The more difficult end to the vaccination programme
The country is reaching an interesting stage in the vaccination programme where reluctant vaccinees will have to receive the jab to make sure that we reach herd immunity.
politicans
Judith Collins
Where’s Judith?
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.
National’s urban wing moves against Collins
Events this afternoon have confirmed that Judith Collins is indeed toast.
What should we call the Vaccination bus?
The Prime Minister has sparked another national debate. What should we call the new mobile vaccination vehicles that will be rolled out over the next week or so.
Dirty Politics does not work any more
Egged on by a shock horror smear campaign on Cameron Slater’s latest post Judith Collins has attacked Dr Siouxsie Wiles by fat shaming her.
The politics of the New Lynn attack
Early days so far but the New Lynn attack will spark a debate about the adequacy of the country’s terrorism suppression laws and about citizenship rights.
National’s next leader?
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’s very bad two days
Judith Collins’ insistence that Parliament be reconvened even at a time that the country was in lockdown level 4 has backfired spectacularly.
MPs should not only follow the rules but follow them with stars
Judith Collins has insisted on travelling from Auckland to Wellington so she can stand and shout in an empty Parliament Chamber.
The mysterious socialist hermit kingdom
Various commentators including Nigel Farage have claimed that New Zealand’s Covid elimination strategy is a failure. Our death rate and the possibility that we can again return to a normality that other nations can only aspire to suggests they are wrong.
Matt King caught blowing anti vaccination dog whistle
Former National MP Matt King has been publicly posting anti vaccination propaganda under the ruse of only wanting a conversation.
The importance of Jacinda’s 1 pm press conferences
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.
The latest battle in the culture wars
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?
The Churchill picture
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.
National’s civil war continues
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.
Judith’s last stand?
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.
Lies damned lies and Crime statistics
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.
Citizenship is a human right
National has responded to the impending return to New Zealand of Suhayra Aden by hinting that they may follow Australia and breach human rights by bringing in laws allowing countries to arbitrarily remove rights of citizenship.
Demand the debate
In two separate leaks it has emerged that Judith Collins privately briefed Don Brash on National’s demand the debate campaign and that Brash wrote to wealthy donors seeking $300,000 for an Iwi Kiwi style billboard response.
Judith Collins is not John Key
I honestly am not sure what Judith’s game plan. Supporting someone who on twitter called for the lynching of a person with a contrary view is not a way to reach to the middle of New Zealand politics.
Stick a fork in them, they’re done
The details of a particularly brutal National Party caucus meeting that resulted in Todd Muller announced his pending retirement from Parliament have been leaked in detail to the Herald’s Claire Trevett.
Todd’s going … who is next?
Yesterday National suffered further damage to its ranks when Harete Hipango was outed as the MP with Parliamentary Services resources issues and Todd Muller announced that he will stand down as an MP at the end of this term nominally so that he can eventually spend more time with his family.
Will the last remaining National MP please turn all the lights off
Oh dear. There is yet another story about yet another National MP in trouble because of their born to rule impulses. Update: the Herald has reported that the MP is Harete Hipango. These blue on blue attacks are getting out of hand.
He’s baaack
For the first time since the election Winston Peters has reemerged. But instead of talking about the country’s problems such as climate change, child poverty and recovering from the global pandemic he chose to concentrate on the “over” use of Te Reo, cycleways and gangs.
The National Party Caucus knew nuffink about Nick Smith’s problems
Last night the story about Nick Smith’s issues that caused his resignation finally broke, or did it?
Later Nick
Nick Smith is leaving Parliament not only to spend more time with his family but also because details of an employment dispute started after he yelled at a junior staffer were leaked.
Latest Colmar Brunton poll – people disapprove of Judith
In the latest Colmar Brunton poll although National’s result and Judith Collins’ result as preferred Prime Minister went up slightly her approval rating for her job performance has plunged deep into negative figures.
The end of Ruthenasia
National presented a particularly glum picture in Parliament yesterday. And it was not only the realisation that Judith Collins is out of her depth. It was because this budget spells the end of Ruthenasia.
Will the real leader of the Opposition please stand up
Today’s budget debate suggests that the effective leader of the opposition may not be the leader of the National Party.
C’mon National!
Forlorn for now though they may be, this is the advice National MPs need right now.
Latest poll – Collins dog whistling is not working
The latest TV 3 Reid Research Poll has Judith Collins’ preferred leadership rating cut by two thirds. Judith’s racist dog whistling is clearly not working.
The Māori Party and the National Party
There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday. Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report. And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.
National’s use of the dog whistle and its hatred of UN conventions
Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society. But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.
Collins’ really bad take on te Tiriti
Last weekend Judith Collins spoke to the Northern Regional Conference of the National Party and gave as crude an analysis of te Tiriti as you can imagine.
National’s election review leaked
It was only a matter of time. Tova O’Brien at Newshub has been leaked a copy of the abridged version of the National Party election review.
National’s very bad day
Yesterday was a day where National focussed on dog whistle racism, supported religious extremists and moaned about workers receiving a modest increase in the minimum wage.