Social issues

Key cooking the books on asset sales

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 37 comments

National has already booked the revenue from asset sales – despite people opposing them 4 to 1. The Budget docs say capital spending will be funded from the ‘balance sheet’: ie. buying new assets like schools and hospitals with revenue from selling the power companies. Key will re-announce this today. But, in the long-run we’ll be able to afford more schools and hospitals if we don’t sell our profit-generating assets.

Update: as expected, Key has re-accounced what is already in the Budget and given it a fancy new name.

Unlucky Banks

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 28 comments

Jeez some people just can’t catch a break. Not only is John Banks coming second in an election race to a guy specifically chosen to lose to him but now the word is some scoundrel’s stolen his Harley Davidson.

Winning the debates

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 43 comments

The first of the leaders’ debates is on tomorrow (it would have been on Thursday on Labour’s savings policy, but Key refused to show). Key’s strategy is clear: ‘I’m a safe economic manager, these guys will fuck it up’. Goff can’t let a single attack slide. Every time Key disses Labour’s or ups his own record, Goff just needs to cite one of these facts.

More opening addresses

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 42 comments

Opening addresses from the remaining parties screen on TV1 starting at 7:30pm. Should be good fun for political junkies, make sure you tune in…

Phil Goff’s balls

Written By: Guest post
Date published: - 209 comments

Guts. Backbone. Chutzpah. Grit. Will. Vision. Courage.

The one thing all of these words have in common is that Phil Goff could quite easily have used them instead of “balls”

Heart and balls

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 106 comments

Labour’s opening address shows that the Party has rediscovered its heart. It’s policies show that its rediscovered its balls as well!  Win or lose, right now Labour is a party to be proud of.

Labour Opening Address

Written By: the sprout
Date published: - 246 comments

Amazing. Brilliant. I’ve seen a lot of political television, and that would have to be the best piece of contemporary political television by a […]

TV1 at 7:50 – Opening Address

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 67 comments

Labour’s election Opening Address will be broadcast on TV1 at 7:50pm tonight.  Labour is hinting that the address will be something different, and unlike anything we have seen before.  Given their gutsy campaigning so far, anything could happen!  Make sure you tune in…

Ride that pony

Written By: the sprout
Date published: - 44 comments

On RNZ today: Mr Goff said Prime Minister John Key did not have the “guts” to debate him. “It’s time to make a […]

Campaigning on policy – what a concept!

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 27 comments

Labour has once again broken the mould and chosen to focus its election campaign on policy. As a country we’ve been saying for a long time that elections should be about policies and not personalities.  Now we’ve got a chance to try it.  If the media is up to the challenge, of course.

Labour’s savings & retirement policy

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 100 comments

Well, they said they were going to run this campaign on policy and make the bold moves, and Labour proved that with their savings policy. National is been left floundering. Brand Key is unraveling while Labour starts to dictate the play for the first time since Orewa. But the substance of the savings policy wants a closer look, it has both good and bad aspects.

Cult of personality deficit

Written By: the sprout
Date published: - 37 comments

It’s not surprising that National are trying to run a presidential, personality based election campaign – after all, their policies aren’t going to […]

Lying over Key handshake fail clip?

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 22 comments

John Key’s try-hard failed handshake at the RWC has gone viral. What looked like a minor footnote to the affair came out last night, when it was reported that YouTube had taken down the clip at the request of the IRB.  But today the IRB denied it.

A campaign launch for the times

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 135 comments

Labour’s cleverly wrong-footed Brand Key with a policy-based campaign launch. Key will look out of touch playing messiah at his campaign launch while the economy burns. Labour’s ads are great. The Tories are in panic mode: they don’t feature Goff enough moans Key; they feature Goff too much cries Clare Robinson; the lighting’s wrong whines Hoots. They’re afraid to take on the message.

