Yet more government waste
Following a series of National Party questions to the house the Herald has discovered the Labour government has spent nearly $27K on sausage […]
Social issues
uncategorized
Key: Vietnam War was “right thing to do”
Yesterday, the leaders of the parliamentary parties apologised to the veterans of the Vietnam War for the treatment they received both while fighting […]
“pretty similar”
I noticed an interesting comment from Ferdinand in our Kiwisaver thread yesterday: I signed up to Kiwisaver based on the 4% employer contribution […]
Kremlinology: National and Kiwisaver
National’s refusal to say what it stands for is becoming so ridiculous we have resorted to the Cold War art of Kremlinology. Today, […]
The status of KiwiSaver
Tracy Watkins reports: “National has been forced into an embarrassing u-turn on KiwiSaver after its industrial relations spokeswoman Kate Wilkinson appeared to put the […]
Back in the real world
Let’s have another look at our friend, the distribution of income graph. The red circle is what most people earn. The blue circle […]
Show us ya policy
Steve posted this morning that even Granny Herald’s patience appears to be wearing thin waiting for National and Key to announce some policy […]
Kremlinology: Nats’ tax plans
National is still refusing to give us any detail on its tax cut plan, indicating it doesn’t have one. But let’s do a […]
Even Granny’s patience can wear thin
With a loving smack that would have brought a smile to Bob McCoskrie’s face, the Herald‘s editorial today rebukes John Key in the […]
Asking the second question
Key’s best trick is to answer questions with impressive or technical sounding assertions that stop the line of questioning but don’t actually tell […]
Cumulative Effect
The Press (Budget Doesn’t Impress Family) looks at the effect of the tax cuts on an average family with a combined income of […]
Where’s the beef John?
Key kicks off this Close Up interview by trying to dampen down rising expectations of National’s tax package and make himself some wiggle […]
National’s cruel hoax
Well the budget is out and across the country the public are looking at their tax cuts and asking “is that it?” and […]
“As slippery as a snake in wet grass”
John Campbell interviews John Key on the budget, refusing to let him get away with merely repeating his focus-grouped lines. At about the […]
Tax cut calculator
As much as I despair to see our political discourse descend into a bidding war on taxes, it’s worth looking at Infometrics’ online […]
Commentators on the Budget
From John Armstrong in The Herald: Is it enough? Michael Cullen has given it his best shot. He has been about as generous […]
Budget 2008: Analysis
The tax cuts are smaller up front than Labour had been hoping to deliver but the economic position at present means there is […]
Budget 2008: Spending
The tax cuts are the cornerstone of this budget but there is also important new spending. New Spending in the Budget: $172.3 million […]
Budget 2008: Tax cuts
Labour has announced a three year tax cut package worth $10.6 billion. Here’s a table showing the changes: Current 15.00% 21.00% 33.00% 39.00% […]
Telling porkies
The Herald and National have started attacking every piece of government spending as pork-barrelling. Here’s some of what they’re calling ‘wasteful, needless spending’: […]
Spin Bingo: Budget Edition
Well it’s Budget day tomorrow and we’ve got our man Steve Pierson going to the lock-up so we can get you a good […]
National – more women-friendly?
Colin Espiner pointed it out the other week, National “needs more women. Never over-represented in National at the best of times, the party […]
Herald gets it right
Good to see the New Zealand Herald is starting a campaign to let us know the policy cost of National’s likely massive tax […]
Key lacks leadership on climate change
National has pulled its support for the emissions trading scheme which is intended to set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases and […]
Key’s green mask slips
Last year John Key announced National’s ‘Blue-Green’ Strategy. It contained the first shadow of acknowledgment from National that climate change is a serious […]
A change to what?
As we all know the latest Fairfax poll has shown a huge lead for the National Party. Now I’m of the opinion it’s […]
Batman Politics
Who would have thought? Murray McCully as The Penguin. Hat tip: onegoodmove
New Zealand, a great place to be a mum
We hear an awful lot from the Right about how much New Zealand sucks: ‘crime is up’ they cry (when it’s down), ‘taxes […]
Mythbusting: ‘Book value’ & ‘over the odds’
In an attempt to find a non-ideological ground to justify opposing the Government’s buyback of the rail system, John Key and others have […]
Mythbusting: Winning a fourth term is impossible
It has become a media mantra that winning a fourth term of government is nigh on impossible, but is that claim actually based […]
Clarkson not standing in Tauranga
Clarkson has jumped before he was pushed – he won’t be standing in Tauranga. Peter’s hasn’t confirmed yet whether he will stand or […]
How Boris won London by not being Boris
Tory candidate Boris Johnson has triumphed in the mayoral race for London in a campaign masterminded by the Australian political tactician Lynton Crosby. […]
Would Key scrap GST on food?
With hints that regional fuel tax could be put on the “go slow” list, along with parts of the emissions trading scheme, it […]
For whom the Toll bells
The Government has bought back the rail stock and ferries from Toll for $655 million. The privatisation of these vital assets, which are […]
CTU Secretary selected for Maungakiekie
CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont is set for a change of career later this year. She’s been selected as the Labour candidate for the […]
Talking down the economy
National is a party weak on policy. It has had to drop nearly every one of its principled but unpopular policies to get […]