National has announced its policy to deal with youth crime by reannouncing a military service scheme that already exists, proposing a special category for young offenders that will have some young people seek that status and by proposing to fine parents who can’t keep their kids home at night.
Last night all the excitement finally caught up with them, leading to calls for Paddy Gower to resign and for MSM organisations to delete their social media accounts.
Yes. Quite seriously.
What decade are we in again?
Matthew Hooton has been incinerated by a former leader of the Labour Party.
The media is reporting that Anthony Scaramucci has been fired after only ten days in the job as White House communications director.
I guess it’s kind of hard to anchor something that’s all up in the air…
Social media offers a rich tool for profiling voters and targeting election advertising or informal messaging. There’s a good piece on RNZ today looking at the issue. How long before we see the methods used by Brexit and Trump campaigns employed in NZ?
This afternoon in Parliament during question time Paula Bennett showed clearly that this Government has no idea what to do about the housing crisis.
Britain follows France in banning the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040. Good news?
The Government’s failure to do anything about the housing crisis or about zombie cannabis is evidence they should be removed from office.
* in a list of developed nations for homelessness.
Radio New Zealand is reporting that the State Services Commission will report today that it believes that the convicted fraudster Joanne Harrison forced whistleblowers out of the Transport Ministry in 2015. Updated with link to formal announcement.
In the space of two days Winston has announced that a referendum on Maori seats would be a bottom line for a coalition but then it should be up to Maori if a change should occur. Update – make that a double backflip …
David Seymour has managed to make the most stupid statement by a politician this year, and it is only just over half way through.
Meet Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and original negotiator behind the Paris Agreement. She’s co-signed an article, published in Nature and signed by over 60 scientists as well as business leaders and other ‘pillars of the global community’ that headlines – “Three years to safeguard our climate”
It looks like ACT the party of less government will be focussing on pregnant beneficiaries this election.
A Newshub article where Nick Smith contradicts the Police and Solid Energy about the existence of video showing a body in Pike River has disappeared …
There’s a very good / depressing long read in The Guardian on the dangerous “weaponising” of cynicism by climate change deniers. One of the most interesting sections was a discussion of the way that voters are more forgiving of lies than hypocrisy.
Nick Smith is attempting to rewrite history by claiming that the Government never thought the special housing area affordable housing provisions would work and that the housing crisis is improving.
Bill English has an active social media strategy, likely well funded and professional. While most commentators are cringing at it, plenty of people are probably buying the counterfeit Bill.
In shocking news, it turns out that employers don’t like Labour’s new employment relations package. They (and the usual suspects) are running lines about a return to the 1970s. A time when workers’ share of the wealth was higher, poverty was lower, inequality was lower, and workers had more rights. Sounds awful.
The National Rifle Association in America has released a video which essentially advocates for violence against liberal resistance to conservatism.
Following an intervention by the Ombudsman the Government has been obliged to disclose the number of days that Peter Thiel spent in New Zealand in the five years leading up to his grant of citizenship. The answer is very few.
That’s a mish-mash of Nat soundbites past and present. For the reality underlying it all, check out the excellent RNZ series “Is this the Brighter Future?”
Through his never ending changing of the description of what happened in the Todd Barclay issue Bill English has kept the story prominently placed for six days in a row.
Team Nat were desperate to try and divert some attention from their floundering leader, and to a certain extent they succeeded. But compare and contrast Labour and National’s handling of the issues, front up and fix vs lie harder.
Burying the last shred of his credibility in a deep hole forever, Bill claims that nobody realised Todd Barclay recording of secretary might be a crime. It’s like the events of 2008 and 2011 never happened.
During Dirty Politics John Key was able to stand in front of a group of reporters and with complete confidence make a series of statements the veracity of which was dubious. Bill English has shown this week that he does not have that ability.
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
From twitter, Holy shit, someone in NZ did some journalism and all hell breaks loose.
Newsroom has released details about how National handled the police investigation into Todd Barclay’s alleged illegal wiretapping suggesting that Bill English thought it had occurred and that the complaint was dealt with in part by a payment from John Key’s Prime Minister’s fund.
New Zealand has completely backed down from its original position of opposing the illegal occupation by Israel of Palestinian land and apologised to Israel for damaging the relationship.
Owen Jones of the Guardian has posted a mea culpa about his pessimism that Jeremy Corbyn would succeed as Labour leader. But meanwhile blairites are claiming that Corbyn missed an open goal while at the same time calling for unity.
Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will need to be watched later on here.
What a surprise! Not sure how long it was up, but Google cache still has a copy.
