The politics of the Royal Tour
Is it just me or is John Key politicising the Royal Tour in a way that has not occurred before? And is he a Royalist or a Republican or both at the same time but for different parts of the electorate?
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john key
Polity: Armstrong on National on Labour
It isn’t a new ploy from National or its supporters. “Mortgage rate rises under National: Good. Mortgage rate rises under Labour: Dreadful!”. I’ve seen David Farrar argue both that a recession is the perfect time to cut taxes because it stimulates the economy, and a recovery is also the perfect time to cut taxes to provide a dividend. It reminds me of that old chestnut, most recently applied to Don Brash: “The answer is tax cuts. What is the question again?”
Winning song urges Key to leave politics
Tracy Whatshite, Cadet Reporter, attended the “Bellies” (held at Bellamy’s) and found out who the winners were in this year’s competition for the Best Political Song of 2014. She spoke with the judge Frankie Stevens.
“Competition was particularly intense this year and the top entries included some old favourites, but also some surprizing new comers,” he said.
Auckland’s city rail link may be accelerated
The introduction of new electric trains to Auckland’s train system is going to put increased pressure on the Government to bring forward funding of Auckland’s inner city loop. Will it stick to its anti train beliefs or will it succumb to pressure to change in election year?
NRT: Time to see if the Ombudsman will keep their word
Last month, we learned that Judith Collins had taken time off a taxpayer-funded trip to China to endorse her husband’s company – a company which had also donated significant sums of money to the National Party. The endorsement appeared to violate the Cabinet Manual, but John Key stepped up and claimed that the Cabinet Office said it was all OK. Then, just a few days later, he admitted that he’d lied about that. In the process, he implicitly raised serious questions about the quality of the Cabinet Office’s advice.
Fact checking John Key’s budget speech
David Parker has been performing some fact checking on John Key’s recent budget speech and the results are somewhat startling …
Polity: Key in self-parody about lying (mk 2)
There was an Audrey Young piece in the Herald yesterday, in which John Key talks about Labour’s plan to increase eligibility for free Early Childhood Education. So Key thinks this policy will cost at least ten times as much as Labour does. That’s a very big claim. But Andrey did not appear to ask for his sums, she just printed Key’s figures without comment. That was a pity because John Key’s figures are a bare-faced lie and are quite impossible.
Whales 1 Japan 0
The International Court of Justice has ruled that the Japanese yearly slaughter of whales is not for the purposes of scientific research and is illegal.
The Mein Kampf distraction
Slater and TV3 have double teamed an attack on Kim Dotcom suggesting that he has Nazi tendencies the day before the launch of the Internet Party. Is the main stream media being manipulated?
LocalBodies: National Slumps in Polls As Ministers Struggle
There is danger of reading too much into polls months out from an election. Commentators were claiming that National was too strong to lose the next election based on a rogue poll. Few looked at multiple polls, accounted for the margin of error nor the trends over past months. The last fortnight has seen a National with the latest Roy Morgan Poll plummeting from the Colmar Brunton result of 51% to 45.5%. And it is based on a lack of ministerial performance…
When John Key leaves Parliament he wants to …
Guess what John Key wants to do when he leaves politics?
Polity: Losing count of Judith’s lies
“Justice Minister Judith Collins’ “cup of tea on the way to the airport” at her friend Stone Shi’s company in Shanghai involved a 30km detour in the opposite direction…”. That’s pretty embarrassing for Collins. Caught, red-handed, again, lying in the Parliament and misleading your boss. I wonder what he will do now?
Tony Abbott is an idiot
Tony Abbott’s Liberal Government has acted to undermine New Zealand’s push for a United Nations declaration that it is in the interest of humanity that nuclear weapons never be used again under any circumstances. Having the option of killing millions of human beings and devastating major urban centres either by way of a first strike or a retaliatory strike is obviously something he thinks should be preserved.
Officials’ dinners off in China
Fran O’Sullivan thinks that the only reason why Collins is still a Minister was Key’s need to save face in his impending visit to China. I think Key may have got a better reception from Xi Jinping if he had followed the Chinese leader’s example of taking a hard line on dinner-table corruption and sacked Collins.
Five Eyes, One Network
Edward Snowden revelations indicate that the US NSA pressured the NZ government to make last year’s hasty changes to the GCSB and TICS laws, to enable mass surveillance. John Key sometimes denies he knows of visits to NZ by the NSA’s Gen Keith Alexander – but Key would have to approve the visits.
NRT: Proving my point
Last week No Right Turn argued strongly that we needed full transparency over Cabinet Office advice on ministers’ conflicts of interest, because we couldn’t trust the Prime Minister to represent that advice accurately, and we couldn’t trust secret advice to be accurate. And John Key has just proven his point: “Prime Minister John Key has admitted he misled reporters over Cabinet Office advice…”
ImperatorFish: John Key explains to the media
[satire] Let me explain. There has been no breach of Cabinet rules. This has been confirmed by the Cabinet Office. Not the real Cabinet Office, but the one that exists in the deepest recesses of my imagination. That particular Cabinet Office always gives me the advice I want to hear, and the one thing I’ve learned from all my years in this place is to always listen to the voices in my head.
