What does the right have against Venezuela?
Simon Bridges has claimed that the Government is going to follow a “Venezuela model” in making much needed reform of the Polytechnic sector. But no one knows what he means.
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national
The Meathead tax
National’s claim that the Government wants to impose a meat tax suffers from the reality that the Government has done no such thing and the proposal comes from an International collective of academics.
Simon Wilson thinks Epsom could be offered to Blue-Greens
Simon Wilson has suggested that the only way National may have to establish a Blue Green presence in Parliament is to offer them the seat of Epsom.
Show us the money Simon
Hopefully the media will ask of National the tough questions, like how it is going to increase spending in critical areas, pay down debt and give us a tax cut at the same time.
The Blue Green oxymoron
National appears to be well advanced in the formation of a new puppet party, one with an environmental theme that will present a challenge to the Green Party.
About that $100,000 National Party donation
Fran O’Sullivan has correctly stated that the investigation of the $100,000 donation made to the National Party that was partitioned to hide it should be of much greater concern to the New Zealand Police than Sarah Dowie’s texts.
Herald names Dowie as the sender of that text to Jami-Lee Ross
Sarah Dowie has been identified as the MP under police investigation for sending the text to Jami-Lee Ross saying that he deserved to die.
Stuff is now an official mouthpiece of the National Party
Mark Mitchell is an early contender for most stupid utterance by a politician this year. And Stuff has packaged up his utterance and uncritically made it a headline.
National’s Jami-Lee Ross problem
Jami-Lee Ross has written a somewhat conciliatory facebook post which essentially confirms that he is not going to resign as an MP.
National starts political year beneficiary bashing
National has kicked off the year by reverting to type and engaging in a classic example of beneficiary bashing based on a distortion of official statistics.
Housing affordability and urban form
Hugh Pavletich thinks that Auckland’s housing crisis is because of restrictions on urban sprawl and that loosening up would be a good thing. I disagree.
Sroubek; Richie Hardcore Text Released
The text sent by Karel Sroubek supporter Richie Hardcore has been released. Is it the knock out blow we were promised?
National shafted us with the MOM privatisation
Five years on how are the benefits from the Mixed Ownership Model privatisation process the last Government engaged in working out?
National has lots of questions
National asked 40,000 questions of Ministers last year. This seems excessive.
New Zealand needs a Government that understands climate change
In an opinion piece in Stuff National Spokesperson on climate change Todd Muller has cast doubt on National agreeing to a political consensus on climate change.
National just wants to have some friends
National clearly needs new friends if it is to regain power. Could the nutty New Conservatives be a possibility?
Farrar criticises Genter for not solving National’s transport safety mess quickly enough
David Farrar has accused Julie Anne Genter of saying she can do nothing about the road safety when she said nothing of the sort.
Political punditry in 2019
The media has recently reviewed its predictions from last year and made a few new ones. How did it go? And what is going to happen in the next 12 months?
Matt King goes full nut job
National MP Matt King has claimed that Stuff has been censoring comments that are critical of the Government and that an article expressing concerns about the run down of health infrastructure, the increase in child poverty, the use of private contractors to spy on us and the inability of NZTA to properly regulate WOF inspections is “left wing claptrap”.
National’s brave new world of MOAR ROADS!
National has taken to criticising the Government for not building roads that had no coherent business case and no proposal to build.
National’s varied response to the Thompson and Clark report
Simon Bridges and Gerry Brownlee have offered diametrically opposed versions of how to respond to the crisis presented by the report into Thompson and Clark’s activities.
The Eminem decision and National’s electoral return
The Court of Appeal has determined that National should pay Eminem $225,000 for use of his music. This may create rather large legal problems for them.
Unhappy Gilmore loses to well known Union Socialist lawyer
Former National MP and in his imagination potentially the next Prime Minister Aaron Gilmore has reached the headlines for not paying compensation to a former employee of his company as agreed and for describing her lawyer as a well known union socialist.
The SPOTY’s 2018
Here’s your chance to vote in the Standard’s Politician of The Year awards. The SPOTY’s are recognised worldwide as the leading indicator of political success in NZ and have been awarded annually for over two hundred years.
Now it’s your turn to prick the Thorndon Bubble, dear reader. Who’s your Politician of the Year?
Labour’s budget wellbeing objectives
The Government has announced that the next budget will include well being objectives as well as fiscal objectives.
National’s Sroubek fizzle
National are trying to manufacture a conspiracy out of revelations that someone who knows Karel Sroubek and has met Jacinda Ardern sent her a text.
You’ve got to lively up yourself …
National have responded to the Government’s medicinal cannabis law by suggesting hordes of cancer sufferers will hang around schools smoking joints.
The Air New Zealand Industrial dispute
Air New Zealand has provoked industrial action from its workers by trying to wind back wages and conditions at a time it is making near record profits.
On the first day of leakmas …
Overheard at a Press Gallery BBQ …
Labour’s education reforms
The Government has released a discussion paper proposing radical change to our education system, including the establishment of regional hubs to improve cooperation between schools and provisions to strengthen the proposition that kids should attend their local well resources and well run school.
Nutjobs and the UN Global Migration Pact
National and ACT have alleged that a United Nations Pact supported by New Zealand in 2016 will take away sovereign rights even though the pact itself says that it is not legally binding.
National’s dead cat strategy
National has attempted to drown out news of further leaks, bad poll results and a reference of Maggie Barry’s behaviour to the Auditor General by staging a big stink in Parliament.
Memo from Crosby Textor – National’s leak problem
The Standard has been leaked an internal memo from Crosby Textor to the National Party concerning its current situation.
National; Leaking Like a Sieve
Another day, another leak from the National Party. If it’s not JLR, just who is poking the borax inside the Tory caucus?
Jesse Mulligan deserves a medal
Maggie Barry is facing fresh allegations of staff bullying. And Jesse Mulligan has responded to her criticism of him by saying it shows he was doing his job properly.
Latest Colmar Brunton poll
The latest Colmar Brunton poll result is out suggesting a slight rebound in National’s fortunes.