Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, February 9th, 2010 - 19 comments
“This is his most important speech since he entered Parliament in 2002.” That’s Duncan Garner on Key’s speech today. Other political commentators have been emphasising its importance too: John Armstrong: “What has so far been a comparatively easy ride for Key now starts to get much bumpier. The time has come to do the difficult […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, February 8th, 2010 - 44 comments
Well, wages are stagnating, unemployment is just shy of its all-time high, crime is up, and there is no chance of the Government fulfilling its flagship promise – closing the gap with Australia by 2025. Tomorrow, a make or break speech will lay out Key’s programme of action for the year ahead, and expectations are […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, February 8th, 2010 - 36 comments
It’s obvious to anyone with a brain that a government that spends half its time on holiday and the rest on PR stunts is never going to get New Zealand to catch Australia by 2025 but having the Reserve Bank Governor say its impossible, that’s hugely embarrassing. Of course, Key is refusing to acknowledge the […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 8th, 2010 - 9 comments
I was thinking the other day about John Key’s underclass speech. It was always pure gimmickry, as was the whole exploitation of Aroha. But how long would he keep up the facade once the PR value had worn off?
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, February 7th, 2010 - 52 comments
Remember the struggling Auckland family that John Key used in 2007 to help build his brand? Well, according to the Herald: The mother of the 12-year-old girl John Key took to Waitangi three years ago says she has been let down by the Prime Minister, and her daughter now wants nothing to do with him. […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:53 pm, February 6th, 2010 - 2 comments
Paula Bennett and John Key have been, once again, prematurely popping the bottle of champagne to celebrate the end of rising unemployment. In the face of the shocking 7.3% unemployment rate announced on Thursday, the pair responded by saying ‘ah, but that was December quarter things are better now.’ They pointed to the number […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, February 5th, 2010 - 48 comments
Nearly a year ago, John Key, shaken by the first whispers of disquiet over his government’s month-long holiday at the height of an economic crisis (whispers that would later grow into cries of ‘Do Nothing’ Key), decided to hold the Prime Minister’s Jobs Summit. This would not be a talk-fest, it would be a ‘do-fest’ […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, February 5th, 2010 - 53 comments
A panicked, chaotic series of excuses poured forth from John Key’s mouth yesterday as he attempted to shift the blame for the shocking unemployment numbers on to someone, anyone, else: “He told reporters it was important to note the economy was not losing jobs, it was a case of not creating new ones fast enough.” […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, February 4th, 2010 - 16 comments
I wasn’t expecting to do another in this series so soon, but then I’m much too polite to decline a clear invitation like this. John Key says that parents should not have to put up with “creeping political correctness in our schools”. So what does “creeping political correctness in our schools” mean? Its tempting to […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, February 4th, 2010 - 11 comments
Saw this in the new culture/humour page in the Dom: Glad to see the “do-nothing PM” as Rodney Hide called John Key doing plenty of late. Take the past fortnight for example; there’s been the barbecue and beer with Prince William, photo ops with punters at the Wellington races, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony and practice […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, February 3rd, 2010 - 28 comments
Remember how John Key said he “would love to see wages drop“. You might remember the big corporate media refused to run it, and the head of APN held an emergency meeting with Key then pressured the journalist who had reported the comments to retract them, which he would not do, and then APN published […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, February 3rd, 2010 - 14 comments
Last October I posted on National’s plan to fold the State Services Commission into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Yesterday, Labour’s Grant Robertson revived the rumour. And since then Government pollster David Farrar has spent much of his energy reserves vigorously defending any transfer of power that may occur. But we should watch closely to […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, February 2nd, 2010 - 38 comments
Oh, sure, the Nats will lock a person up longer after they commit a crime, if they get caught. But what they won’t do is prevent them commiting the crime in the first place. National will spend a fortune on counter-productive vengence after you’ve become a victim of crime but not a fraction of that on saving the crime from happening in […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, February 1st, 2010 - 38 comments
A good appearance from Phil Goff on the first Q+A of the year. I liked this part especially: Guyon Espiner: You spoke in your speech a lot about tax as well, and again you returned to that equity and fairness argument, and I want to quote from that, you said “too many people on good incomes […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, January 31st, 2010 - 2 comments
I know Standard readers follow politics closely almost by definition, but for those who don’t here’s Colin James’ observations on the year ahead for Labour, and for Phil Goff (Press, 30 Jan ’10). He asks: Phil Goff cooks sausages to a turn on the barbecue. But can he cook up a strategic future for Labour? […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, January 29th, 2010 - 30 comments
