Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, October 30th, 2017 - 73 comments
More trouble for Donald Trump as it is expected someone in his camp will shortly be charged with offences by the special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, October 29th, 2017 - 70 comments
Labour has indicated that as a priority it wishes to repeal the Hobbit law, a clumsy attempt in breach of International Law to prevent workers in the film industry from organising collectively and to divert attention from the fact that the National Government had been played by Warner Brothers.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 29th, 2017 - 124 comments
Why statistics? Some speculation as to how this fits together with James Shaw’s other portfolios, and what the motivations and goals were taking up what is seemingly a minor ministerial position as part of a confidence and supply agreement.
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, October 28th, 2017 - 60 comments
An outline of the Green Party positions in the new government, and which Green MPs hold them.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 26th, 2017 - 36 comments
Steven Joyce had a bad day yesterday. His claim that National’s use of one of Eminem’s song was “pretty legal” was shown to be anything but. And he stuck to his claim that there was a $11 billion dollar hole in Labour’s budget, casting doubt either on his honesty or on his competence.
Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, October 25th, 2017 - 86 comments
It seems that National’s use of Eminem’s song lose yourself was not so legal.
Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, October 24th, 2017 - 78 comments
Details about how the next Cabinet may be made up are emerging. Winston Peters may regain the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as being Deputy Prime Minister.
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, October 21st, 2017 - 68 comments
This is the first Labour Government of the digital age. How progressives respond to social media attacks may be crucial to its success.
Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, October 20th, 2017 - 15 comments
NZ First chose to be inside Cabinet in a full coalition. I’d rather expected that they would choose to be in a confidence and supply agreement as they did with Labour back in 2005. That they decided to take the risk despite their previous experience with National is a stunning level of trust. But they work well with Labour.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 20th, 2017 - 25 comments
If you missed it last night – Jacinda Ardern’s first speech as PM elect is everything that we could want and expect. But the take-home line of the drama belongs to Winston Peters.
Written By: - Date published: 6:58 pm, October 19th, 2017 - 416 comments
Winston Peters has announced that he will be going into coalition with Labour and Jacinda Ardern will be the next Prime Minister. Let the attacks from the right about how unfair it is that a minority party did not ascend into Government and how MMP needs to be reformed begin. For the rest of us – this is a time of hope…
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, October 19th, 2017 - 103 comments
It appears that Winston is about to announce the decision of the NZ First party about their coalition partner today. For those who seem to think that coalitions should be formed with rapidity, they simply shouldn’t. That is the path to making stupid decisions, and I am yet to hear a single good reason to do it.
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, October 18th, 2017 - 4 comments
A post about the responsibility to advocate for change in a visible way.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, October 18th, 2017 - 8 comments
Lloyd Burr at Newshub rounded up 23 of Peters’ most quotable attacks on the Nats and their failed government. Add them to the collection of issues that Peters will have to disown if he goes wrong and picks Right.
Written By: - Date published: 5:03 pm, October 17th, 2017 - 34 comments
Just watched the “waiting for Winston Peters” live feed from Stuff. It sounds like the NZ First board know what they want and now there will be a bit more negotiation with both major parties to get closer to what the NZF board were after. They are heading back home leaving the politicians to finish up.
Updated: Winston in one-on-one talks with Bill and Jacinda last night. Looks like it is getting serious.
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, October 16th, 2017 - 120 comments
* but delays are possible.
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, October 15th, 2017 - 102 comments
Peters has the opportunity to put an end to this useless government (and turn National into “the opposition from hell”). I think he’s going to ’96 us, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 14th, 2017 - 104 comments
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it now favours higher taxes on the rich and has demolished the myth this might adversely affect economic growth. The authoritative Washington-based think tank in its influential half-yearly monitor also argued for taxes on capital, suggesting a wealth and/or land taxes should be considered, something that will make Gareth […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 14th, 2017 - 160 comments
Every morning, as the waiting for Winston to decide continues to fray my fragile psyche, I can look at myself in the mirror, contemplate my own frenzied speculative hopes for an Ardern Prime Ministership, and immediately think of a host of strong social-methodological reasons why all such speculation is futile.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 13th, 2017 - 12 comments
Last week, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). This is a coalition of NGO’s from over 100 countries, which has led the charge to convince nations to outlaw nuclear weapons. The committee honored ICAN for “its work to draw attention to the catastrophic […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, October 12th, 2017 - 195 comments
D day approaches. What will happen? Will we have a decaying toothless National Government moderated by coalition with New Zealand First or will we have something more exciting?
Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, October 12th, 2017 - 26 comments
It’s the last day of coalition talks (probably). Peters has certainly created big expectations of “change”, but what they will mean in practice is still anyone’s guess.
Written By: - Date published: 5:46 pm, October 9th, 2017 - 56 comments
Policy is everything, Winston Peters said today. This should not be a surprise. Before every election, he has refused to give any hint of Party support preference until after the vote. But he will have thought a lot about what he might want, as it has long been clear that his Party would decide the outcome. So what are his policies?
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, October 9th, 2017 - 40 comments
Expect to see agendas on display, and egos, and reckons, and the occasional gleaned factoid. But don’t expect predictions to be any better than chance.
Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, October 8th, 2017 - 173 comments
The prospects of a Labour led Government have improved dramatically following the release of the final election results.
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, October 7th, 2017 - 21 comments
Audrey Young on the coalition dance: “Labour would probably have an advantage because of the greater policy overlap”, “Keeping deputy leader Paula Bennett out of the first pro-forma courtesy meeting was an appalling decision by English that simply says he was desperate to please Peters at any cost”.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 5th, 2017 - 28 comments
A tongue in cheek list of reasons why it may be best for National to form the next Government.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, October 3rd, 2017 - 86 comments
I have very mixed feelings about a Labour Green NZF government. I certainly don’t think that Labour should “pay any price”. So I’m pleased to see Jacinda Ardern acknowledging the Greens.
Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, October 2nd, 2017 - 194 comments
In a sign of desperation Bill English rang Winston Peters on the weekend but the call was not answered. Clearly National realises that waiting for the special votes to be released will significantly weaken its bargaining position.
Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, October 1st, 2017 - 132 comments
The Herald has offered a number of opinions this weekend saying that Labour forming a coalition with New Zealand First would be a very bad thing.
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, September 30th, 2017 - 60 comments
This might look like smart politics for National to draw the Greens in with National but a more primary motivation might be that English/Joyce and co. are desperate to form a coalition with anyone, otherwise as individuals, they’ll certainly lose their power within the party in the inevitable shakeup.
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