Polity: “Promoting” vs “endorsing”
The Orivida mess smells worse by the day for National. Yesterday, it turned out the Cabinet Office’s advice clearing Judith Collins of any wrongdoing had failed to even look at the most important piece of the evidence – the Chinese text of Orivida’s website. It had to rush out new advice to cover that off, which Key still won’t release. That is why today John Key will spend much of question time dancing on the head of a pin…
Polity: Why announce the election date this week?
Rob Salmond at Polity has a look at why National surprisingly announced the election date yesterday. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that it was a deflection from something. Rob thinks that National was worried about where a look at donations to National’s campaign would lead. He may be right, as in the past National has had some legally and morally dubious donation regimes
NRT: Did the NSA write John Key’s spy bill?
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave evidence to the European Parliament last week about the NSA and mass-surveillance. The most interesting revelation? The NSA’s use of lawyers to subvert other countries limits on surveillance – including our own. So what did GCSB receive “legal guidance” on? What about the careful loopholes in the new Act
Key schemes with media at Whaleoil cafe.
[satire] It’s early morning at a greasy spoon cafe set in a back street off K Road. Rene (Cameron Slater) is scrubbing the grease off the table where he and John Key sat last night. His wife Edith (Judith Collins) is trying to get a fresh milk stain off her jacket.
Key, Peters and the early election
Three years ago National announced a full term election date and ruled out going into coalition with NZ First. Fast forward to now and we are having an early election and Key is not ruling out going into coalition with Peters. Get the sense that National is becoming desperate?
Oravida: Collins, Goodfellow, Key.
John Key claims Judith Collins was not guilty of conflict of interest re-her visit to Oravida in China. Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins, in the General Debate today claimed that Peter Goodfellow met with an Oravida sponsored group of businessmen to discuss “bi-lateral collaboration.” They claim Key also played golf with an Oravida bigwig.
Taxpayers Union attacks Prince George
[satire] The Taxpayers Union has hit out at Prince George for wasting taxpayers money by accompanying his parents, The Prince and Princess of Cambridge on their Royal Visit to New Zealand. Jordan Williams lashed out at the Prince saying “We expect that he will cost the New Zealand tax payer approximately $550 in nappies, baby food and sundry expenses while he is here; although since he is an infant, we understand he will not have to pay airfares. Even so, we are astounded at this blatant misuse of taxpayers money ”.
NZ independence? back to the future
NZ seems like a client state of both US imperialism, and the UK monarchy: a throwback to the first part of the 20th century. John Key was quick to support the US & EU lines on the Crimea; some low achieving, British royals are visiting NZ at taxpayers’ expense.
How short are memories?
John Key is attacking David Cunliffe for using a trust to obscure some donations – whilst repeating the word ‘tricky’ about Cunliffe as […]
A tale of two journalists
Trisha Dunleavy has outlined the problems a& challenges for public service TV in NZ. Contrasting tales of 2 TV journalists – Rachel Smalley & Patrick Gower – highlight the problems with NZ’s (currently) dominant infotainment approach to news.
The Genesis share float has problems
The Government has effectively conceded that the Genesis share float will not meet expectations and is softening New Zealand up to the prospect that only 30% of the shares may be sold. It makes you wonder why they are still going a head with the sale.
NRT: So much for Parliamentary oversight
When Parliament in its select committee oversight role asks the GCSB about whether it is obeying the Public Finance Act, or whether it has formal NSA moles in its organisation, then suddenly its an “operational matter” which they can’t answer. The natural conclusion: they do and there are – because if either allegation was false, they’d just deny it. Looks like John Key’s assurances about greater parliamentary oversight over the GCSB are a lie.
Rock star – “No depression”
Popular songs can capture the heartbeat of communities. “Rock Star” economy”? Or “No Depression in New Zealand”? A song that links the NZ of Muldoon & John Key. “History Never Repeats”? Who has pulled up the ladder & who wants to replace ladders with something more accessible to all?
The GCSB can’t count
The GCSB has eroded public confidence in its performance by displaying a concerning inability to count beyond four …
David Cunliffe’s home
National is now targeting David Cunliffe and his family. Metiria Turei was attacked for living in a castle and wearing designer jackets, and now David Cunliffe is being attacked for being wealthy. The criticisms miss the point. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy. But there is everything wrong in setting fire to the ladder of social support after you have had the opportunity to climb it.
Tale of two Irelands
Tracey recounts the rise and fall of the `financial genius` John Key’s pet financial hub for NZ to emulate the paragon economies that tried it. Like Ireland – the home of the jobless and deserted housing projects.
Fortunately he was somehow prevented from stuffing NZ in this way. However he did put in some legislation of dubious value to allow NZ to be used as a haven for hot money fleeing taxes…
Polity: Key practices 56% truth inflation
John Key makes up the figures during a session of parliament for the expected unemployment in coming years when he took office. The apparent reason is to make his governments piss-poor performance running the economy look better. Of course there is that problem that Rob Salmond can link to the December 2008 projections from the Treasury which show John Key to be lying (yet again).
Plausible deniability: Smoke & mirrors
It’s puzzling why John Key diverted attention from who spied on Winston Peters, by implicating Cameron Slater. Following revelations about the 5 Eyes spying capabilities, & illegal surveillance of Kim Dotcom, there is much at stake for Key. Recapping some significant details in the surveillance saga.
Fairfax quotes Government cheerleader
Fairfax posted an article recently where three businessmen were interviewed on what they thought the political parties should be discussing this election year. The comments from the first interviewee were basically a John Key love in so I thought we should try and provide some balance …