Why haven’t the police acted?
It is day 10 of the Anti vax protest on Parliament’s grounds. More cars are being parked illegally and despite considerable disruption to Wellington’s roading network so far not one car has been towed by the police.
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Freakin useless
Maureen Pugh has posted a post on facebook supporting the Wellington protestors, deleted it when it was pointed out to her the protestors were anti vaccination, and then claimed she did not realise many of the protesters were against Covid-19 vaccination.
Chris Bishop – manipulated, lying, or just plain stupid?
Roche, a major manufacturer of RATs, issued a statement to media on Tuesday night saying none of its stocks had been diverted or seized by the Government.
“RAT kits have been, and will continue to be, supplied to all New Zealand customers, including the Ministry of Health, in the sequence that purchase orders were placed,”. Chris Bishop MP is still claiming mythical evidence from local suppliers.
Luxon under pressure after latest Newshub Poll
I am going to channel my Matthew Hooton left wing alter ego in the writing of this post. The latest Newshub poll shows a resounding level of support for the Labour Party and there are murmurs of discontent about Chris Luxon after support for the right plummets.
David Seymour should stick to twerking
David Seymour has responded to slumping poll results by claiming that the Treaty of Waitangi should be trashed.
About the latest Colmar Brunton poll
The latest Colmar Brunton (now Kantar) poll has now been released and some of the commentary and analysis is pretty ordinary.
The importance of proper mask wearing
With an Omicron surge appearing to be inevitable the importance of proper mask wearing has never been more important.
Omicron is coming
So far the country has fought back and eliminated the original Covid infection, won a couple of skirmishes and then and fought and quelled the Delta incursion. But it looks like Omicron is coming …
What does Luxon do about Hipango?
Harete Hipango is in the news again, this time for posing with a group of anti vaxxers and posting a photo and making some pretty way out there comments on social media.
A few random predictions for 2022
A few random predictions for 2022.
The Standard’s 2021 political awards
It is that time of year where nostalgia kicks in and the desire to review current events dims. So much has happened this year. It has truly been twelve months of the praiseworthy and the absolutely pitiful. And it is time to reflect on the personalities who made us smile, made us frown and made us raise our eyebrows to breaking point.
V Day!
Yesterday was Aotearoa’s V day, the day that we reached the goal of having 90% of the target population vaccinated against Covid.
The country’s books are in remarkably good shape
As the country rebounds out of partial lockdown the Treasury’s recently released half yearly Economic and Fiscal update suggests that the Country’s accounts are in remarkably good shape.
New Zealand moving Green
Long overdue, the recent Green upward trend continues.
Clearing the decks
The draft report into Nick Smith’s treatment of a young staff member that eventually saw him leave Parliament has made its way into the public realm, just in time to be lost in the pre Christmas media wash up.
Fair pay agreements – the employers fight back
BusinessNZ and Federated Farmers have this week attacked the Government for intending to implement policy designed to improve the plight of poorly paid workers.
National’s caucus reshuffle
The deckchairs have been reshuffled. And Chris Luxon is confident that reorganising the pecking order of a deeply dysfunctional caucus will make all the difference.
Some good news about Covid
In Auckland there ares welcome signs that the spread of Covid is declining and the Health system is holding up. And the Vaccination roll out has gone that well that Chris Luxon has described Auckland as having some of the highest vaccination rates of any city in the world.
Chris Luxon is not National’s messiah
Two days into Chris Luxon’s reign as National leader and my initial impression is an overwhelming Meh.
National’s new leader is …
Chris Luxon is set to be the next leader of the National Party.
National’s factional problem
National’s basic problem is that it has three discrete factions, christian conservatives, urban liberals and the country grouping. And no coherent vision to reconcile these totally disparate groupings.
What National Needs To Do
Since the left are experts at internal knifing, National should learn from the left about how to recover. What National needsto do to recover.
The winners and losers from National’s leadership spill
The winners and losers of today’s National Party leadership spill are …
How many centrist votes go to Labour?
Judith Collins lost a vote of confidence. David Farrar seems to think that Act will get the inevitable flow. Sounds unlikely. The far right and nutbar fringe has already vacated to Act – who represent them so well. But Labour overwhelming won last election on a vote from previous National voters. History repeats in 2023?
National’s civil war reerrupts
National’s civil war which has been simmering for a while erupted last night after Judith Collins demoted Simon Bridges for making inappropriate comments to Jaqui Dean five years ago.
National – let the virus rip
There is no other explanation, and this week Paul Goldsmith gave the game away, National thinks that we should let the Corona virus rip.
Astroturfers of the world unite
Two days before what is claimed will be the mother of all protests links between the Groundswell organisation and the Taxpayers Union have been discovered.
National is being utterly irresponsible
In the middle of a pandemic where the numbers in hospital are increasing and a number of Kiwis have died from a virus that is spreading promising the loosening of current restrictions is the most irresponsible, stupid, foolhardy, idiotic, imbecile thing I could ever expect a political party to do.
Down the rabbit hole
Former National MP and University Lecturer Simon Thornley are in the news after publishing a video interview questioning the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine and suggesting that the evidence that Ivermectin is useful in treating Covid is epidemiologically sound and strong.
Covid and the latest polls
The results of two polls were leaked recently both showing a drop in support for Labour. Clearly the Delta outbreak has rattled confidence. But National has not surged up in support and the Greens have picked up some of the former Labour vote.
Won’t someone think of the business owners?
This week Judith Collins was reported to be close to tears. But not about the possibility of a significant number of deaths but by the prospect of business closures.
National’s plan – open and be damned
Yesterday National released what feels like take 16 of its Covid response plan, this one focussing on business interests and setting a hard timeline for reopening. But getting significant details wrong and rehashing failed policies previously tried in England has dampened its effect.
Time for Auckland to go back to level four?
With daily Covid infection rates in Tamaki Makaurau increasing it may be time for the Government to consider a short sharp lockdown to try and arrest this increase and to let vaccination rates improve.
Goudie blunders again
Thames Coromandel mayor Sandra Goudie who previously admitted not scanning where she goes has been at it again, this time stating that the Pfeizer vaccine is not good enough for her and she will be waiting for the Novovax vaccine to be available before she gets vaccinated.
Covid D day
Some big decisions are due to happen today. What happens to Auckland’s Covid status? Should the lockdown level be reduced or should the Government think about putting it back up?
Gender split is interesting in latest poll
The latest Roy Morgan poll was run between August 30th and September 26th. The headline results of Labour/Greens with 55% (increase by 3.5%) against opposition National/Act/Maori parties on 41% (up 0.5%) were good enough. But they also showed the gender split.. Women are deserting the right.