Getting the facts straight
When asked on Morning Report (MP3 link) today why National was bringing up the issue of MMP now, Key remarked: “[the public] were […]
political parties
national
Key’s green mask slips
Last year John Key announced National’s ‘Blue-Green’ Strategy. It contained the first shadow of acknowledgment from National that climate change is a serious […]
Winner takes all (of us to the cleaners?)
The Sunday Star Times reports National is keen to have a referendum on MMP. As you would expect Peter Shirtcliffe has been involved […]
Two stories on crime in Christchurch
Christchurch hosted a public meeting on crime within the city last week. But the thing that caught my eye, despite the very laudable […]
Happy Birthday National
Today is the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the National Party. So, it’s an opportune moment to reflect on the founding principles […]
Nats’ attack on union hits High Court
Today National will be explaining to the High Court why it wants the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s 50,000 members to be denied […]
TVNZ and the Nats
As Paul Henry continues his party political broadcasts for the National Party on Breakfast TV, a curious coincidence of timing occured on Sunday. John […]
Interview the Leaders VIII: NZ First
We’ve chosen the questions for John Key in the seventh installment of our “Interview the Leaders” series. The first question remains the same, […]
Undo the cuts
Good to see Ruth Dyson finally admitting we have left beneficiaries behind. I would hope now that there would be a lot more […]
Clarkson not standing in Tauranga
Clarkson has jumped before he was pushed – he won’t be standing in Tauranga. Peter’s hasn’t confirmed yet whether he will stand or […]
Get your questions in for Key
Our ‘Interview the Leaders‘ series is going well and this week it’s your chance to submit questions to the man who wants you […]
The 40 cent tax cut
National and some of the more wacky commentators are complaining that the $655 million used by the Government to buy back the rail […]
Interview the Leaders VII: National
The Maori Party has asked for an extension on the replies for Tariana Turia and we’re happy to oblige. In the meantime, here […]
Key: National’s great white hype
Tom Frewen’s latest column seems to have somehow slipped through the usually rigourous editorial process at the NBR. The sidebar reads: “John Key’s […]
Talking down the economy
National is a party weak on policy. It has had to drop nearly every one of its principled but unpopular policies to get […]
Simon’s semantics
Never one to miss an opportunity to stir up fear over crime, Simon Power now wants us to believe that we’re less safe […]
Mission Accomplished
Today is the fifth anniversary of Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech in which he stated that “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. […]
Electoral donations reported
The Electoral Commission has published the parties’ donation returns for 2007. It is worth noting from the outset that under the electoral law […]
Know your Nat: Judith Collins
If National were the Government, Judith Collins would be Social Services Minister. That should be enough to send shudders down the spine of […]
Right answer, wrong question
It’s not often National gets something right but their latest flip-flop, on bio-fuels, is a good policy (well, partially and for the wrong […]
Aloha means hello and goodbye
Strangely, given the fact the National Party is doing so well in the polls and looks to be the favorite heading into the […]
National on personal attacks
Greenwoman just flicked us this:
Put it on the kids’ tab
Some may have noted an odd series of questions in Parliament and press releases from Bill English around government borrowing over the last […]
Clem Simich stepping down
Clem Simich has just announced he will be stepping down at the election. As regular readers may have noticed I’m not generally a […]
Mistakes, I’ve made a few
David Farrar’s three more prominent weaknesses came together in a speculator PR disaster yesterday. The weaknesses are his ego, his trick of using […]
If I were National’s campaign strategist
National will not win by running on its rightwing principles and policy. For 20 years, New Zealanders have consistently said they do not […]
The cart before the horse
The internet is awesome; you can use email, learn heaps, and read sites like The Standard. Faster internet is awesomer; you can watch […]
What would National do?: Emigration
Simon Power has hit on the fact that Stats New Zealand produces migration figures every month, and that means every month he gets […]
National makes work rights the defining issue
National’s strategy, the strategy of a weak party, is to present a ‘small target’ by promising to change virtually nothing if they were […]
Note to John: get a new lawyer
John Key: ‘ my lawyer actually does those things clearly [he] had the wrong information.’ That’s how Slippery John explained why legal documents […]
Hutchison chases the Green Fairy
Earlier this week, John Key had a whinge about ‘personal’ political attacks on him. Particularly, he thought it was a waste of taxpayers’ […]
A ring of truth in the Hollow Men
Congratulations to Dr Brash for fronting up and going to see the play The Hollow Men at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland (that’s […]
Cost of benefit system plummeting
Continuing our benefits theme, here’s a look at how much the benefit system costs you. The figures are the combined expenditure by the […]
Running scared
Why did National block Parliament from debating the Auckland Airport sale? Only last Friday, Key was ‘fuming‘ over the Government’s decision to prevent the […]
Peters doesn’t trust National
Yesterday, Winston Peters said that in any deal with National he would require all National MPs to personally sign the agreement and that […]
On the scrapheap
This graph shows the number of people employed in New Zealand, and employment would have been had the number of people with a […]