Taxing choices
There are four options open to National regarding the tax expectations it will deliver large tax cuts ($20+ per person a week = […]
Social issues
uncategorized
Oram’s Ides of March
Rod Oram can nearly always be relied upon for insightful analysis that takes debate a step further. In the SSTimes today he asks: […]
Lightening the load
A universal student allowance of $350 isn’t going to happen. It’s too expensive and would bar major new spending in any other area. […]
Key moves to shut down hard questions
Part of the Crosby/Textor MO is to avoid any hard questioning or real investigative journalism from the media. Step one in this process […]
Follow through
Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar has found an amusing error made by the Herald online in its politics section which has listed several […]
Nats’ ACC policy all about ideology
National’s ACC privatisation policy is another of its one page wonders (this time with three page backgrounder skimming the history of ACC and […]
Not ready for prime time
John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those […]
On the fourth estate
Francesca Mold on National’s ACC announcment: ‘What’s interesting is the way they’ve put this out under the radar, perhaps showing how sensitive they […]
Spinbusting: NZF’s donations are Labour’s business
National is calling on Helen Clark to investigate alleged donations by Owen Glenn to New Zealand First (which, if they happened, were perfectly […]
Crosby/Textor line de jour
Every Wednesday, John Key does his round of interviews. Breakfast TV makes a nice soft start with interviews on Breakfast then Sunrise. Then […]
Tearaway on election ’08
A reader just alerted us to the fact that Tearaway’s latest issue features a piece on election ’08. Gotta love the question about […]
Contrary to Key, Govt does target waste
The idea that a government would purposely spend money in a wasteful manner is patently absurd. Voters want more government services and lower […]
Failure to front up
When was the last time John Key did an in-depth interview? Why would a potential Prime Minister be afraid to be exposed through […]
“It’s not okay” today either
The other day Dancer made some good points about the campaign “It’s Not Okay” and the role that organisations like the Families Commission play, […]
Lots of ideology, not argument
I was going to write a piece on the much anticipated paper from ANZ’s chief economist on government spending. But now I’ve tracked […]
David Slack at Drinking Liberally Auckland
(Via: greylynnsinglesclub)
Positive moves on housing
Housing has always been an important issue for Labour. The First Labour Government instituted a massive State house building project, freeing working class […]
Silence those media lambs
Media bleating about Labour’s ‘personal attacks’ is getting tiresome. Some journalists seem to forget from one election to the next that an important […]
Blueprint for a Crosby/Textor campaign
While trying desperately to paint Crosby/Textor as ‘just ordinary consultants’ and argue that C/T does nothing that polling and research companies do, National […]
Havoc interviews Hager
Hager confirms that his info comes from a leak from within the National Party, not as the Nats would have you believe, a […]
Havoc interviews Key on Crosby/Textor
Here’s some great audio of Key running Crosby/Textor lines to avoid answering Havoc’s questions. Around the half way point my personal favourite C/T […]
Nats’ NGO policy, give the money to Aussies
Charities are voicing fears that under a National Government public funding for NGOs would be administered by an Australian NGO called Mission Australia with dire […]
Beyond the political showboating
Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight […]
Who are National’s moles?
The information being leaked to Nicky Hager is obviously coming from well-placed sources inside National The idea of hacking is farcical (Lyndon Hood […]
Democracy under attack
Ruth Laugesen’s got a piece in the SST today entitled “How National’s spin doctors operate“. She points out that Crosby/Textor’s methods, contrary to […]
National’s New Plymouth candidate quits
National Party’s New Plymouth candidate Clem Coxhead has reportedly wanted to be in politics since he was nine years old. Earlier this year […]
Geek’s View – Papers Plus
One of the links to The Standard this week was from Reading the Maps on the topic of Playing the history card. The […]
Reviewing the ‘truck strike’
As a piece of political theatre it’s good and people who walk to work, including myself, enjoyed the unusual sight and gave them […]
Mr Key, where is your ‘positive, ambitious campaign’?
In four separate interviews this week, John Key used more or less exactly the same line to divert from questions on his use of Crosby/Textor: […]
Who’s driving the ‘truck strike’?
So, let’s get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry […]
Time to front up on ACC
Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]