Politics

political parties

#milifandom! Labour are going to win the UK Election. Fact!

Written By: te reo putake
Date published: - 243 comments

Ed Miliband is dominating social media in the UK on the eve of the election. #milifandom is the meme of the day!

UPDATE: Exit Poll suggests Tory win, Lib Dem’s smashed. SNP dominate in Scotland, Greens may win 2 seats. UKIP stuffed, Farage to lose in his seat. Labour still a possibility to govern.

UPDATE 2:  Rumours that both Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will resign in the morning. George Galloway loses his seat, UKIP have flopped and it appears Nigel Farage will not be an MP. However, Tory win not yet confirmed.

 

National Ltd™Plays The Race Card

Written By: BLiP
Date published: - 16 comments

The Auditor General found that no one in National Ltd™, the Māori Party, Te Puni Korkiri, or any other of its apologists can detail exactly what Whānau Ora is supposed to be doing, provide evidence of its outcomes, or explain why up to 33% of the money is being paid in “administration”. In other words, Whānau Ora is a shambles. And dodgy.

NRT: There is too much money in our politics

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 60 comments

Our political system is awash with money. There is clearly an arms race going on where National is trying to spend everyone else into the ground. National includes significant funding from Auckland property developers and real estate agents, and probably explains their effective disinterest in fixing Auckland housing.

The rise of Collins and the decline of Key

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 82 comments

John Key is back in the country and going by his interview on Morning Report this morning has been affected significantly by ponygate.  And Judith Collins has suddenly burst back into public view with the obvious goal of seeking a return to cabinet.  Or is it that she wants to be the next National leader?

Joyce’s $1,248 taxi ride

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 52 comments

Stephen Joyce has spent $1,248 keeping a taxi waiting for him in Sydney for nine hours. The level of  born to rule arrogance displayed has been unmatched for some time.

Nasty little bloggitses

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 76 comments

The Herald today has editorialised suggesting that on the basis of part of a poll Ponygate has had no effect.  It also claims that fair minded people are defending Key.

I Fought the Law

Written By: te reo putake
Date published: - 148 comments

A quick look at the legalities of Ponytailgate as it affects the worker, the cafe, the NZ Herald and the PM. There could be court, tribunal and commission hearings that drag on for months, with potential big financial and political implications for the players.

The waitress the bloggers and the main stream media

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 150 comments

The Ponygate story provides a fascinating example of the use of social media to break a story.  The simple lesson is to tell a story without a political agenda.  And the response from the right shows a level of disarray progressives can take heart from.

Thanks David!

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 32 comments

I’m planning to enjoy a day off today – the first “mondayised” public holiday – thanks to the work of David Clark, Grant Robertston, and others in Labour and the parties that supported the Bill. National and ACT voted against this holiday.

Pillock of the week

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 48 comments

Although John Key clearly wins the award this week for unbecoming insensitive and bizarre behaviour there is a media figure who did their best to provide him with competition.  And it is not Rachel Glucina.

NRT: National’s hand-wringing on housing

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 20 comments

Auckland house prices have exploded again. Houses get more capital gains than their inhabitants do in salaries. So what is the government doing about it? Nothing. They haven’t tried the economic basics.. Capital gains tax to decrease demand, or a building programme to increase supply. Meanwhile National’s landlord MPs laughing all the way to the bank…

Record-breaking Government

Written By: Bunji
Date published: - 4 comments

Not satisfied with setting records for biggest deficit and largest total deficit over term, the Key government is now going for most deficits in a row. They now look to equal the National government’s 7 deficits from 1966-72. And this is the stuff they want to be judged on…

Parsing John Key

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 32 comments

John Key’s recent public response to the news of the likely interception of Chinese diplomatic communications resemble those of a used car salesman rather than those of a New Zealand Prime Minister.

Replacing Russel

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 48 comments

The Greens have closed their nominations for male co-leader, and are running a number of provincial meetings. I went to the second one in Auckland. The biggest issue for the Greens now after cracking the 10% electoral support in 2011 is that they didn’t grow their vote in 2014, and remain well below polling.  Part of that is getting their public face right.

But they do it too …

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 23 comments

With revelations that New Zealand has potentially been involved in the interception of Chinese diplomatic communications the questions arise did John Key know about it and did he authorise the activity.

Housing and capital gains tax

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 91 comments

This week the Reserve Bank recommended adopting the Labour / Green capital gains tax, the National party denied and dithered, and Don Brash explained the truth about the property bubble.

(Image credit Foxy.)

Key announces new schools – again

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 35 comments

At least two of the four new schools that John Key recently announced had been announced previously.  And it appears that one of them has had its concrete foundations already poured.

Ten Bridges Too Far

Written By: BLiP
Date published: - 18 comments

With Crosby Textor by his side, John Key has since learned to employ all manner of specialist PR techniques including ad homs, blame-shifting, distraction,  use of Dirty Politics proxies to defuse the situation, and false equivalence, all woven together in an intricately performed semantic shuffle designed to  provide wiggle room for when he does get caught.

A culture of intimidation

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 61 comments

National is leading by example in creating a culture of intimidation and fear. The latest case, a threat to withdraw funding a rape prevention group for speaking out.

Key’s pre-budget falls flat

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 8 comments

Key’s attempts to drum up enthusiasm for this year’s upcoming budget have fallen absolutely flat. And as usual, promised funding actually represents an ongoing cut in real terms.

Burn the Cabinet Manual

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 54 comments

Key won’t take any action over Simon Bridges’ clear breach (excellent work by Rob Salmond at Polity) of the Cabinet Manual. So, might as well burn the thing, at least for the remainder of this government’s term. Key has no intention of being held to account, or holding his ministers to account, by or for anything at all.

Who is Miranda Devine?

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 46 comments

Miranda Devine is the person who recently wrote a really obsequious article on John Key in the Daily Telegraph where she described him as one of the best Conservative Prime Ministers in the world.  But a reading of her other published material suggests that caution should be applied before applying too much weight to her opinions.

A police investigation – Part One

Written By: BLiP
Date published: - 84 comments

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Bryce Edwards’ article except that it ignores how National Ltd™ Police Ministers have successively sat by and done nothing in response to the on-going police failings.

The magical disappearing surplus

Written By: mickysavage
Date published: - 67 comments

John Key and National have staked a huge amount of their credibility on returning the country’s books to surplus this financial year.  Looks like they are going to fail.