On Freedom
It is time for the Left to take back the language of freedom. At its heart freedom, power for the ordinary person, is what […]
Politics
political parties
Report shows incomes up, inequality down
The MSD’s Incomes Report provides a wealth of information. For instance, here’s how the mean and median household incomes have moved since 1982. […]
Poverty falls, more to be done
13% of people are living in poverty in New Zealand (defined as less than 60% of the median income, less than $40K a […]
Government slashes ‘waste’
The Government’s new core benefit will see all beneficiaries given the same treatment and the same assistance to get into work if they […]
Who’s driving the ‘truck strike’?
So, let’s get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry […]
Time to front up on ACC
Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million […]
Greens discover Nats full of hot air
A classic ‘cake and eat it’ from Crosby/Textor National has been their approach to climate change – stating they support tackling this issue […]
Merrill Lynch: Nats will privatise ACC
It’s refreshing to see some proper investigative journalism in this morning’s Dominion Post, with a revelation from Vernon Small that while National continues […]
National releases 3 more lines of policy – Scoop
A classic headline that says it all. Here’s the three lines: ‘Give schools additional resources over time to ensure more students can take […]
Mr Key’s real concerns
While more questions will no doubt be asked about Mr Key’s choice of hiring infamous Aussie spin-stars, Crosby/Textor, (no doubt some more of them will […]
All aboard KiwiRail
Today marks the launch of KiwiRail. It’s great to have rail back in Kiwi hands, after a decade of asset-stripping. Now comes the […]
Same old National. Same old spin.
Former National Party MP Marilyn Waring wrote in the introduction to The Hollow Men: I must admit to a sense of anticipated despair […]
John does a Don
Remember Noelle McCarthy’s 95bFM interview with Brash in which she got him to admit to knowledge of the Brethren pamphlets? Student radio has done it […]
Busted
Nicky Hager’s piece in today’s Sunday Star Times has confirmed what we all suspected: Crosby Textor are the creators of Brand Key. For […]
Bait and switch
It strikes me there is a disconnect between what prospective National voters expect it to do in government and what it has actually promised it […]
Misdirection
There’s a technique that sits at the heart of conjuring tricks called misdirection the act of drawing attention away from the trick itself. […]
Roy puts Police informants at risk
ACT is turning to increasingly desperate attempts to win media attention. Raising Roger Douglas from the dead didn’t work (he only got 6 […]
Nandor’s valedictory
Great final speech by the Green MP. Good interview in the Dom here. Full speech at the Green Party website.
Protecting ‘brand Key’
For the first second third time, National is trying to shut down the reporting of things they feel don’t cast them in the […]
No consistency needed
Colin Espiner’s just posted an entry headed “National’s position on smacking confusing”. It is – but only if you’re expecting philosophical consistency. Key’s […]
Cake and eat it
I’ve noticed a new trend in the right’s spin lately (apart from their wholesale theft of campaign scripts) – the ‘have your cake […]
Bill to protect workers from labour-hire vultures
Labour, with the support of New Zealand First, has developed a bill based on Darien Fenton’s private members’ bill that will ensure tens […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill […]
You call that policy? This is policy
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That’s incredibly lightweight. […]
A foolish promise
Simon Power promises a new prison in a National government’s first term. What a glib and foolish statement. Had he paused to reflect […]
National breaking promises already
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 […]
Hollow Men film to premiere next month
The Unionist reports Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men has been made into a film and will be screening as part of this […]
More bluster, still no policies
Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes […]
Old man’s law
Frogblog has footage of Nandor Tanczos blasting the Government’s anti-tagging legislation and noting that “Judith Collins would be screaming about the nanny state […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (2)
Here’s the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden – approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about […]
Act now to protect workers’ wages
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set […]
Key promises productivity magic
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation […]
Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
You’ll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing ‘after-tax incomes’. Even when he’s asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, […]
Hit and Run
I put a comment on one of Steve’s posts a few days ago and he suggested I put it up as a post […]
What went on at the ‘horn?
Reports have been circulating around Wellington for several weeks about a night on the town for John Key with a couple of senior […]
Petrol price hits parties in the polls
A reader sent us this graph. It plots President Bush’s approval rating and the price of petrol. (the price of petrol is upside-down, […]