BBQ time for National
If the current dip in National’s polling continues then a number of their electorate MPs face the loss of their seats and an increasing battle for a shrinking number of list seat positions.
When Bridges’ social media goes wrong
Simon Bridges’s Facebook post criticising the extension of lockdown level 4 has been met with overwhelming opposition, including from people who are clearly National Party supporters.
Open mike 21/04/2020
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Guest post – is it safe to lower the lockdown level?
Guest post by Karl Sinclair on what needs to be addressed before the country can be safely lifted out of lockdown.
New electorate boundaries
I missed it, but we got the new electorate boundaries on Friday. Now electorate boundaries simply don’t matter as much as they used to because of MMP. These days mostly the only people who notice them are electorate MPs, political parties that are too close to the 5% list party boundary, and of course sock-puppet parties like Act and their National party hand. Plus of course political blog sites.
Covid-19 decision day
Decision day for the Covid-19 lockdown and my personal view is that although the country has done well it is not quite in a position to ease the lockdown.
Open mike 20/04/2020
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Greens push for large intercity rail infrastructure to ensure sustainable post-COVID-19 rebuild
“The Greens are highlighting fast intercity rail improvements as the type of climate-friendly, job-creating project that should be prioritised for post-COVID-19 economic stimulus investment.”
Open mike 19/04/2020
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Don’t plan on a vaccine or persistent natural immunity.
Don’t plan on a vaccine or persistent natural immunity. Unless we’re incredibly lucky, neither are very likely for much of the coming decade. We don’t have the bat immunity systems. Learn to embrace the bets of the future rather than the clinging to the comfy blanket of the past that has now gone.
Time to Pivot?
It would appear NZ and much of the rest of the world has made a first rather coincidental step on the AGW front.
The plan for Monday
Even if New Zealand gets out of the immediate Covid-19 infection better than most other countries, the result is still a wrecked world […]
Open mike 18/04/2020
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The Green Party list
The Green’s initial party list has three new candidates in the top ten.
Open mike 17/04/2020
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A little relief.
Level 3 restrictions
Open mike 16/04/2020
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Matthew’s Magic Numbers
Matthew Hooton has tweeted a series of numbers. They add up to good news for the Government.
UPDATE: Curia Polling reckons it’s even better for Labour!
A response from the Rosa Luxemburg wing of the Labour Party
According to Stephen Mills on Nine to Noon yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation as Labour leader will only be mourned by “the microscopic Rosa Luxemburg-worshipping far left sect in New Zealand.” His outburst was deliberate, gratuitous and way over the top.
Lockdown 4 – do we stay or do we go?
Over the next few days there will be an intense public debate about whether the lockdown should be continued or loosened.
No Right Turn: Climate Change – the need for a green recovery
The Climate Change Commission – the expert panel tasked with getting New Zealand carbon neutral – has written to the government asking it to apply a “climate change lens” to the post-Covid-19 spend-up.
How Not to Engage in Public Debate
The best way to engage in public debate on the lockdown is to be open, clear, and transparent and show the facts. A press release full of beliefs and reckons is unhelpful and irresponsible.
What we were doing wasn’t working.
After the lockdown, it is tempting to try and go back to what we had before. To the familiar and comfortable, especially for us that were comfortable. Forgetting that for so many, things were anything but, comfortable. That won’t be happening. “Before” no longer exists.
Open mike 15/04/2020
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What Is This Moment Teaching Us?
What is Covid-19 telling us about our response as a nation?
Better footpaths and cycleways are a socialist inspired plot?
National MP Simon O’Connor thinks that making under used streets safer for walkers and cyclers is a Socialist inspired plan for world domination.
Are the Vultures Already Circling Above?
We cannot go back to business as usual after the lockdown but can we shape the way things will be for the greater good?
Open mike 14/04/2020
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Open mike 13/04/2020
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Please sort this out MoH
Frontline home care workers and their clients still don’t have adequate protection from covid.
Greenpeace’s Green Covid Response
Oil giant OMV finally leave New Zealand, and Greenpeace releases its Green Covid Response plan to the government.
Open mike 12/04/2020
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New Zealand’s poor in this new crisis
Covid 19 is not some great leveller. To succeed the state has to completely redirect the economy to so that ordinary workers and working families are supported.
Open mike 11/04/2020
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We are all socialists now II
The Taxpayer’s Union has applied for government support to pay wages during the lockdown.
Open mike 10/04/2020
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