The last of the Goff-Key leaders' debates tonight 7pm on TV1. Let's hope that they have improved their broken format - let them actually debate - TV3 showed you how. And let's hope Goff can repeat his winning form! And Key doesn't know his…
Any minute now, we should find out whether we are allowed to know the secret plans that John Key and John Banks were foolish enough to discuss in a public cafe in front of the country's media, or whether that information will be denied us…
Download debate-bingo and see if you can be the first to mark off John Key's hollow catchphrases in the final Leader's debate tonight. The winner will be all of us if we choose a better government on Saturday. Let's see if Phil Goff can make…
Phil Goff has signed a pledge that Labour will not sell Kiwibank if it becomes government. Other party leaders have been invited to sign as well. I expect the Greens, New Zealand First, Mana, and the Conservatives will (who knows about the Maori Party). But…
NRT - Catch-22 A couple of months ago, the Greens highlighted the persistent gender pay gap, and pushed for a law change to help close it by giving employees greater access to pay information. The government claimed that this wasn't necessary, as employees suspecting gender…
John Key is really showing the strain of campaigning, he's not bearing up under the stress of it at all well. Lucky for him it's such a short one because if this was a full-length campaign, or lasted just another week, I think he'd be…
You can't trust anything the Nats say. John Key has a long history of lying. Other Nats add their own lies to the mix. Three lies in particular have been both recent, and significant for the election. The first was Key making up (on the…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
A call for international solidarity with protests in Egypt MENA Solidarity Network (Solidarity with workers in the Middle East) The Arab Spring hangs in balance, as protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in other cities in Egypt battle the riot police of the ruling Egyptian…
The hearing on the legality of the teapot tapes has been underway since 10am. The Herald has coverage of early news, and The Listener is filtering useful content out of Twitter (or see the feed direct on #votenz). We'll update this post as events develop. Update:…
There are unwise acts, and disturbed individuals, on both sides of the political spectrum. One particularly dishonest form of attack politics is to take low level examples (from the politics that you oppose), and blow them up in to some kind of fantasy narrative about…
The Nats' education policy came out yesterday and, predictably, it's ideologically driven nonsense that will damage children. The main drive is to extend the significance of national standards. The Nats' version of the standards, you'll recall, have been slammed by their own education advisor: National standards ‘disaster’…
Checking out data matches that show beneficiaries may have moved overseas and stopping their benefit if they have. That's back-office work, eh? Exactly the kind of 'unsexy' jobs National has been cutting. Well, MSD stopped data matching because its resource were stretched too thin -…
The 2nd TV debate was a 2nd win for Goff. He was human and humane, visionary and realistic. Key made excuses for his poor record, tried to hide in detail, and cast a sullen eye to the future. The worm told the story. So did…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Commenting on the John Key teapot tapes, Michael Laws on Radio Live advocated shooting journalists in the Herald on Sunday. He said: Talking about journalists on his show on Friday, Mr Laws said: "If I had a gun I'd shoot them, put them out of…
Key's poodle blogs are barking about Labour's state house attack ad. Key told us again tonight on TV3 he too was "brought up in a state house." What it taught him though is that "it was a great marketing ploy." What a fraud.
Forum for discussing the TV3 Goff-Key leaders' debate (7pm – 8:30pm). See earlier post on the TV audience three ring "worm" circus, and how to participate if you're so inclined. Update: http://keyholes.co.nz/ is fact checking Key's claims live. Update: A clear win to Goff - Bravo!…
This will be one of the dirtiest political and anti-democratic tactics ever designed in NZ history. It has the potential of delivering a second John Key term, gifting Epsom to ACT and of discrediting MMP in one foul swoop: a true Tory Trifecta. On current…
In what seems a very wise move, police are holding off their searches of four media organisations until the legal situation has been clarified. Police delay enforcing search warrants over teapot tape Police are holding off enforcing search warrants on four media organisations until after…
There's an insidious little meme from the right going around: 'our poverty rates aren't so bad, look at India'. When did we start comparing ourselves to the 3rd world? We should set the best countries as our benchmarks. The shame when, in a new doco,…
Tonight is the TV3 Goff-Key leaders’ debate 7pm – 8:30pm. Remember "the worm"? It's back. Sigh. Yes folks, once again we're going to be subjected to this controversial feedback mechanism driven by an "uncommitted" panel. But, in a move aimed much more at "wow" factor than…
National is getting increasingly hysterical as its internal polling shows its majority slipping away and New Zealand First above 5%. The 'positive campaign' that never really was is out the window. It's all out attacks on NZF now. National is lashing out at the democratic…
Phil Goff said yesterday at Labour's big rally that we had "Six days to save our assets" - now we have 5. There's a great letter to the editor in this week's Listener (not online) by Tim Hazeldine, Auckland University's Professor of Economics that succinctly puts National's…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
In a desperate attempt to distract voters' attention from his dire campaign problems, John Key has announced today that if Winston is re-elected (in which case me might well hold the balance of power), New Zealand will be forced to go back to the polls within…
I have no sympathy for politicians complaining about their 'private' political conversations being made public. What politicians say on politics is inherently of public interest. Don't say different things in private than in public, and you won't get caught out. It's a matter of integrity.…