One door closes, another opens
A shame to hear that our mates at blogblog have called it quits for now but a delight to see that our friends […]
Social issues
Real John vs Brand Key
Let’s go back to the heart of this story: it is not about push-polling or whatever, this is about how Brand Key has […]
TVNZ7 ad
TVNZ7 have some great content. Looks like some serious effort’s going into their advertising as well. Here’s one that caught my attention the […]
National releases 3 more lines of policy – Scoop
A classic headline that says it all. Here’s the three lines: ‘Give schools additional resources over time to ensure more students can take […]
Crosby/Textor Spin Bingo
John Key has his round of five interviews tomorrow morning (Breakfast, Sunrise, ZB, KiwiFM, bFM) and will undoubtedly face questions on his use […]
Reminder: Drinking Liberally Auckland
Remember that Drinking Liberally Auckland is having its inaugural session tomorrow with David Slack. Note it in your schedules and tell your left-leaning […]
Brand Key shows a contempt for ordinary Kiwis
It comes as no surprise that Brand Key has been a Crosby/Textor project from Day 1. The hit and run, the bait and […]
John does a Don
Remember Noelle McCarthy’s 95bFM interview with Brash in which she got him to admit to knowledge of the Brethren pamphlets? Student radio has done it […]
Hollow politics at work
Brand Key on Waatea news: “A National government will be a lot more demanding about educational standards, a lot more demanding about under-performance […]
Nat response to C/T scandal right from C/T playbook
There’s a standard formula that Crosby/Textor has its clients use when damaging information comes out. a) refuse to engage. The most senior public […]
The cost of Crosby/Textor
So Crosby/Textor has been designing Brand Key from Day 1, isn’t this just what every party does? No, it isn’t – Crosby/Textor uses […]
Busted
Nicky Hager’s piece in today’s Sunday Star Times has confirmed what we all suspected: Crosby Textor are the creators of Brand Key. For […]
Bait and switch
It strikes me there is a disconnect between what prospective National voters expect it to do in government and what it has actually promised it […]
Roy puts Police informants at risk
ACT is turning to increasingly desperate attempts to win media attention. Raising Roger Douglas from the dead didn’t work (he only got 6 […]
Key’s principled stand
A good cartoon by Mike Moreu this morning about Key’s confusing stance on the smacking referendum. Though of course, as a_y_b pointed out […]
Ministry advised against concurrent referendum/election
In line with Ministry of Justice advice, the Government has decided not to hold the child discipline referendum at the same time as […]
No consistency needed
Colin Espiner’s just posted an entry headed “National’s position on smacking confusing”. It is – but only if you’re expecting philosophical consistency. Key’s […]
Calls for Police State ultimate admission of failure
Michael Laws has called for ‘draconian, central measures’ to fight gangs; he wants the army called out. He wants military force let loose […]
Johnny Key and the magic $500 million
Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll […]
Cake and eat it
I’ve noticed a new trend in the right’s spin lately (apart from their wholesale theft of campaign scripts) – the ‘have your cake […]
Enlightening debate
In Parliament yesterday: Anderton: “Has the Minister received any reports on how many National Party members it takes to change a light bulb?” Cullen: […]
Drinking Liberally – Auckland
You’re invited to the first Auckland Drinking Liberally event – 7.30pm next Wednesday night (2 July) at the London Bar with special guest […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill […]
You call that policy? This is policy
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That’s incredibly lightweight. […]
The grass isn’t greener across the ditch
The cornerstone of National’s ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign is that Australia is much better (and we have to lower taxes and slash work […]
A foolish promise
Simon Power promises a new prison in a National government’s first term. What a glib and foolish statement. Had he paused to reflect […]
National breaking promises already
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 […]
Hollow Men film to premiere next month
The Unionist reports Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men has been made into a film and will be screening as part of this […]
More bluster, still no policies
Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes […]
The headline you didn’t see
‘Unemployment benefits at record low.’ The number of people receiving the unemployment benefit has fallen to just 17,465. That’s the lowest number since […]
Old man’s law
Frogblog has footage of Nandor Tanczos blasting the Government’s anti-tagging legislation and noting that “Judith Collins would be screaming about the nanny state […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (2)
Here’s the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden – approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about […]
Act now to protect workers’ wages
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set […]
EFA lets voters know who bankrolls parties
National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That’s all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar […]
Key promises productivity magic
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation […]
Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
You’ll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing ‘after-tax incomes’. Even when he’s asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, […]