Written By: - Date published: 6:18 am, August 28th, 2008 - 18 comments
70 years ago (more or less) and The Standard was correctly predicting a Labour victory as the ‘Nationalists’ ramped up a hollow election campaign. In true Standard-style, there’s even some stats. Click on the image for the full article.
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, August 27th, 2008 - 63 comments
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 that Peters did personally approach him for a donation, contrary to what Peters has said. It’s important to remember that there’s nothing illegal or even unusual about what Glenn claims Peters did. […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, August 27th, 2008 - 21 comments
The Greens have won some very good improvements to the ETS in exchange for their support. The most important is $1 billion over 15 years to insulate low-income homes and subsidise upgrades to insulation of higher income homes. That’s a really positive development; all New Zealand homes will finally have decent insulation (Labour has done well […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, August 27th, 2008 - 13 comments
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 Williamson’s over statements from the same interview, specifically: RAWDON Okay let’s look beyond roading, where else do you see PPPs being the answer? MAUCRICE …I mean I would have thought we could […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, August 27th, 2008 - 59 comments
So, I was walking along in Kelburn yesterday, and I saw Stephen Franks’ faded yellow mini. He was driving along in the centre of the lane when, without warning, he made a sharp right turn. And I was all like ‘metaphor’.
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, August 26th, 2008 - 96 comments
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 talking about a secret agenda to ‘sort out’ Working for Families and sell Kiwibank while being recorded, on the same recordings, we’ve had Lockwood Smith talking about the need to adopt popular […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 pm, August 24th, 2008 - 30 comments
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows a welcome shift in thinking and an acknowledgment that the age of cheap oil is over. Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise contains a model built on the consensus of a number of international […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:50 pm, August 24th, 2008 - 31 comments
According to TV3 “Labour is on the move. The latest 3 News poll shows that less than three months out from the election, their support is heading upwards. And once you add the Greens and the Maori Party into the mix, a Labour-led coalition is not out of the running just yet.” Why will this […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, August 24th, 2008 - 20 comments
According to the Sunday Star Times the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Family First have decided to refuse to comply with the Electoral Finance Act. While the Sensible Sentencing Trust is outrightly claiming they are going to use their breach of the Act as a publicity stunt, Family First are absurdly claiming they can’t register as […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, August 22nd, 2008 - 22 comments
One thing you can always say for the Greens, they’re democratic to their core. Currently, they find themselves facing a tough choice – whether or not to support Labour’s Emissions Trading Scheme – and, true to their democratic principles, they’re asking for advice from the public on their decision. Jeanette Fitzsimmons outlines the following pros […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, August 22nd, 2008 - 16 comments
Reading National’s energy policy last week I was surprised to learn that of 1942MW of new generation that has come online since 2000 1073MW of that has been thermal*. Sure enough, John Key is going around using that as a ground for National’s policy of building more gas power plants and giving up on the […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:13 am, August 20th, 2008 - 38 comments
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 are being upfront (presumably, the other 13% offered no opinion). That’s got to be worrying for National. As I’ve said time and again, the three grounds that politicians are ultimately judged on […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:48 pm, August 19th, 2008 - 6 comments
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 the weekend, moderatorated by pastor and author Rick Warren. Commentators and opinion leaders are now disecting the event, offering their views. For example in the Washington Post Michael Gerson wrote: It is now […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, August 18th, 2008 - 37 comments
As I said last week, the polls that came out this weekend can not reflect any impact of the secret agenda tapes. The Roy Morgan poll was 50% over before the first tape even came out, and remember it was not until mid-week that the story was really big. Similarly, the Fairfax poll was mostly […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, August 15th, 2008 - 20 comments
When you look at the policy National has released, it’s clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy that would work. There is a most appalling lack of detail – most of the policy one-page wonders from National have left me with more questions than answers because of lack of […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:35 pm, August 14th, 2008 - 24 comments
