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National has staked it all on delivering bigger tax cuts than Labour. To remain credible, they need to deliver $20 a week on average more than Labour. That's $3 billion a year. The operating surplus is gone, so where will the money come from? John…
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Another week of shadow boxing, as National tried to keep its policy secret and hints leaked out. But it gave us the chance to debate some of the big issues. And the threads that developed showed that, contrary to what Key says, people can understand…
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As you know, crime is down in New Zealand, which is not surprising - crime is a symptom of social deprivation and we've had eight years of high employment and rising incomes easing that deprivation. But reported violent crime is up. Why? One reason is…
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Thought this might make a good followup to Steve/Trotter's comments in the post below. It's from the group TruthThroughAction.org - a group of independent filmmakers who create content in support of Democratic causes. It may also serve as a timely warning to any women planning…
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Trotter is on the money today: ...[A]ll of you young, confident women of the 21st century urgently need to pause and reflect upon what is happening especially all you young, confident women thinking of voting for the National Party. Why? Because behind National, hidden by…
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The Guardian has extracts from a new book by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future, in which they explain "how the reckless speculation of a super-rich elite has left us all the poorer".…
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Last month Mike Hucknall, lead singer of Simply Red, asserted that 'ginger jibes' were a form of racism. Opinion was divided. As you ponder that one, spare a thought for Tanzanian albinos. The New York Times reports that in the past year at least 19 albinos there…
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It's sad to learn of the sudden death of Monte Ohia, the Maori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga. Ohia was a prominent educationalist and would have been an enourmous asset as an MP. He had been tipped to pose a major challenge this election…
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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 to judge you in an adult manner. Central to Brand Key, however, is playing to voters' baser desires, especially greed, and fomenting juvenile beliefs, including that it…
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Remember when National was all about the wage gap, whinging about it every day? Heard them talk about it lately? The last mention we can find is three weeks ago. Has the issue suddenly gone away? No, there is still a wage gap and solutions…
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Reading a_y_b's piece on National's policy talks with the Real Estate Institute I've got to say it struck me as having shades not so much of the Brethren fiasco as the leaked Insurance Council memo from the last election. According to a letter given to…
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Reported today in the ODT: Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope will not be accepting an invitation to stand as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party's (ALCP) electorate candidate at the next election. "Their judgement has obviously been impaired by their recreational habits," he said when contacted.
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With tones of the Brethren debacle we're getting conflicting reports from the National Party as to whether or not they have haven't have met with the Real Estate Institute of NZ. Simon Power says unequivocally that National hasn't met with REINZ since the Real Estate…
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One thing that puzzles me about righties is that half the people on their side of the fence are racists, bigots, misogynists, homophobes or religious zealots and, yet, this doesn't seem to make the rest of them re-evaluate own their beliefs. If, for example, I…
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BBC and TVE screen an Earth Report special this week focussing on New Zealand's objective to become carbon neutral: New Zealand, host for World Environment Day 2008, plans to be the first to create a completely carbon neutral economy. Their target is 2020 and they…
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Ah, Iraq invasion satire. thank god that war is over, eh John? [GWOT - Global War On Terror, official acronym. You can't make this stuff up]
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The New Zealand Herald's latest anti-Labour beatup took an unfortunate twist this afternoon. Having spent the best part of a day making hay over Labour being caught, er, using stock photography in a flyer, the Herald was over the moon to discover the offending image…
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Remember National's broadband 'plan' that reads like it was drawn up on the back of a napkin? Notice how the only gains they can point to from this plan to borrow $1.5 billion are better video conferencing (when was the last time the average worker…
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Why is it that UnitedFuture is branded a centre party? We all know they're socially right wing, in bed with the Christian fundamentalists, and the tax plan Dunne announced on the weekend proves they're far-right economically too. They would blow the Budget with $4.6 billion cuts (no…
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Dreamticket or not?
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Wanting something that's great to be even better is no bad thing - but the Mercer 2008 Quality of Living survey our today shows we've quite a bit to be happy about. Auckland (#5 in the world) is the city in Asia Pacific with the…
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The amazing economic run we've experienced under the Labour-led governments is just down to international forces, so National would have us believe. Of course an economy is influenced by international conditions but it's not the whole story. Under centre-left governments New Zealand has outperformed other economies,…
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Today we're proud to present a guest post from Julie Fairey, often found posting at The Hand Mirror: I'm trying to see the High Court decision regarding our abortion laws as an opportunity. It could be a chance to change the law to reflect the…
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We're used to the importance of presentation in the world of politics, but no-one does it quite so blatently as the fashion world. We've seen it in the waif-like size of girl/women models, an acknowledged under-representation of ethnic diversity on the cat walk and now male…
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No sensible analysis could conclude that the Labour-led governments of the last 8 years have been anything but excellent for New Zealand. As you know, we've seen unemployment plummet to record lows, wages rise at record rates, more spending on public services, interest-free student loans,…
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Every now and then a ‘commentator' pops up who is so hilariously incompetent you don't know whether to ignore them or mock them. In Bernard Hickey's case, it's been the former because the man's work is so bad - his numbers don't add up half…
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A National line that is doing the rounds goes that if National wins more votes than Labour but can't govern alone it would be undemocratic for a Labour-led coalition to form the next government. After all, in this scenario, National has won more votes than…
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From the editorial in the ODT today we learn that Bill English is keen to dampen down concern within the party at the lack of policy, telling delegates at their southern conference: "We pick the timing [for policy release] - not Labour, not the media, not the…
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'Hardworking kiwis' is National's new 'mainstream New Zealanders'. Referenced by Key ad nauseam, it is the population at which National purports to target it's policies. As with 'mainstream New Zealanders', 'hardworking kiwis' has a inherently divisive implicit message: 'not everyone is a hardworking kiwi'. The…
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We regularly hear calls (not backed by any major party, including National) for the taxes on petrol to be lowered or removed because the prices are so high. After all, every time the price goes up, the government gets more revenue, doesn't it? No, it…