It just gets worse
Just when you thought National’s billboard campaign couldn’t possibly get any weaker, reports emerge that their next one will say: “Get youth into […]
Social issues
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Metaphor (2)
So, the day after our post last week a couple of readers were in town and they came across Stephen Franks beside his […]
Dissection
OK, so there are limitless ways to mock the Nat’s ‘WW2 bombers flying to Chile’ billboard (send us yours to add to these […]
Russel Norman at Drinking Liberally Wgtn – tomorrow
The Drinking Liberally – Wellington email: By popular demand this Wednesday Drinking Liberally Wellington presents: Russel Norman – Co-leader of the Green Party. […]
Key: “I just followed what was in my diary”
TV3 revealed last night that John Key has recently met with billionaire Tory donor Lord Michael Ashcroft. Lord Ashcroft clearly preferred that the […]
Break open the trusts
As we’ve discussed earlier, it would be highly surprising if the investigations into NZF’s finances find any serious illegality. At worst, a failure to […]
Weak
Perhaps I’ve overestimated the National Party’s PR machine. I mean I’ve seen them run their C/T strategy pretty well and, as much as […]
Key- you like Obama? OK.. I’m the white Obama!
“I’m a bit like (Barack) Obama,” – Key Of course, National has been trying to link Key to Obama because Obama is probably […]
New York Times praises NZ on nukes
‘Let’s hear it for New Zealand’ exclaims the New York Times editorial. Why? Because New Zealand is leading a group of countries that […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (4)
Because National has abandoned its wastewatch website, we keep track of the ‘waste’ National has promised to cut to pay for those magical, […]
Causes and effects
A series of graphs from the Social Report. First off, the unemployment rate When the unemployment goes up or down, the practical effect […]
Peters stands down
Peters has stood down. Clark has taken over his portfolios. It’s good that Peters appears to have accepted that this is a necessity […]
Nats, Farrar fail again in attempt to muzzle Kiwis
For the third time, National’s attempt to get a legal decision to block the EPMU and its sister unions from participating in the […]
Clark cuts the thread
Winston Peters’ stories around the Owen Glenn donation to his legal fund are dangerously convoluted and have stretched everyone’s credulity but without real […]
Social Report shows Kiwis better off
MSD released its Social Report today, an annual publication that collates a wide variety of standard of living measures, and produces this awesome graph. […]
Herald poll shows Nats’ lead collapsing
Today’s Herald-Digi poll is the first to be released that was taken after the secret agenda tape scandal had fully emerged and had some […]
Interviewing 101
Exam question 65 If you were a highly-paid media interviewer and John Key said to you that he was absolutely certain that Helen […]
The more things change…
70 years ago (more or less) and The Standard was correctly predicting a Labour victory as the ‘Nationalists’ ramped up a hollow election […]
Whom to believe? (2)
Owen Glenn’s letter to the Privileges Committee contradicts Winston Peters’ previous statements to the media, the Privileges Committee, and, presumably, the PM. Glenn says […]
Greens win better ETS
The Greens have won some very good improvements to the ETS in exchange for their support. The most important is $1 billion over […]
What else did Williamson say?
I notice that, while the Nats have attempted to play down Maurice Williamson’s promise of $50 a week in tolls, they haven’t retracted […]
Metaphor
So, I was walking along in Kelburn yesterday, and I saw Stephen Franks’ faded yellow mini. He was driving along in the centre of […]
Kiwis waking up to Nats’ secret agenda
According to the TV3 poll last night, 46% of voters believe National has a secret agenda. And why wouldn’t they? We’ve had Bill English […]
Adapting to the end of cheap oil
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows […]
TV3: Labour clawing back National’s lead in latest poll
According to TV3 “Labour is on the move. The latest 3 News poll shows that less than three months out from the election, […]
Open democracy?
According to the Sunday Star Times the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Family First have decided to refuse to comply with the Electoral Finance […]
Greens call for public input on ETS
One thing you can always say for the Greens, they’re democratic to their core. Currently, they find themselves facing a tough choice – […]
Mythbusting: Half of new generation is thermal
Reading National’s energy policy last week I was surprised to learn that of 1942MW of new generation that has come online since 2000 […]
Kiwis don’t trust Nats
According to the Colmar/Brunton poll, 50% of Kiwis don’t believe National is being open about its plans vs 37% who believe the Nats […]
Key and McCain: underdogs rising
The US presidential race in the States took a new direction with the McCain and Obama both appearing at a Forum on faith, held over […]
Reviewing the weekend polls
As I said last week, the polls that came out this weekend can not reflect any impact of the secret agenda tapes. The […]
An election strategy, not a governing strategy
When you look at the policy National has released, it’s clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy […]
Drinking Liberally – Palmerston North
A third Drinking Liberally chapter is underway. The first meeting of Drinking Liberally – Palmerston North will be next Friday at the Kingsgate […]
National and the media
A few mini-posts on National’s relationship with the media in light of the secret agenda tapes. _______________________________________________ A signature Crosby/Textor move, seen here […]
Excel magic
Insight into Mr Key costing his tax policy (lots of clever bits, best viewed in fullscreen) – hosted by 08wire
Wait, what’s working?
ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is […]