A third Drinking Liberally chapter is underway. The first meeting of Drinking Liberally – Palmerston North will be next Friday at the Kingsgate bar. The guest speaker will be Hamish MacDouall, Labour candidate for Whanganui, David Bowie expert, brain box, and all-round nice guy. Now, Palmy isn’t known as a hotbed of political activism but […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, August 14th, 2008 - 17 comments
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 and abroad, is for their politicians to be matey with media as long as they run the lines, but, if they start to get critical, shut them out. So, a few months […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:46 pm, August 13th, 2008 - 12 comments
Insight into Mr Key costing his tax policy (lots of clever bits, best viewed in fullscreen) – hosted by 08wire
Written By: - Date published: 6:26 am, August 13th, 2008 - 18 comments
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 to spend the whole election campaign with families of four on TV saying ‘Mr Key’s taking money off us’. You can’t do that. So later on we’re gonna have to have a […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, August 12th, 2008 - 20 comments
National activist/advisor Matthew Hooton on Nine to Noon: ‘the National Party leadership group is very sensitive about security. They look at the last election campaign that was lost on basically matters of security: the leak of the ‘gone by lunchtime’ notes and the Brethren link.’ No. National lost because it had a secret agenda; not […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, August 11th, 2008 - 61 comments
1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the public. Therefore, the only way to expose a secret agenda with definite proof is by recording that evidence when the target does not know they are being recorded. The Police can’t just […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, August 9th, 2008 - 17 comments
Last week Colin James wrote that behind National’s one-page wonder policies there was actually a substantive body of work. The publicly-released work rights policy (“workplace policy”, as the Tories call it) was only half a dozen bullet points long but James assured us there was a 34 page document backing it. OK, he hadn’t been […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:50 am, August 9th, 2008 - 52 comments
If most people knew as much as politics, economics, and how this country is run as they do about sport, the result would be a better country to live in. A better-informed citizenry would lead to, would demand, better government. Your thoughts?
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, August 8th, 2008 - 8 comments
Hitting the email circuit is a video on the leaks within the National party over the Hollow Men.
Written By: - Date published: 6:22 am, August 8th, 2008 - 63 comments
So, who stands to gain from National borrowing $5 billion if it becomes the Government? Ultimately, the people who lend the money are ones who walk away with the profit and in a time of international uncertainty in the financial markets and collapsing finance companies at home, speculators are looking for a safe, profitable harbour […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, August 7th, 2008 - 48 comments
You’d be hard pressed to have missed the story on what some National MPs have been caught saying behind closed doors. We’ve seen discussions over the content, questions on the law. Now Gordon Campbell asks: …is it more unethical for a delegate to tape someone speaking candidly or a for a political party to dedicate its campaign efforts to […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, August 7th, 2008 - 25 comments
So, now we know that three National frontbenchers were recorded talking about a secret agenda at the cocktail do last Friday. Think about what this means: it is inconceivable that all three were somehow ‘tricked’ into talking about a secret agenda, inconceivable that all three used such “loose language” that they accidentally contradicted their party’s […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, August 6th, 2008 - 4 comments
Here’s the recent coverage from TV3 and political reporter Duncan Garner. On Bill English’s comments regarding the sale of Kiwibank (aired August 4, 2008): On Lockwood Smith’s hints at a secret agenda (aired August 5, 2008): [Apologies for errors in the previous videos, have re-uploaded fresh copies, AYB]
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, August 6th, 2008 - 2 comments
After a mysterious three week absence, Drinking Liberally Wellington is back tomorrow evening. Here’s the email: We’re only half way through a week overflowing with political news so there should be plenty to discuss over a beer tomorrow at the Southern Cross 😉 Come join us to hear Trevor Mallard speak and stick around for […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 6th, 2008 - 47 comments
National’s attempt to contain the meltdown from Bill English’s secret agenda comments at the National conference and on TV1 collapsed when it emerged Lockwood Smith was also talking about a secret agenda at the conference. Now, the fallout is raining down on them. So, National has moved to stage four of the Crosby/Textor technique for […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, August 6th, 2008 - 6 comments
If you didn’t already have enough doubts about whether to trust John Key, Bill English and Lockwood Smith by virtue of the recent revelations here’s another one to ponder. A promise to resign over future policy isn’t new territory for the Nats. Neither is failing to keep it (click image for larger version).
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