Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 36
Post
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 the opinion of many other journalists here, do differ from what are considered standard focus group and polling methodologies. Auckland University political…
Post
National Party's New Plymouth candidate Clem Coxhead has reportedly wanted to be in politics since he was nine years old. Earlier this year he won a hard fought and sometimes bitter internal selection process. Puzzling then that he's now abandoning the candidacy citing "work commitments".…
Post
Hager's Crosby/Textor revelations and the ensuing debate reminded me of this four party BBC documentary by Adam Curtis: The Century of the Self. Embedded below is part four entitled "Eight people sipping wine in Kettering": To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the…
Post
As usual we've been running the hot political stories this week but I, for one, need a breather. And what better way to relax than to watch people create an amazing scene of fluffy white stuff floating around? It's not the snow and wintry weather…
Post
A big week in politics. The rail system is back in public ownership as KiwiRail, Nicky Hager exposed Brand Key as a Crosby Textor production, National was forced to reveal that it was secretly planning to privatise the ACC scheme, the Incomes Report showed poverty…
Post
One of the links to The Standard this week was from Reading the Maps on the topic of Playing the history card. The very long post is a interesting commentary of the differences between the various wars of the 19th century that made up New…
Post
It is time for the Left to take back the language of freedom. At its heart freedom, power for the ordinary person, is what the Left is about. - Freedom from unemployment, - Freedom from crappy wages that mean you have to work 60 hours a…
Post
The MSD's Incomes Report provides a wealth of information. For instance, here's how the mean and median household incomes have moved since 1982. Households suffered a massive erosion of income during the rightwing revolution from 1984 to the late 1990s. The leftwing governments since 1999…
Post
The buy back of rail has been put in a British context in this article from the Guardian. Here are some excerpts: "New Zealand has long had a record of being ahead of the political game. It was the first country in the world to…
Post
As a piece of political theatre it's good and people who walk to work, including myself, enjoyed the unusual sight and gave them a wave (some people stuck in traffic didn't find it so fun, though). But just remember, this was a set-up - truck companies did…
Post
13% of people are living in poverty in New Zealand (defined as less than 60% of the median income, less than $40K a year for a household, $16K for an individual) compared with 17% in 2004 and 23% in 1994. Child poverty dropped 7% between…
Post
The Government's new core benefit will see all beneficiaries given the same treatment and the same assistance to get into work if they are able. The changes will reduce monthly costs for both beneficiaries and MSD. The more efficient system will save $40 to $70…
Post
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: 'I'm the Leader of the party and I'll set the tone of the campaign. And it will be a positive, ambitious, outlooking…
Post
The truck companies are going to blockade our motorways tomorrow morning to protest being forced to pay a levy to cover the damage their trucks do to the roads. They expect us to pick up the tab instead. Well, hey, we all like a free-ride, don't…
Post
Some of the more excitable righties on the blogosphere and John Key have taken a throw-away comment in Audrey Young's blog to mean that Helen Clark said Labour will be doing push-polling. Here's what was actually said, according to Young's recording: Reporter: Will Labour use…
Post
So, let's get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry of Transport to cover the roading costs of those vehicles. The increase is 7-8%. Road user chargers account for 10% of trucking…
Post
Don't forget Drinking Liberally tonight. The weather's crap but the good people at Southern Cross have provided their function room, so you won't get wet. Nicky Hager will be drawing a big crowd and there should be plenty of lively discussion in the light of…
Post
Howcome when capital goes on strike over political issues it's seen as a legitimate part of democracy, but if workers tried the same thing it would be illegal under the Employment Relations Act? [UPDATE: Seems frog had similar thoughts over here.]
Post
Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million profit in it for themselves. National has now been forced to admit its policy is to allow private competitors for workplace and…
Post
A shame to hear that our mates at blogblog have called it quits for now but a delight to see that our friends from keepleftnz.org - active at the last election - are kicking off "the smartest political fun in the galaxy" on July 7:…
Post
A day into the renewed public ownership of our railway system and it has emerged that not only did John Key help sell it in the first time and make a profit off the asset-stripping that followed. Further, his party's policy of keeping the rail…
Post
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 been purpose-built by a company world-renowned for its secretive, anti-democratic practices. Crosby/Textor are not just some consultants like parties might use to…
Post
A classic 'cake and eat it' from Crosby/Textor National has been their approach to climate change - stating they support tackling this issue but opposing every policy that has been developed. The latest example is their position on the ETS, which No Right Turn explains…
Post
It's refreshing to see some proper investigative journalism in this morning's Dominion Post, with a revelation from Vernon Small that while National continues to try and downplay ACC and talk about "no privatisation in the first term," a report from John Key's old firm Merrill…
Post
TVNZ7 have some great content. Looks like some serious effort's going into their advertising as well. Here's one that caught my attention the other day. If your eyesight's anything like mine you might want to click for a larger version.
Post
Crosby/Textor, an outfit renowned for its anti-democratic, secretive practices, has built the public image of John Key (Brand Key) from the ground up. That's why Key is seen as 'nice' but people, including National supporters, say they don't know what he stands for and can't…
Post
A classic headline that says it all. Here's the three lines: 'Give schools additional resources over time to ensure more students can take part in extra-curricula organised sport. Ensure more of the government's sport spending gets through to the front line.' Stop it, John. It's…
Post
John Key has his round of five interviews tomorrow morning (Breakfast, Sunrise, ZB, KiwiFM, bFM) and will undoubtedly face questions on his use of Crosby/Textor. So, what line will C/T have him parrot repeatedly? He's already trying "I get most of my advice from the…
Post
Remember that Drinking Liberally Auckland is having its inaugural session tomorrow with David Slack. Note it in your schedules and tell your left-leaning and green friends where the action is. In fact phone a techno-phobe friend now! WHAT Drinking Liberally Auckland WHEN 7:30pm, Wed 2…
Post
I wish some journo would ask Key whether Crosby/Textor helped him with lines on how to handle questions about his using them - they must have a standard set they give their clients. Would Key really have thought of this one himself: John Key says…