The situation in Syria and Iraq is becoming dire as two separate civil wars rage on. This raises as an issue National’s and John Key’s attitude to the war in Iraq which has clearly destabilised any hope of civilised rule. He is now claiming to be an internationalist and to only be interested in multilateral action. But has this always been the case?
Wayne Mapp is worried about the possibility of Labour backing away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If National and MFAT would like support from the free-trade advocates inside Labour, then I’d suggest that they get off their padded arses and provide some solid information not only to us, but also to the public. But all I have heard so far is some psuedo-religious Randian rants about free-trade that are about as convincing to business people as statements about the imminent arrival of the Rapture.
The Insurance Council and National are desperately trying to pour cold water on Labour’s popular earthquake court policy.
Four alleged murders out west in the past month have caused a great deal of soul searching. What is going wrong? What can we do to prevent any further tragic loss of life?
Five years after making cuts to the training incentive allowance for solo parents wanting to educate themselves National is moving to provide some support and now realises that it makes long term sense to invest in education for solo parents. Could it be there is an election around the corner and National realises that it is vulnerable on issues relating to poverty and inequality?
John Key has been making a joke of the electoral system in recent days with his support of criminal MPs and his veiled attempts to foist the crazy Conservatives on various electorates. But he was quick to pour scorn on a very popular micro-party who were less likely to become a pliant tool of the National party. Clearly he hasn’t realised who the Civilians are satirising and why so many taxpayers support them. Updated with Occasionally erudite’s analysis.
National is clearly getting ready to throw one of its North Shore MPs under a bus in the hope that the Conservative Party can coat tail people with extreme views into Parliament.
The government has been stripped of its legislative majority and its policy programme, especially employment relations “reform”, is now in tatters. Now that Banks has going, we are seeing an extensive rewriting of history by the National government. Kind of pathetic really.
In Kiwiblog this morning, David Farrar appeared to be running a 9th floor pre-pump for John Banks to resign. But I was rather incredulous when I read this “I don’t think the Judge has actually helped the Government by delaying the decision on entering a conviction. Now that it is the Judge’s role to care about the impact on the Government.”. Huh? DPF badly needs to go back to do some adult education. Perhaps to night school?
One should defend the right of a politician and anyone else to be a complete dork on the net. Even Judith Collins doesn’t need two years in jail for lying to a reporter about another reporter or tweeting bullying abusive rubbish. However many would see Collins’ tweets as “part of the cut and thrust between politicians and journalists”, and they’d be right. But the fact that they would be illegal under her law shows just how awful that law is
Scott Yorke at Imperator Fish opines on electorate seats and inter-party relations. On the way through he identifies some strikingly bad net behaviour. Labour MPs past and present who badly need to learn to control themselves on the net just as much as Bomber does.
The Greens have released their climate change policy and are proposing that the ETS is scrapped and a carbon tax imposed in its place. This is a proposal that in the past Labour has supported. The ETS was only agreed to because New Zealand First would not agree to a carbon tax. Second time lucky?
Russel Norman is tipped today to announce the proposed scrapping of the ETS. It is clear that it is not working. But what do we do instead?
It’s the Green Party Conference this weekend. Metiria Turei was on RNZ yesterday morning, talking about how the main focus for the conference will be on policies. Speeches will be streamed live online from the conference today & tomorrow. Update: summary of today’s speeches. Healthy Teens policy.
David Farrar has quite a thing for Winston Peters…
It’s a classic National manoeuvre. Ask them a straightforward question like “is there support for all newborn babies in New Zealand?” and get a straightforward “Yes” – with several significant caveats that altogether add up to No.
Radio New Zealand presenters have this morning been discussing the important issue of potential asbestos exposure in the Christchurch area. Gerry Brownlee was involved in the discussion and chose to abuse Kathryn Ryan rather than discuss the issue. I hope the good people of Christchurch were listening.
A common response I saw to the Mana/Internet alliance today was, “Oh great, Mana’s sold out. Mana’s meant to be grassroots! Mana and the Internet Party have nothing in common!”
The thing is, it largely (not entirely) came from people who aren’t Mana members or supporters. It came from Labour supporters.
