“The Panel” on John Key
Looks like people are starting to notice that the emperor has no clothes. powered by ODEO (Hat-tip: BB)
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The 50 cent tax cut
This morning on Breakfast, John Key repeated his line that capping the size of the core public service (that includes planning staff for health, […]
Creative pitch
With John Ansell now flat out with ACT and the Free Speech Coalition it suddenly stuck me that there might be an opening […]
Kiwisaver breaks half a million
Congratulations to Kiwisaver’s 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an […]
Policy Summary: Labour v National
The Sunday-Star Times has an interesting list of the policies the election will be fought on and where the two major parties stand on them. Here’s […]
It’s your fault I keep saying contradictory things
Regular readers will remember that one of John Key’s excuses for he ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ quote was that the […]
Obama faces challenging times
Some commentators have been drawing parallels between John Key and Barack Obama’s style of appeal. That was all very well when it appeared […]
John’s quick act sets up another flip
Two days ago we ran a piece called ‘If I were ACT’s campaign strategist‘ which suggested ‘ACT needs to lay claim to the […]
Obama vs Key
With Barack Obama doing so well in the Democrat primaries and being seen as the candidate of change, National wants to paint John […]
Nats talk up crime, policy absent
As part of its ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign, National is on its high horse over an international survey that shows New Zealand’s crime […]
If I were ACT’s campaign strategist
What strategy should the parties pursue ahead of the election? This series of posts will attempt to answer that question, party by party, starting with […]
Colmar Brunton
TVNZ had another Colmar Brunton poll last night. The gap between National and Labour remains substantial, but has closed by four points since […]
John Ansell’s reverse Midas touch
Oh dear. It started with Roger Douglas and now political ad-man John Ansell has got on board the ACT train to electoral oblivion […]
A modest proposal
Every year the Remuneration Authority, an independent body, reviews the pay of MPs. It sets the salaries without needing approval by Parliament or Cabinet, to keep […]
National’s bad fortnight
A bad week last week from John Key got worse this week as other National MPs joined Key in a game of drop […]
Adapting to the oil endgame
Today oil broke US$111 a barrel. Two weeks ago the record price was $101. Just six months ago the price broke $80 for […]
Journalists react to attack on media freedom
Yesterday in Parliament, Winston Peters tabled a letter of protest from the Herald journalists’ chapel to APN chief executive Martin Simons. The letter […]
Key to scrap research fund
From Radio NZ: National says it will scrap a major new research and development fund for the pastoral and food industries if it […]
National confirms Landcorp would be sold (?)
We have an interesting mixed message (once again) from National on asset sales. David Carter is quoted in the NZ Farmers Weekly as […]
Which jobs would Key cut?
It’s hard to get a straight answer out of John Key, so this is probably an exercise in futility, but Key’s announcement that National […]
Reactions to New Zealand Fast Forward
Groups that issued press releases welcoming the Government announcement of the $700 million research and development fund for argiculture (press releases on Scoop): […]
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y’all
Days after saying ‘we’ve always said, we aren’t that worried about, um, whether the Crown needs to borrow a bit of money [for […]
Yawn
Well National’s finally got their line straight on the research fund and, despite me old mate Dancer’s prediction, they are not supporting it. […]
Expect National to back research funding boost
At lunchtime today it is expected that the government will announce a major funding boost to promote innovation in food science, agricultural research […]
A blast to the past
Polling consistently around 1% ACT have decided that the only way forward is rejuvenation and fresh ideas.
Goat-on Copeland
Poor old Gordon Copeland. Yesterday he had one of his few questions in the House. And he had a big issue to talk […]
Slippery John: trainwreck on Morning Report
Bill English must just be sitting there in his office cringing as he listens to interviews like these. Sean Plunket spoke to Slippery […]
Key unspun
John Key is clearly missing Kevin Taylor, his chief spin doctor. When Taylor is around, Key is ‘Mr Teflon’ but, with Taylor on […]
Hitting a nerve
In this afternoon’s debate Gerry Brownlee tried to have the word “slippery” ruled unparliamentary in relation to John Key. Proof, if any were […]
Key abandons Treaty settlement deadline
Further to Dancer’s post below, this morning on Breakfast John Key claimed that National never had a deadline for settling Treaty claims and […]
What’s the future of Working for Families?
One consquence of the expectations around tax cuts is an examination of some of the policies already have in place – Working for […]
Bill’s Wikipedia edits
Again from a Parliamentary address, the following passage was deleted from Bill English’s Wikipedia entry in June last year: He married a Catholic […]
National Party U-turn on student loans
National have just backed down on their opposition to interest free student loans. Back in 2005 Key called this ‘a policy that tells […]
Not my family, bro
Radio Live reports that Richard Lewis and his Destiny Party have decided to form a new Christian party, this time without Gordon Copeland. […]
Fence-sitting on the Farming Show
More parseltongue from Key, this time on the Farming Show yesterday. It’s just getting tiring to listen to. Put Bill on, at least […]
A black heart at the Real Estate Institute
I thought I’d dive in with a little post on another subject.just to give John Key a small respite from single-handedly ending the […]