NoRightTurn: Election choices

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 6 comments

I/S looks at two dividing lines between left and right that may help your choice in a month’s time. The first is Afghanistan. Labour has promised to bring the SAS home within 90 days. National won’t commit to withdrawing. The second is water: National wants more subsidies to polluters; Labour and the Greens want businesses to pay for their use of public resources.

Europe finance ministers’ meeting cancelled

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 6 comments

The meeting of European Finance Ministers set for Wednesday that was supposed to put in place the framework for the Euro support has been cancelled. Certainty appears ever more elusive.  The downside scenario to Treasury’s PREFU begins to look like the most realistic option.  It is time our media took off the rose-tinted spectacles and asked some hard questions of the government in the run-up to the election.

Why are the Right acting like losers?

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 165 comments

It was meant to be so easy. With high polling and several possible support partners, National would breeze into a second term thanks to Brand Key. The man himself would carried around the country by crowds of adoring locals. It would be more coronation than campaign. So, why are National weather-vanes, Farrar and Slater, hitting the panic-button?

PREFU

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 94 comments

The Pre-Election Fiscal and Economic Update is out. It shows that National has broken its promises on the economy once again. Under National, we are under-performing woefully and their only response is to continue to promise that brighter future is just around the corner. Time for parties with real plans: Labour and the Greens.

Undesirables for Banks

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 102 comments

Pamphlets are circling highlighting past comments made by Mr Banks, including anti-homosexuality and racist ideas. Right-wing bloggers say it’s all part of nasty campaign tactics by Labour. “waa, waa, waa” said Farrar and Slater “it’s mean to quote a man’s words when he’s trying to keep his true views secret from the voters”.

Felicitations Thierry

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 37 comments

Thierry Dusautoir thoroughly deserved the player of the year at the IRB awards last night. And how well he took it – with praise for the All Blacks, addressed to Richie McCaw, and with words from the heart spoken to his team. We all saw on Sunday what a player he was, and he showed us all last night what a leader he was. Grace in defeat does not diminish anyone. Grace in victory is important too – we could have done better.

Nats in a world of their own

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 87 comments

National’s new online ad campaign shows a roadworker with a stop sign, supposedly representing Labour (he has a red hat and red swandry so you get the point) and another roadworker with a go sign meant to represent National (although his sign is green … searching for a support partner?). It’s pretty bare-faced cheek from the party with the worst economic record in this country’s history.

The austerity death trap

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 89 comments

In response to tough economic times, Government austerity programmes do more harm than good.  It’s a pretty simple equation based on the debt / GDP ratio.  With an election coming up soon, NZ needs to look for economic competence and a willingness to try new ideas, rather than muddling along deeper into the austerity death trap.

Slave fishing – NZ’s shame

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 13 comments

You won’t find much praise for Talley’s on this site. But, fair dues, they harvest their fish with Kiwi crews and have this to say on slave fishing: “If it is uneconomic to harvest a New Zealand resource under New Zealand labour conditions and costs then it is not a resource. Blood diamonds and Asian textile sweatshops use the same justification”

Leaks and leaks

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 69 comments

As more oil leaks from the Rena, National’s beginning to leak too. I’ve just been hearing about their latest internal polling, and it ain’t pretty. As the earlier Horizon poll suggested, the Rena has been an inflection point for National and the masses of soft support they’ve accumulated is drifting away.

We won!

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 91 comments

The All Blacks have won and the cup has come back.

Congratulations to the ABs and everyone who supports them.

We Won!

ABs vs France

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 78 comments

Now for the final – ABs vs France 9:00 pm at Eden Park – may the best team win.

[whew … that was close … imagine the national wailing and gnashing of teeth if the French had had a successful penalty kick in that last attack. Well done the ABs. Eddie]

Some questions in passing

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 22 comments

+ Wouldn’t a Key endorsement of Banks be an admission that a Labour-led government is possible if ACT doesn’t make it?
+ Is the delay in Key’s endorsement because the Nats are worried that revelations will make Banks unelectable regardless and an endorsement will tarnish Brand Key by association?
+Is it true that ACT is seeking legal advice on removing Banks from the ballot?