we know that three National frontbenchers were recorded talking about a secret agenda at the cocktail do last Friday. Think about […]