OK. They were laughably bad before but now they don't even have the grammar correct. If you can count it, you use fewer: less water, fewer litres of water; less bureaucracy, fewer bureaucrats. Simple. This from the bunch promising to magically raise education standards? Wait though - since…
Today, we have National's Judith Collins attacking the Government because the number of Kiwis on the unemployment benefit rose from 17,710 to 20,465 between June and July. Never mind the fact that 17,710 was a 30 year record-low and even 20,000 is 120,000 fewer Kiwis…
The National Party are once again trying to make political capital over the Trans-Tasman wage gap, even though they created it in the first place and have no policy to fix it. Like I've pointed out a dozen times before: 1. Yes, we have a…
As the polls start to turn on National - and a new poll out yesterday saying the Left working with the Maori Party would have the numbers why aren't we surprised that Granny Herald's ‘your views' section today asks voters if they think the polls…
The leaks from within the National camp just keep on coming. Last night Trevor Mallard had the privilege of releasing National's environment policy on 3 News thanks to a leak from the inside, destroying National's planned policy launch on Saturday and exposing serious divisions within…
An article on Stuff today shows "Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale". It's based on research by Dr. Jamie Pearce and indicates that those who live in poor areas are more likely to die early than those in wealthy areas. Dr Pearce…
John Key's impatience to get the election over and done with makes a lot more sense in light of today's Roy Morgan poll. The poll has Labour up 4 to 38%, the Greens up to 8% and National down 3.5 to 44.5% - well out…
This business with donations from the Spencer Trust going to New Zealand First but not being declared. I find it hard to credit that this was an accident. It seems beyond belief that no-one in the party would have seen the donation declaration at some…
A reader just sent us this poll from NZ Doctor magazine (offline): If there was a snap election tomorrow, 38 per cent of GPs would vote National and 36 per cent for Labour, the latest New Zealand Doctor / IMS Health Fax poll shows. Labour's…
We are, at a legal maximum, 72 days away from the election. The tradition is that the date is announced at least six weeks before election date (that's the timeframe the Electoral Office needs). So, we would expect to have the election date announced by the…
Perhaps Mr Key is feeling a little regretful about comparing himself to Barack Obama. Certainly the chutzpah inherent in such a comparison has been noted - including these comments in the ODT today from Simon Cunliffe: "it's quite natural that a political leader such as…
For any of you who thought the sharp end of capitalism was a nice place to be, the front page story in today's Dom Post should change your mind. It's about the lending practices of the loan sharks that have flourished in the twenty years…
Talking about the Nat billboard campaign on Wammo's show this morning, Key said it was going to positive and on message*. Umm, when's the positive bit coming? Because 'wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones' is not a positive message. It's negatively framed…
Just when you thought National's billboard campaign couldn't possibly get any weaker, reports emerge that their next one will say: "Get youth into training, not into trouble" Honestly guys, just cut your losses and start again. [UPDATE: Apparently the first of this run is going…
So, the day after our post last week a couple of readers were in town and they came across Stephen Franks beside his faded old yellow VW Beetle. Seems the tired old vehicle was on its last legs and had run out of juice. So,…
John Drinnan in the NZ Herald: "One of the biggest challengers in the telecommunications business, TelstraClear, has attacked National Party plans for a fibre-optic network, saying the party should be focused on business. "The telco says the main result of faster broadband links to the…
A couple more National Party billboards I whipped up in my lunch break. You know, when the original is so godawful it takes all the fun out of the parody. Step it up could you, National? Even Ansell's better than this... (Click on the images…
OK, so there are limitless ways to mock the Nat's 'WW2 bombers flying to Chile' billboard (send us yours to add to these ones) but I want to quickly examine it seriously as a piece of political argument. First, the premises: a) our taxes are…
An astute reader just sent us this - they spotted Ashcroft's jet parked at Lyall Bay on Saturday August 30 and managed to snap a quick pic. The photo below is from TV3's coverage. Looks like the same plane.
The Drinking Liberally - Wellington email: By popular demand this Wednesday Drinking Liberally Wellington presents: Russel Norman - Co-leader of the Green Party. Russel is a relatively recent addition to parliament and many of you expressed an interest in hearing more about him and his…
TV3 revealed last night that John Key has recently met with billionaire Tory donor Lord Michael Ashcroft. Lord Ashcroft clearly preferred that the meeting be kept secret and only a glimpse of him was caught as he departed Auckland airport in his private jet. Garner:…
Over to you (click the image below for the high res version - 300K JPG): send us your versions and we'll post them under the fold. _______________________________________________________________ (Rodneygrub) (Rodneygrub) (David Slack) More billboards from Island Life
Dave at Big News has a good post up on a vagaries of the polls. It expands on something that Idiot Savant noticed at No Right Turn in his post Priceless. I/S observed:- I don't normally poll blog, but this I can't resist: according to…
John Key's attempt to ride on Obama's coattails has been rightly ridiculed in the New Zealand press, but the differences go much deeper than their respective speaking abilities or Key's charisma deficit. As this quote from Obama in a recent piece in The Nation shows,…
As we've discussed earlier, it would be highly surprising if the investigations into NZF's finances find any serious illegality. At worst, a failure to declare donations might be found, an offence for which charges cannot be laid more than 6 months after an alleged offence. Now, TV3…