Nats’ policy top 10, what’s missing?
Here’s the top 10 policy priorities that John Key bullet-pointed at the conference on Sunday. See if you can spot what’s missing: 1. […]
zzero use
election 2008
Clown princes
The ‘Key-English secret recording followed by denial followed by excuse followed by apology’ debacle is, well, an utter debacle. If these clowns ever […]
Key’s shell-game wears thin
On National Radio’s Morning Report and Nine to Noon yesterday, Key ran the ‘not telling’ line once again and it was once too […]
Key’s vision: tax cuts for rich, more debt for youse
In a speech described by attendees as ‘more bullet points’, John Key announced to the National Party conference today that National would borrow $5 […]
A quick Brethren reference
At last an upfront acknowledgement of the Exclusive Brethren’s support for National during the 2005 election campaign. According to Colin Espiner: Day One of […]
TV3 promoting a National/NZF government?
It seems TV3 has decided to promote a marriage between John Key and Winston Peters this week. They appear to be paying […]
Effervescent stylist slams politicians
New Zealand stylist Stephanie Rumble – best known for her fallout with Addington race officials after claiming that a giant bottle of Lindaur […]
Lucky Aussies, they kept their work rights
Some of our friends on the Right have been putting themselves through strange mental contortions over the recent series of posts we’ve had […]
Why Labour thinks it can win again
Here’s a well-reasoned article by Therese Arseneau in which she canvasses the reasons behind Labour thinking it can still win. She puts it down to: […]
Will the real National policy please stand up?
A reader noticed a difference between National’s workplace policy as quoted by us and as quoted elsewhere. We and some others have: “Continue […]
Nats painted into a corner
John Key has announced Working for Families would be kept unchanged by a National-led government. That’s the same Working for Families that National […]
Will you vote for higher levies?
If National wins the election, it will privatise the Work Account of ACC (and maybe other ‘profitable’ accounts). We know that this may […]
Taxing choices
There are four options open to National regarding the tax expectations it will deliver large tax cuts ($20+ per person a week = […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
The cost of Crosby/Textor
So Crosby/Textor has been designing Brand Key from Day 1, isn’t this just what every party does? No, it isn’t – Crosby/Textor uses […]
Bait and switch
It strikes me there is a disconnect between what prospective National voters expect it to do in government and what it has actually promised it […]
Ministry advised against concurrent referendum/election
In line with Ministry of Justice advice, the Government has decided not to hold the child discipline referendum at the same time as […]
National breaking promises already
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 […]
Act now to protect workers’ wages
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set […]
EFA lets voters know who bankrolls parties
National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That’s all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar […]
Key promises productivity magic
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation […]