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.
and keeping the faith.
That our covid response is not working out perfectly doesn’t mean we or the government are failing. What we need more of at this point are stories about ‘what if things work out’. Not in a Pollyanna or return to BAU sense, but that we can still be ok. We need strong narratives of what that might be like, us being ok despite the pandemic.
With all the unfortunate rhetoric around “giving up on the elimination strategy”.
Small businesspeople around me, who have quietly carried on with the program, and have been supportive of the Government strategy of elimination, even though, in many cases, it has been personally costly, are telling me,, “why did we bother”!
It doesn’t matter if it is the actual Government intention, or the media interpretation, the damage has now been done.
This week we have seen reckons from John Key, Act and National on how we should be loosening up Covid lockdown restrictions. Yesterday’s 45 new cases shows how dangerous it is to think that dealing with Covid is a simple management exercise.
Barry Soper and the Property Council are up in arms about proposals to ensure that all commercial tenants should only pay a fair proportion of their rental if their use of the premises has been affected by responses to the Covid pandemic.
The latest Colmar Brunton poll confirms that National’s polling is in the doldrums and David Seymour’s preferred PM rating is twice that of Judith Collins.
John Key has doubled down on his claims that Aotearoa is a smug hermit kingdom and claimed that it is imperative that international travel is eased although he is fine with all other restrictions to stay in place.
John Key is back and has described New Zealand as a smug hermit kingdom for daring to so far achieve something no other western nation has been able to accomplish, holding back Covid and preventing thousands of deaths.
Crusher Collins, the leader who has taken great delight in giving back double, has been too afraid to be interviewed by Radio New Zealand this morning.
Where’s the hairy knuckle-dragging woke when you need them?
Events this afternoon have confirmed that Judith Collins is indeed toast.
On Monday of this week David Seymour received a roasting after posting a confidential Health code that was to be used by Waitakere Whanau to receive priority vaccination slots. He has now doubled down on his effort and claimed that prioritisation is wrong.
David Seymour has publicised a code designed for West Auckland whanau to try and improve poor vaccination rates amongst Maori.
While Prime Minister Ardern is an empathic Prime Minister, good for the country in a crisis, and is genuinely caring, there’s also a time for citizens to say that the state must pay to right wrongs.
As the damage caused by Judith Collins’ leadership of the National Party intensifies it is inevitable that there will be internal discussions about who should replace her, and soon. And I think the best candidate is clear.
Judith Collins’ insistence that Parliament be reconvened even at a time that the country was in lockdown level 4 has backfired spectacularly.
This week there has been some argy bargy between the Twitterati including the Waitakerati and the media on coverage of Covid in Aotearoa with elements of the media complaining that the criticisms are unjustified. A brief review of some of the offerings this week would suggest otherwise.
Last night it was revealed that National and Act had refused to agree to a proposed virtual Parliament sitting where questions could be asked, and instead wanted face to face meetings, even though this would mean a third of the country’s MPs travelling regularly to Wellington from a Covid delta hotspot.
Former National MP Matt King has been publicly posting anti vaccination propaganda under the ruse of only wanting a conversation.
Jacinda Ardern has resumed the 1 pm briefings where she communicates effectively the country’s current situation and what the plan is. But National and some elements of the media are complaining, presumably that she is doing too good a job.
Dr Michael Cullen has died, and with him goes a real standard-bearer for Labour for three decades.
Former Labour Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen has died.
Political leadership in the time of Covid is important. As the Government urgently swung into action and imposed a level 4 lockdown after news of a community case of Delta Covid who lived in Auckland and had spent time in Coromandel while infectious, Thames-Coromandel District Mayor and former National MP Sandra Goudie admitted to not scanning regularly.
The Politik website’s inadvertant publishing of fake news of a drop in Labour’s support shows how fragile the system of relying on two sources for a story is.
This week National agreed to the bill allowing gender self identification to proceed to select committee which was a stark contrast to their position on the bill banning gay conversion therapy. I wonder what happened?
National, the party that claims to be focussed on the issues that matter decided to get upset when the Greens requested the replacement of a picture of a former UK leader who had a reputation for engaging in crimes against humanity.
In an extraordinary move National’s board has reselected Peter Goodfellow as Party Chairperson and this has caused former MP David Carter to resign as board member and express no confidence in the leadership or in National’s chances at the next election.
Back in the day National used to have a strong urban liberal wing that gave the impression that it was sympathetic to LGBTQI issues. Yesterday that impression was trashed.
Judith Collins has decided to attack the Government on the use of the Te Reo name for New Zealand even though the last National Government regularised its use.
Last night’s Reid Research poll result suggests that the electorate is reverting back to a more conventional dynamic after the stratospheric heights that Labour enjoyed immediately post Covid elimination.
It should be an offence for political parties to deliberately misrepresent law and order statistics as National has done this week. It should be an aggravating feature if the party is a conservative party that champions law and order issues. After all fraud is an offence and if we don’t punish it appropriately then everyone will do it.
Leader of the Opposition David Seymour has proposed that private enterprise should provide quarantine services. The recent experience of Melbourne where private security firms failed dramatically to properly managed quarantine facilities suggests that this is a really stupid idea.
Bernard Hickey calls Labour’s inaction a scandal, and it’s hard to disagree.
People who rent their home shouldn’t have to get sick or complain before the safety of their home is tested and guaranteed.
Following on from its campaign to protect freedom of expression Act has come out with policy on gangs which if enacted would involve some pretty egregious attacks on freedom of association and movement and due process.
With record floods in Marlborough, half of Westport evacuated, disastrous flooding in Germany and the North East and the threat of record bushfires in the North West of the United States Mother Nature is passing rather cruel judgment on Groundswell NZ’s recent protest.
