Not ready for prime time
John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those […]
zzero use
slippery
On the fourth estate
Francesca Mold on National’s ACC announcment: ‘What’s interesting is the way they’ve put this out under the radar, perhaps showing how sensitive they […]
Spinbusting: NZF’s donations are Labour’s business
National is calling on Helen Clark to investigate alleged donations by Owen Glenn to New Zealand First (which, if they happened, were perfectly […]
Crosby/Textor line de jour
Every Wednesday, John Key does his round of interviews. Breakfast TV makes a nice soft start with interviews on Breakfast then Sunrise. Then […]
Silence those media lambs
Media bleating about Labour’s ‘personal attacks’ is getting tiresome. Some journalists seem to forget from one election to the next that an important […]
Havoc interviews Key on Crosby/Textor
Here’s some great audio of Key running Crosby/Textor lines to avoid answering Havoc’s questions. Around the half way point my personal favourite C/T […]
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 […]
Beyond the political showboating
Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight […]
Who are National’s moles?
The information being leaked to Nicky Hager is obviously coming from well-placed sources inside National The idea of hacking is farcical (Lyndon Hood […]
Reviewing the ‘truck strike’
As a piece of political theatre it’s good and people who walk to work, including myself, enjoyed the unusual sight and gave them […]
Who’s driving the ‘truck strike’?
So, let’s get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry […]
Time to front up on ACC
Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million […]
Real John vs Brand Key
Let’s go back to the heart of this story: it is not about push-polling or whatever, this is about how Brand Key has […]
National releases 3 more lines of policy – Scoop
A classic headline that says it all. Here’s the three lines: ‘Give schools additional resources over time to ensure more students can take […]
Crosby/Textor Spin Bingo
John Key has his round of five interviews tomorrow morning (Breakfast, Sunrise, ZB, KiwiFM, bFM) and will undoubtedly face questions on his use […]
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 […]
John does a Don
Remember Noelle McCarthy’s 95bFM interview with Brash in which she got him to admit to knowledge of the Brethren pamphlets? Student radio has done it […]
Hollow politics at work
Brand Key on Waatea news: “A National government will be a lot more demanding about educational standards, a lot more demanding about under-performance […]
Nat response to C/T scandal right from C/T playbook
There’s a standard formula that Crosby/Textor has its clients use when damaging information comes out. a) refuse to engage. The most senior public […]
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 […]
Busted
Nicky Hager’s piece in today’s Sunday Star Times has confirmed what we all suspected: Crosby Textor are the creators of Brand Key. For […]
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 […]
Johnny Key and the magic $500 million
Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll […]
Cake and eat it
I’ve noticed a new trend in the right’s spin lately (apart from their wholesale theft of campaign scripts) – the ‘have your cake […]
Enlightening debate
In Parliament yesterday: Anderton: “Has the Minister received any reports on how many National Party members it takes to change a light bulb?” Cullen: […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill […]
You call that policy? This is policy
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That’s incredibly lightweight. […]
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 […]
More bluster, still no policies
Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (2)
Here’s the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden – approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about […]
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 […]
Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
You’ll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing ‘after-tax incomes’. Even when he’s asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, […]
Matt McCarten from the Herald on Sunday
Worth a read: Remember when George Bush’s administration promised the world that the invasion of Iraq would be over in a few weeks? […]
Key’s slippery promises on waste
National has staked it all on delivering bigger tax cuts than Labour. To remain credible, they need to deliver $20 a week on […]
Treating the voters like children
Keith Holyoake used to say “tell the people, trust the people”; be honest about the benefits, trade-offs, and costs of policies and trust the people […]