It appears that David Farrar, paid rubber mouthpiece for the National party, is exercising his right to be a hypocrite again. Surely he remembers his attitudes back in 2012 when he was acting as their mouthpiece to discourage other economic migrants seeking a better life in NZ? And it looks like Key is parroting the message tested at Kiwiblog… How predictable.
Two new polls are out and the Government has enjoyed a post budget bounce. But when the post budget glow wears off and the inevitable seepage of support starts what will National do then?
BLip has been maintaining for quite a while, a little list of Honest John’s statements that aren’t exactly true. One iteration of this list “An Honest Man” is still one of the most popular posts here with many page views on a daily basis – more than a year after it was posted. Looks like someone has made a video of a few of the times when some of these were made. There is also a more recent BLip list of the words of our favourite lying politician.
Television New Zealand is requiring political reporters to divulge political affiliation, membership and other political party activity. And John Key attacks TV3’s Linda Clark for allegedly helping the Labour Party. Yet Mike Hosking and Paul Henry are free to trumpet right wing spin lines. See the problem?
I was listening to Wallace Chapman interviewing Professor David Farrell, from University College, Dublin this morning on Radio New Zealand on compulsory voting which he was strongly in favour of. At one point the discussion veered on to the issue of “none of the above”. I think that this is the key to compulsory voting. Add “none of the above” and “I don’t know”
Just been watching the documentary “Helen” about Helen Clark past and present. Pretty damn good. For me it was a bit of a blast from the past. I started volunteering for her in Mt Albert in 1989. But I suspect that the same will be true for most people who have been aware of politics in NZ over the last 3 decades. Those images of Muldoon and Douglas were kind of creepy.
Tony Astle apparently wants to ban some left wing politicians from his restaurant Antoines. He should get a life. Because the idea is stupid and reinforces the impression that National is a party insisting on the retention of privilege for the few.
Campbell Live pointed to a massive, integrated shift in NZ governance under John Key’s watch. This enhances the power of international trade and commerce, incorporating the GCSB the US, & 5 Eyes . At the centre of this shift, is the murky relationship between John Key & Ian Fletcher.
John Key has warned MPs to behave in parliament. I hope he’ll be taking his own advice.
John Key has not received any advice about the legality of drone killing and is totally comfortable with the extra judicial killing of civilians by remote drone.
There are a range of issues, which are part of a GCSB-intelligence-surveillance-military-complex. Some significant elements seem to be posing as diversions from other parts of the complex, and the way all parts hang together. What will he offer Obama to advance NZ’s position in the TPPA?
Campbell Live broadcast a special on the GCSB. It is presented information never before made public. Campbell pointed to how a major shift in NZ and 5 Eyes’ approach to intelligence. Whose interest is the GCSB operating in? Why has John Key mislead us, or at least, fudged the details? Updated.
National’s pandering to foreign money is disturbing their supporters
John Key is clearly lying about tax again. He claims that most of “all nett tax” is paid for by the wealthy. As usual he ignores the 15% GST tax, the various sales taxes on things like petrol, and the many other sales and consumption taxes. GST and other consumption taxes are largely paid for by the not wealthy. Which is why they were raised to pay for National’s tax cuts for the wealthy.
Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse this week called for there to be a rational debate on whether organic cannabis should be decriminalised. Her reasoning is sound. The natural kind is better than the synthetic kind and prohibition is not working.
In the pursuit of a balanced budget it appears that the Government has cut funding from a number of areas of Government activity, the Christchurch rebuild included. And Gerry Brownlee is refusing to accept that flooding has been exacerbated by the earthquakes and trying to undermine the suggestion that costs estimates are overly optimistic.
National must be worried about its prospects in this year’s election. Because its budget did not have the normal hard right policies that we have come to expect of it and it is trying to lessen the attraction of some of Labour’s announced policies.
Glenn Greenwald, interviewed on Democracy Now, outlines the extent of the NSA-led 5 Eyes surveillance systems. It is a leap from sci fi into our daily lives. Economic surveillance dominates. John Key & Ian Fletcher have some questions to answer – have they misled us? [Update: documents link]
