Written By: - Date published: 2:43 pm, March 16th, 2012 - 55 comments
David Shearer used Finland as an example of successful small country economic development in yesterday’s very good speech, but his main focus was on education. Dianne Ravitch in the NY Review of Books shows how Finland also leads the world in education – and with few tests and excellent teachers, they don’t need to bag any “bad” ones.
Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, March 16th, 2012 - 13 comments
Reorganisation is busy-work for when you can’t think of anything useful to do.
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, March 16th, 2012 - 12 comments
There’s some odd omissions from Key’s new ’10 targets’. There’s nothing hard. Nothing about closing the gap with Australia, formerly goal number 1. Nothing about creating jobs, despite 170,000 being promised. Nothing about the cycleway that was going to end the recession. It invites a closer look at the 10 targets. And then you discover, they’ll all happen anyway.
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, March 15th, 2012 - 20 comments
Key and co’s habit of making vague lists of things they would like to happen, rather then doing anything to make them happen, is becoming a joke. The other day it was a 6 point business action plan, not to be confused with their 4 priorities or 6 point plan for growth or 120 point economic plan. Key’s big speech today addresses the 4 priorites with a 10 point wishlist. English says they’ll be divided into 5 themes. 4 priorites times 10 results divided by 5 themes. You’ll need NCEA level 2 just to do the maths.
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 pm, March 14th, 2012 - 57 comments
He must resign. Surely. Here is Key, speaking to the PSA in 2008, making very specific promises about public service jobs, tax cuts, and asset sales that helped him get elected. Promises he has since broken. There’s no excuse. He wasn’t blind-sided by events. He made these promises never intending to keep them. Key is refusing to comment but if the man has any ethics he’ll resign.
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, March 14th, 2012 - 22 comments
The Nats abandoned their wastewatch.co.nz site a few years back after being unable to identify significant waste. They should have just waited a few years. Now, the examples are neverending.
Today’s case: Steven Joyce’s plan to publish the average incomes of graduates of different courses. A huge administrative task to tell us nothing.
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 pm, March 13th, 2012 - 16 comments
The trailers for John Key’s Thursday speech are calling it for a ” new super-Ministry” under the command of Steven Joyce. Merger isn’t the issue – the policy direction is. If Joyce just stays focussed on roads of national significance, mines and oil wells of national significance, and casinos of national significance it will be another waste of time reshuffle. If it becomes genuinely high quality export focussed, then it may prove worthwhile. Fingers crossed.
Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, March 13th, 2012 - 81 comments
Key to Mike Hosking: “New Zealand either needs to borrow more or earn more, and I’m in the camp that we need to earn more”
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, March 10th, 2012 - 24 comments
Hey John – where’s our “Brighter Future”? Hey National voters – was this what you voted for?
Written By: - Date published: 4:29 pm, March 9th, 2012 - 3 comments
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.
Scientists yesterday announced that a giant asteroid is on a collision course with the Earth. They predict that the huge rock will hit the southern part of the North Island tomorrow, destroying most of Wellington and leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead.
However, Finance Minister Bill English said there was no need for panic over the news.
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, March 9th, 2012 - 4 comments
Written By: - Date published: 1:04 pm, March 9th, 2012 - 90 comments
Our Labour activist guest poster asks where the coherence is in Labour’s communications strategy. Having a look at the lack of narrative across the Labour parties here, in Australia, and in the UK; he points to a place where narrative is done well in left politics – it is in the USA.
Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, March 9th, 2012 - 13 comments
I only recall ever picking up Management magazine once. It was back in 2009, I think, and John Key was on the cover. The article was like Playboy for managers, porn for stuffed suits. Breathless adoration of their god-king. Now, even the capitalist class is waking up to the fact that they’ve been taken by the greatest con man in the country. That’s if the latest edition is anything to go by.
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, March 4th, 2012 - 70 comments
Remember the hagiographies after the first hundred days of National’s first term? In the second term, things couldn’t be more different. The Sunday-Star Times has printed dozens of emails it obtained (a leak?) that were sent to Key opposing the sale of Crafar farms. Many of them are brutal comments from former National supporters. Key didn’t even provide comment for the article.
Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, March 2nd, 2012 - 25 comments
Bill English: “A government can’t have a lot of impact on the job market. It is what it is.” He’s only half right.
Written By: - Date published: 3:34 pm, March 1st, 2012 - 22 comments
There never was a good business case for holiday highways. Now it’s even worse.
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 pm, February 27th, 2012 - 6 comments
“I’ve been around these votes before when at the last moment they change” John Key said today about the ALP leadership ballot. He certainly has; in 2003 he promised Bill English his vote then shifted at the last minute to Don Brash who won narrowly. Key talks about Labor needing a repair job; but I think the next challenge may be in the Coalition.
Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, February 23rd, 2012 - 57 comments
Steven ‘White Elephant’ Joyce isn’t content with building highways to nowhere with costs that exceed the benefits. Now he wants an international convention centre in Auckland that’s just as pointless. But he doesn’t want the government to pay. So, he’s cutting a dirty deal with more law for sale and more pokie machines blighting our communities.
Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, February 22nd, 2012 - 64 comments
Steven Fry’s outburst on broadband in NZ, however confused, did at least succeed in putting the state of our broadband access back in the headlines for a bit. It’s an issue that the Nats would rather we forgot.
Written By: - Date published: 3:40 pm, February 20th, 2012 - 3 comments
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Bollard says the NZ-Aus income gap may not be as large as suggested – but what about the incompetence gap?
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, February 20th, 2012 - 242 comments
Last night, I saw Kevin Hague on the news talking about mine safety – mining, West Coast, labour rights, and no Labour voice. Same with minimum wage and asset sales. A hungry Green Party is leading issues while Labour appears immobilised. No wonder Metiria Turei is saying they won’t play little sibling; I see them being a third or more of the next governing coalition.
Written By: - Date published: 6:34 am, February 20th, 2012 - 66 comments
According to the latest 3 News poll. National’s long slide has begun. Key’s popularity has also fallen to its lowest level yet as PM…
Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, February 19th, 2012 - 40 comments
Two weeks into the political year, who deserves the sack? Bill ‘it’s a guess’ English, Lockwood ‘small hands’ Smith, Paul ‘cheeky darkies’ Holmes, John ‘DJ’ Key, Maurice ‘Dumb’ Williamson, Jonathan ‘Dumber’ Coleman, Craig ‘Goebbels’ Foss, Stephen ‘Riefenstahl’ McElrea, Trevor ‘Scalper’ Mallard, Tariana ‘Slush Fund’ Turia, Murray ‘Security Risk’ McCully…
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, February 17th, 2012 - 20 comments
Bill English admitted yesterday that his new estimate that asset sales will net $6b in revenue, $800m above book value, is just a guess – the midpoint of the previous guess of $5-7b. And that’s not all that’s made up. The forecast foregone profits are way under-estimated. Even with these fiscal frauds, English still can’t get asset sales to make economic sense.
Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, February 15th, 2012 - 42 comments
Gerry Brownlee has weakly attempted to fob off the decline in benefit:cost ratio of highway projects under National. ‘Sure’ he says ‘we’ve been funding projects that barely break even while high BCR spending like early childhood education gets cut, but things will turn around’. Um, no. Look at the projects National has on the horizon, […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:56 pm, February 14th, 2012 - 25 comments
Watch Grant Robertson’s question to Key today Robertson to Key on Radio Live Key didn’t know his office was deeply involved in the show that breached the Broadcasting Act? Even though he personally chose the guests? It was a matter solely between the Electoral Commission and the broadcaster? Judge for yourself.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, February 12th, 2012 - 15 comments
A great graphic from the Sunday Star Times as John Key starts dropping towards a hard landing in the personal popularity stakes. And in the great tradition of journalists everywhere, the rest of the article is about how he is still preferred by rubber fetishists.
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, February 12th, 2012 - 120 comments
Authors here have been saying for a while that Key may well quit during this second term. Even John Armstrong can see the writing on the wall. So what will Key’s legacy be?
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 10th, 2012 - 25 comments
Armed Police assisted by the Eagle helicopter, the counter-terrorism unit, customs officials, and the police launch towed on its trailer have raided Prime Minister John Key’s Parnell mansion, executing warrants relating to the illegal ‘DJ Key’ election ad. Simultaneously, a joint Police-SAS taskforce has stormed RadioLive, deploying teargas and tasering all present.
Written By: - Date published: 6:16 pm, February 9th, 2012 - 52 comments
An internal memo in the PM’s office after they received the Electoral Commission’s advice on the Radio Live’s PM Hour broadcast says: “So the Electoral Commission has replied, and basically said they can’t make a judgment on a radio show without seeing a transcript. But they have been pretty clear about putting the responsibility on the broadcaster, which is useful.” Key’s office knew they were skating close to the wind but were happy to cut Radio Live loose. Lesson here for media.
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, February 9th, 2012 - 32 comments
Yesterday, the opposition parties worked together to hammer John Key on asset sales. He faced questions from four parties during one question; the breadth of opposition showed, and Key was stumbling. Some say Shearer should be taking a more leading role but, for mine, this was far more effective than Goff uselessly slogging out a primary and half a dozen sups without landing a blow. How’s that anti-asset sales coalition coming?
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