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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…
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'No ifs, no buts, no maybes' - that's the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching a coup against John Key after the election. It's a phrase that is burned indelibly into many New Zealander's memories, not least…
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The Child Poverty Action Group thinks that National's welfare policy is likely to hurt vulnerable children.
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Dog whistle politics to some, beneficiary bashing to others. But is there logic to National's policy on benefits? Gordon Campbell asks: Will John Key's policy announcement on welfare this afternoon do much to resolve the problems it claims to address? Hardly... It is as if National felt…
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Many New Zealand politicians give away a large portion of their salaries to needy causes but they don't make a song and dance about it because a) lots of MPs do it b) boasting about charity donations is a rich man's game, and the reason…
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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.'…
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Wonder of wonders, the Nats' benefits policy has an 11 page document attached to it. Oh, wait, it's mostly just stats ripped from the MSD website and long-winded rewordings of the bullet-points, not actual detail of the Nats' policy. So, what have we got from…
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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…
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That nice man, Mr Key, the one who says the old Left/Right divide is over, that he's a new man with a new (ambitious) vision for New Zealand has rolled out an unprecedented and exciting policy today: beneficiary bashing. At present, we have a world-leading…
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We've heard a lot about the 'private' opinions of some senior National MP's this week. What we haven't heard much about is the policy direction National was putting out in public during the conference. Rod Oram has a very interesting commentary on that topic in…
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I've gotta admit feeling a little bit sorry for Key over the story of his offer to donate "a good part" of his PM's salary - should he win - to charity. One of those cases of damned if you do, damned if you don't.…
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Kudos to Crosby Textor for doing such a good job of changing the secret agenda debate to the issue of who taped the conversations (although whoever came up with the absurd idea of taking photos of John's rubbish should probably be put on leave until…
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The SST reports that English says that he will "never" challenge Key for the leadership. Yet I'm told that over the past couple of years, even to some in the press gallery, English hasn't made a secret of his future leadership ambitions around Parliament. Makes you…
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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…
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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?
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When there's a strike on, it's common practice for bosses to offer individual workers a bonus payment to scab on their comrades and return to work. Most workers spit on such offers, they know the best outcome in the long-term comes when they stand strong;…
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Pansy Wong's supposed outrage over ACC "shelling out $750,000 for staff to indulge in day spas, manicures, and botox" has nothing to do with the organisation's health and wellness programmes and everything to do with National's attempts to prepare the scheme for privatisation. First off,…
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Hitting the email circuit is a video on the leaks within the National party over the Hollow Men.
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What a week. National has been in meltdown over the secret recordings. Bill English's incredible initial reaction seemed like the launch of a coup - he repeatedly refused to voice confidence in Key and his basic understanding of working for families. But something obviously happened…
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I'm really starting to wonder why it's the worst academics who seem to get the most media, Maybe it's because the good ones don't make extreme statements. Today, we have Keith Rankin from Unitec arguing that, as we are in recession, we should be increasing…
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Maybe we should take submissions in the comments but my vote's with Michael Cullen's assertion from the House yesterday that the leaked tapes represent: an unorchestrated litany of truth. Classic.
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The clamour for 'policy' from National is actually a slight misnomer. What Kiwis want to know is the principles that National stands for as much as specific policies. We know what the Greens stand for, we know what the Maori Party stands for, we know…
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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…
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Professor John Gibson from Waikato University says public servants should be paid less because they get paid more than their private sector equivalents and they enjoy their work. First, I would be highly suspicious the methodology of any study that claims to compare like with…
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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…
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Unemployment rose again last quarter but remains under 4%. It has now been under 4% for 16 of the last 17 quarters. Interestingly, the number of employed people also increased last quarter but more people came into the workforce who were previously not looking for…
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This just in from Radio NZ: Police are investigating a break-in at the electorate office of a senior Labour MP, David Cunliffe, in Auckland. Nothing was taken in the burglary but Mr Cunliffe's computer was apparently tampered with. Mr Cunliffe's office has confirmed a complaint…
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A reader has alerted us to this article from the NZ Herald where Bill English explains why he should resign or be sacked over his recorded statements at the National Party conference. Have a read for yourself - the analogy with the events of the…
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Here's Close Up from last and Mike Hosking giving John Key an absolute bollocking. Key tries to run Crosby Textor's new lines: "dirty tricks campaign" and "entrapment". Hosking doesn't give him an inch. Definitely worth a watch - if you're in a hurry fast forward…
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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…