Side-show
I see the media are now comparing the ‘redundancy’ packages on offer with all of the horse race vigour they applied to the […]
zzero use
election 2008
Granny Herald yearns for good old days but democracy alive and well
The Herald is once again trying to convince us that everyone is so scared of the EFA that there is no poltiical participation […]
Tories’ crack at socialism a poor substitute
National’s redundancy package would effectively continue Working for Families payments for some people who would otherwise lose them after redunancy. Only people who […]
Arseneau: Election too close to call
In her blog column Teresa Arseneau discusses the polls overall, and what happens if the largest party doesn’t form the government: Several of […]
Whose record is better?
I found it weird that National’s attack ad is a series of newspaper headlines. Everyone knows newspaper headlines are sensationalist and everyone knows […]
The Standard line: Nanny State
So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t […]
The Standard line: Tax cuts
[update: download this (tax-and-kiwisaver-calculator) simple excel table that will calculate tax cut and Kiwisaver losses under Labour and National, and the difference, for you and […]
The DL Debates – Rangitikei
The good fellas and fellaresses of Drinking Liberally Palmerston North have organised three debates for the Rangatikei electorate. These will be the only […]
The H-fee explained
A little more detail to flesh out Tane’s post. The core of the H-fee story is this: In 1987, head of Equiticorp Allan Hawkins […]
Vote Smart: Wellington
In Wellington Central and Ohariu-Belmont, left-wing voters have the opportunity to use their candidate votes wisely to help good left-wing candidates to victory, […]
Gone Flippin’
Slippery John’s flip-flops keep on coming. Here he is just three weeks ago in the Listener: “you either have a conflict of interest […]
A clear choice on ACC
If you vote National, United Future, or ACT, you will be voting for the ACC system to be privatised. Consequences of this include: […]
Update on Brownlee
There are substantive policy issues such as National’s privatisation plans for the prisons that need to be covered but, first, an update on […]
A pattern of (mis)behaviour
Over this year, we’ve seen John Key caught out lying on a number of occasions – the excuses for his “we would love […]
Standard scoop: Another senior Nat failed to disclose conflicts
Last month, Key lied when he was asked whether he had more Tranzrail shares, over which he had failed to declare his conflict […]
Horse racing
Here are the results of the last four polls, released over the past four days. I’ve presented them in number of seats won […]
Labour’s labour policy good for labourers
Labour has unveiled its work rights policy, and it’s a good one: – minimum wage increases at least at the rate of inflation […]
Key – Undisclosed conflict of interest
National’s response to my revelation on The Standard that John Key owned shares had undisclosed conflicts of interest with Fletcher Challenge Forests is […]
Election dreams
We received this by email and it’s so kafkaesque we just had to post it: I had a dream last night. I had, […]
Standard Scoop: Key exposed again on secret shares and Tranzrail
When the Tranzrail shares came to light, Key was asked whether he had any other undisclosed shares entailing a conflict of interest. He […]
On moral mandates
So, let me get this straight. The Right says that the minor parties have to support a National-led government if National gets more […]
Here be dragons
So, we can all make up dumb pictures and say ‘beware of many-headed monsters’. Let’s, instead, ask if National’s attack makes sense. First, […]
Fact checkin’ – five-headed monsters
The New Zealand Herald is, as usual, uncritically repeating John Key’s latest lines on the front page of its website. This time Key’s […]
The Standard line: Kiwisaver
So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t […]
The Standard line: Photoshop
So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t […]
Caught in the ACT
The Dom Post reports that ACT will have to file amended returns after failing to declare $20,000 of donated office space. Luckily for […]
Don’t dream, it’s over
I’ve always regarded the possibility of a National-Maori Party governing arrangement as absurd, even grotesque. The interests of the Maori people, who are […]
A missing NZ Herald poll?
Now I’m not one to gossip (well, not too much) but in the last few days I’ve heard from several people that the […]
Ramshackle PR fiasco
It seems DPF, Cameron Slater and John Ansell have pooled their collective genius and come up with a new campaign. Apparently they had […]
Debtmonster
UPDATE: The Pink Batts original is youtubed here.
Wait, what’s the RSE?
OK, we’ve reported on, given historical context to, and mocked Lockwood Smith’s racist comments about seasonal migrant workers. Now, to the substance of […]
Clark winning in the style stakes
And now for something fluffy. That’s right, the fashion stakes count in the election as well. According to one stylist National leader John […]
Scratch a Tory…
…and you still reveal a bigot, it seems. Here is National’s Immigration spokesperson, Lockwood Smith, (he who likes to swallow dead fish) on […]
Vote smart: Epsom
I’ve come in for a bit of flak for this ‘Vote Smart‘ series of posts on how people can make the most of […]
Highly principled statements
Yesterday, Bill ‘do whatever it takes to win’ English was out trying to assuage Kiwis fears of National’s secret agenda (which his recorded […]
John vs John
Labour’s new television ad is up on Youtube and I’m pleased to see it’s actually pretty bloody good. They’ve managed to draw attention […]