In his speech yesterday Phil Goff articulated Labour’s position on tax in no uncertain terms and came out very strongly against wealthy tax dodgers : “Too many people on good incomes avoid and evade paying taxes. It’s not right that some top earners pay a lower percentage of their income in tax than those on the […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, January 29th, 2010 - 32 comments
One of the great pleasures I get from writing for The Standard is making the trolls scream. There’s no better sign that you’re on the right track than when you sit down and think through a post, do the research and try to put forward your argument in a clear and concise manner and the […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, January 29th, 2010 - 41 comments
Goff and his advisers knew that the wage cap on public service CEOs would be the headline grabber of his widely praised speech. It succeeded beautifully and has drawn greater attention to the rest of his message. It also maneuvered National into the position of having to advocate for higher wages for public servants on […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, January 28th, 2010 - 38 comments
The John Key led National Ltd® government lands yet another axe blow on our 100% Pure brand by cancelling a scheme recognised internationally as a best practice model. This latest announcement caps off a busy year for National Ltd® on the environmental front. Its list of actions include spending millions on establishing the 100% Pure Brand as the “Master Brand†of Aotearoa while simultaneously it has:
Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, January 28th, 2010 - 104 comments
Phil Goff has just delivered his first major speech of the year to state what Labour stands for and where it is going. I have to say, I’m impressed. You really should read it. It sets out a clear agenda for Labour and that agenda is firmly rooted in Labour’s deepest principles – decent pay […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:51 pm, January 26th, 2010 - 44 comments
Today John Key admitted his mistake in two Ministerial portfolio appointments, as two long overdue changes were announced. 1) Chopper Tolley has rightfully been shuffled out of the Tertiary Education portfolio, which goes to Steven Joyce. Tolley’s record has been appalling, most infamously taking a chopper ride to get a “helicopter view” of the AUT […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, January 26th, 2010 - 23 comments
I can’t work out how to embed audio alone, so here’s a YouTube of Andrew Campbell and Matthew Hooton on the Key Government. Both agree that this government has done little and doesn’t appear to have a plan. Campbell sums up Key’s record: “The NDU yesterday issued a challenge to the Government to do a […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, January 24th, 2010 - 50 comments
I don’t think the SAS should be in Afghanistan. That said, there are good reasons why the activities of the SAS on deployment are meant to be kept secret. Both the media and John Key have behaved incredibly irresponsibly. Do the publishing of pictures and the name of Willi Apiata after he apparently took part […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, January 23rd, 2010 - 31 comments
Last week: “Prime Minister John Key said the Government’s major theme in 2010 would be improving New Zealand’s economy” Today: “He said his almost exclusive focus this year was to improve educational standards in the country” Next week: An unrelenting focus on whatever you want him to pretend to care about today I guess he can […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, January 16th, 2010 - 70 comments
Phil Goff has picked up on the point I made yesterday: while unemployment is falling in Australia due to the $42 billion stimulus package implemented by the Rudd Government, in New Zealand unemployment is still rising while this do nothing government sits on its arse, and unemployment here is now higher than in Aussie for […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, January 15th, 2010 - 69 comments
Both David Farrar and Cameron Slater have posts up attacking a comment by roger nome in one of our comment threads, and it shows they are worried about Key’s image as a do nothing ‘Minister for Overseas Holidays’. On the surface level, it’s kind of cute that Farrar and Slater are obviously reading through our […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, January 14th, 2010 - 28 comments
Less than a week before the opening of the new $80 million Supreme Court building in Wellington, Prime Minister John Key is reserving judgment on the design. Asked what he thought of the building, which has a bronze facade designed to look like pohutukawa and rata trees wrapped around the top, he was less than […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:50 pm, January 13th, 2010 - 27 comments
Back in July of 2009 I wrote a post about John Key’s promises of a plan to stop job losses. At the time I pointed out his trail of empty and unfulfilled promises and predicted that the big plan to stop job losses would be one of them. Unfortunately I was right. There was no […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:41 am, January 11th, 2010 - 85 comments
Happy new year! If you’re lucky enough to be on a bit of a break overseas say ‘Hi’ to Prime Minister John Key for me, since it’s out of the country where he’s likely to be. It’s no surprise Rodney Hide thinks John Key doesn’t do anything. Key has been out of the country for almost […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:29 pm, January 4th, 2010 - 54 comments
Bill English has usurped his do-nothing leader with an op-ed in the Herald framing National’s agenda for the year to come. This piece was English’s chance to convince New Zealanders to accept his agenda. He gets off to a bad start: As New Zealand emerges from recession, the Government’s focus has firmly shifted towards significantly lifting our […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:59 pm, December 22nd, 2009 - 80 comments
There’s a Youtube clip on Stuff of Key talking on The Edge. Presumably filmed by one of Key’s people. It’s run as headline news. Yup. You got that right. It’s now news when Key appears for a soft interview on other media. Not the first time. A month or so ago Stuff ran his video […]
Recent Comments