Go well Grant Robertson
Yesterday it was announced that Grant Robertson was leaving politics.
Media
brand key
How not to win votes and influence people
Christopher Luxon has gone onto the charm offensive by describing New Zealand as a negative, wet, whiny, inward looking country that has lost the plot.
National’s problem with its candidates
Another day, and yet another report a National candidate has done something really stupid.
National’s Boot Camps announcement is deeply cynical policy recycling
There should be a law against the cynical recycling of dog whistle policies that everyone knows will not work. Last week’s announcement by National of a boot camp policy is as good an example as you can imagine.
The inside story of National’s civil war
Andrea Vance’s book Blood Bath provides an insider’s view of the carnage that erupted in the National Party from 2017 to 2021. And while things have calmed down under Christopher Luxon’s his weaknesses, including his glossing over the importance of policy detail and his tendency to bag businesses has been noted.
Will John Key stand for National in Tauranga
The Standard has learned from a normally reliable source that John Key is considering seeking the National Party nomination for the Tauranga seat.
Is National’s Luxon among the quick or the dead?
Simon Louisson has been observing Chris Luxon with a journalists eye over the last week, especially with regard to the Jack Tame interview. A bit of a mixed bag. Fast thinking but with baggage. It will be interesting to see whether the electorate will again suppress its egalitarian instincts and vote for a smooth-talking rich man.
National’s new leader is …
Chris Luxon is set to be the next leader of the National Party.
Covid does not give a fuck about your plans
This week we have seen reckons from John Key, Act and National on how we should be loosening up Covid lockdown restrictions. Yesterday’s 45 new cases shows how dangerous it is to think that dealing with Covid is a simple management exercise.
Smug hermit king
John Key has doubled down on his claims that Aotearoa is a smug hermit kingdom and claimed that it is imperative that international travel is eased although he is fine with all other restrictions to stay in place.
Key’s baaaack
John Key is back and has described New Zealand as a smug hermit kingdom for daring to so far achieve something no other western nation has been able to accomplish, holding back Covid and preventing thousands of deaths.
The return of John Key
In a sign of desperation National has trotted out John Key to campaign that the country’s success in containing Covid should be put to risk because of a misguided perception that it would be good for the economy.
The Covid election
I normally do not do this, tempting fate and all that. But the forces behind this election are so strong that it would take a really dramatic event to change current momentum.
Dead man walking
The media is reporting there will be a vote of no confidence in Simon Bridges’ leadership at next week’s National caucus meeting.
Will National roll Bridges before or after the election?
It appears that the National Party is engaged in a bitter discussion of when Simon Bridges should be rolled, not if. Will it be before or after the election?
Constructive Criticism and Team Work In Politics
Team play is more important than ever in politics.
Regrets, John Key’s had a few *
or more accurately one. A failed vanity flag referendum.
The right loses its shit after a public servant accidentally tweets from the wrong account
An accidental tweet from a Government account has led the right to claim the existence of all sorts of conspiracies.
John Key’s legacy of lies
Even then, local “journalists” were just parroting overseas reports despite having a major vanguard for the post-truth epoch playing out right before their very eyes
A fan grieves Key’s popularity bubble
Key gives up on us, keeps International Democratic Union.
The Herald informs us that Key is going on the speaking circuit and will go back into finance (not that he ever left). Like John Howard before him, he also intends to carry on chairing the International Democratic Union of right-wing parties. Not a surprise.
Labour landslide – media roundup
Audrey Young: “The Labour leader has described the win as ‘a bloody nose for National’. It is more like a bloody nose, a black eye and broken jaw.”
Update: As of 11am not a single story on Mt Roskill appears on the online front pages of either The Herald or Stuff. What a surprise!
Darren Watson 2 John Key 0
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Darren Watson’s Planet Key song should not have been banned during the 2014 election campaign.
On #Planetkey everyone owns a home
In Parliament yesterday John Key showed a clear lack of understanding of what being poor in New Zealand entails.
Sprung! New Panama Papers dump confirm NZ is a tax haven
A new release of Panama papers absolutely confirms New Zealand is a tax haven says Nicky Hager. And ironically, it is because of New Zealand’s squeaky clean reputation that tens of thousands of foreigners have come flooding here.
Rather than actually dealing with the issue, John Key is using his old classics “nothing to see here” coupled with “Labour did it too”, “nicky hager is a conspiracy nut”, and “wait for the (Shewan) whitewash enquiry” defenses.
Arise, Sir Lynton
Lynton Crosby on his knees receiving a knighthood for services to conservative politics. To me, this really signals who is running the show, who is still running the show, and what their values are.
John, Ken and Mark might have had much better weeks
“I did a little yelp of joy…like an excited puppy,” wrote Farrier, the former Newsworthy presenter at TV3, on hearing of Weldon’s resignation
REALITY TV UPDATE: Mark Weldon Wins NZ’s Biggest Loser.
MediaWorks CEO and mate of the PM, Mark Weldon, has quit his job. Is it too late to save MediaWorks? Should we care?
EDIT: Staff get in the champers shock!
John’s Key’s “lawyer” is not a lawyer
John Key, explaining why he had an account with tax avoidance specialists Antipodes Trust Group, said he used the firm because his long-term friend, Ken Whitney, is a principal at the firm and has been his private lawyer for many years. The flaw in that theory is that Whitney is not currently a lawyer.
On the flag debacle and John Key’s supposed popularity
Key is running from the flag debacle, further evidence that “preferred PM” and “popular” are not the same thing.
John Key’s flag – an exercise in optics
What would the adoption of John Key’s flag symbolise? Well, nothing, really.
Shock Horror media bias exists in New Zealand
Claire Robinson has analysed press use of photos during the 2014 general election campaign and has concluded that the major newspapers exhibited substantial bias in favour of Prime Minister John Key.
Key’s Bitter Legacy; Gareth Hughes Nails the PM’s Vanity.
The Green’s Gareth Hughes delivered a blistering speech in reply to the PM’s statement to the House. It begs the question ‘what will Key’s lasting legacy be?’. A failed flag referendum? Poverty? Inequality? Corruption? Selfies with AB’s?
As Key’s star fades, the less he seems to have left us to remember him by. What was the point of him anyway?
Flagpole Sitta
John Key’s $26 million dollar flag flop bores it’s way to the halfway line tonight. The first referendum closes at 7 PM, first results at around 8.30. $26 million … that’s a lot of cancer drugs, child care centres and elder care we won’t be getting because the PM wants a signature legacy his dreary leadership doesn’t actually deserve.
Making the Opposition the Enemy –
It takes fortitude to admit you are wrong. That’s right, not weakness but, strength, courage, resilience, grit, determination, endurance, guts, and staying power. When you won’t admit you are wrong you end up having to justify wrong decisions. That takes time and energy (and money) away from what actually needs to be done for the greater good. John Key won’t admit he is wrong. Because of this he has to keep going down several paths of “wrongness”, and because he is Prime MInister, he is taking us all with him. Some people think he does admit he made mistakes. But when you examine the few instances closer (if you can find them), it looks like something else.
Rugby or global leadership?
John Key seems to prefer that New Zealand provides leadership in entertainment than in the areas that really matter.