US Embassy: Political Objectivity of NZ Media Questioned
Here’s an interesting Wikileaks cable on the ‘objectivity’ of the New Zealand msm, particularly the Herald. The cable relates to the period leading […]
Politics
political parties
Billboard fun
Russel’s mana
Russel Norman has followed John Key and Phil Goff in the attack on the Mana party.
I’d hoped for better from him.
Perhaps it’s time he reflected on his own mana.
Update: it seems the Dom Post quotes might have been a fit of pique. Russel has posted the following on his facebook page:[more over the break]
Own goal by National flunky
Cameron Slater has the inside word on Murray McCully’s $75,000 trip to Vanuatu on a New Zealand Air Force plane that involved flying the 126-seater there and back to drop him and seven staff off, then there and back again the next day to pick them up. This story gets worse the more details come out.
McCully joins Flying Squad
With his RNZAF jaunts to photo-ops, John Key has set an example his ministers seem keen to follow. Having seen Key use Air […]
The same old answer
If Don Brash is the answer, what’s the question?
John Key’s shakey government
The Nats have ‘soft-launched’ via Kiwiblog and Whaleoil that Rodney Hide and John Boscawen will both lose their portfolios and ACT will have no ministers. Farrar points out this will benefit ACT’s taxpayer funding to the tune of $130,000, which is somehow sweet while spending $500,000 on a by-election to get a mandate is a serious crime.
Another blunder
Phil Goff has gone one step further today and ruled out working with anyone that signs up to The Mana Party, not just the already ruled-out Hone Harawira. A Labour Party spokeswoman is reported by the Herald as saying “He doesn’t prescribe to the values of Hone Harawira.”
Would Phil Goff care to explain which of Harawira’s values he doesn’t ‘prescribe’ [sic] to?
Mana up and running
The Mana Party already have a great website that suggests someone who knows what they’re doing is looking after the communications. Well worth taking a quick look.
Harawira right to call by-election
As I foreshadowed a week ago, Hone Harawira is to trigger a by-election in Te Tai Tokerau. It’s the right thing to do: Harawira should test his mandate to lead a new party, as Winston Peters and Tariana Turia did. It’s also good politics – keeping the Mana Party in the news – just as the other parties’ reactions are good politics on their part.
Choices: Tax cuts or teachers
You’re the ruling government. Which do you choose, tax cuts for 47 millionaires or salaries for 121 new teachers? It’s not a hypothetical question…
Mana vs Maori Party
The Maori Party has cast aside its word not to stand against Hone Harawira.
They’ve bought themselves a no holds barred fight with Mana.
Armstrong on Brash+Key
John Armstrong doesn’t get much wrong in the assessment of the Brash take over. Brash, with his Hollow Men legacy, anti-Maori posturing, and loony economic policies, is very much Key’s problem now.
ACT: bought by the Nats for a song
The Left are rubbing our hands with glee at the prospect of taking on BrashKey, but make no mistake, Key wanted this coup too. Think about it: former Nat Leader Don Brash, former Nat Minister John Banks, Nat money man Alan Gibbs, former Nat President Michelle Boag – and it goes down while John Key is far away playing smile and wave in Europe.
National cuts safety nets
National continue to target the vulnerable with their cuts. Their latest moves in cutting the budgets of Womens’ Refuges and a national Self-Defence course for girls are merely the latest example.
National lines ruined…
Some National memes that they’ve been running against the opposition parties are somewhat ruined by A Brash Act…
Blanket Man to make bid for ACT leadership
Ben ‘Blanket Man’ Hana has thrown his loin cloth into the contest for ACT’s leadership. Despite not having any political experience, Blanket Man says he is the man for the job due to his firm commitment to laissez-faire economics, his excellent face recognition, and the virtue that he is not a tired, old, has-been, racist arsehole.
The Mana Party & the Money Party
Hone Harawira is set to launch his Mana Party next weekend, possibly triggering a by-election in Te Tai Tokerau at the same time. At the other end of the spectrum, Don Brash’s haphazard to take over ACT may actually just be casus belli for him to establish a New Right Party.
Nats try to warn off Brash
Tweedledum and Tweedledee were a bit slow off the mark responding to the news that Don Brash is looking to take over ACT. Took the Nats a while to get their lines together but have decided, on balance, they want ACT dead. And that will be a lot easier to achieve if Brash isn’t in charge.
Brash to roll Hide?
Brash has thrown his hat in the ring for ACT’s leadership.
If the best the far right can do is a failed National MP warmed over then things are looking up.
Emergency housing
Here’s some images of emergency housing from Japan and from Christchurch. I wonder if you can spot the difference.
A correction
I’ve long held to the principle of owning your mistakes and as such I’ve gotta say I was wrong about one aspect of the “stop asset sales” campaign – the signs are authorised.
First Amongst Equals
I heard David Cunliffe on Morning Report on Tuesday, and he was superb. But as soon as he finished I knew the Right would try to deflect from the substance by writing it off as leadership ambitions. And sure enough we have Audrey Young, making exactly that connection. Labour can turn that on its head.
ECE costs increasing
The Nats’ attack on early childhood education (ECE) is starting to bite. As surely as night follows day, the cuts in funding for childcare centres are showing up as increased costs for parents.
Expansionary austerity – fail
Expansionary austerity is the idea that cutbacks in government spending can stimulate economic growth. Empirical evidence shows that it doesn’t work. Current experience shows that it’s not working in Britain, and it isn’t working here. Like “trickle down economics” this favourite of the political Right is not so much a theory as a deluded fantasy.
Amateur hour – or how to take a good idea and turn it into a bad campaign
Labour’s stop asset sales campaign should have been good but it wasn’t.
Not because of its legal cock-ups (okay not just because of its legal cock-ups) but because it was rolled out in a vacuum.
Climate change: Our $1.2 billion a year credibility gap
The United Nations joins those voices pointing out that Nationals”policy” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a complete sham. Reposted from No Right Turn.
The emperor’s new clothes
Fancy suits for John.
User pays family court for us.
Key SCF excuses fall flat
Michael Bott takes John Key to task for his claims over the South Canterbury Finance debacle. Key and English have tried to blame Labour for the deposit guarantee that covered SCF. But the truth is that National extended SCF’s coverage under the scheme again and again, despite knowing that SCF was in breach of the rules.