Growing the Left vote
At the moment the Left and Right political blocs are poised more or less evenly in the polls. So how do we grow the Left vote to win in 2014?
Open mike 05/02/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
King, wtf?
Garner has revealed that 63% of Maori Labour voters don’t know who the leader is. King responds by asking if they know who the PM is. Now, I’m no MP with 25 years’ experience but I reckon it’s pretty obvious that trying to deflect from a poll showing lack of profile of your leader in a key demographic by implying that Maori are just ignorant isn’t smart.
Shearer confirmed
According to, Patrick Gower David Shearer has been confirmed in the leadership vote this morning.
Mallard wtf?
Is an absurd public endorsement by someone as politically damaged as Trevor Mallard actually an endorsement or is Trevor trying to undermine his leader? That’s a question I’m asking myself after reading Audrey Young’s piece on the caucus vote today.
Open mike 04/02/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Sunday Reading
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: Economics, inequality, privacy-destroying drones and citizen responsibilities.
Living together
There’s a thought in some parts of Labour that they need to ‘put the Greens in their place’, then they will get back the votes that the Greens have taken from them, and that will lead to victory. It’s an Underpants Gnome strategy, missing the crucial link of how doing what they want to do emotionally results in the supposed objective. Better to build together.
Open mike 03/02/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Conflicted decisions
Another day, another example of some unseemly looking stuff from the Nats. This time it’s Judith Collins choosing Robert Kee – a friend of her husband – for a $200,000 a year taxpayer funded job.
Why charity cannot replace the state
One of the mantras of the current government is the importance of charity in society. The state is not necessarily the best deliverer of social services, they’ll tell you. Which is why it’s important to get the private sector involved
The unemployment curse
Oamaru lost 192 jobs on Thursday as Summit Wool Spinners closed its doors. The knock-down effect could claim hundreds more. Events like this can cripple a small town and consign the workers to long-term unemployment. Now, the Greens have revealed that long-term unemployment has quadrupled with John Key at the helm.
Poverty Watch 17
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, the Children’s Social Health Monitor 2012 Update Report, and will the Maori Party act on their words?
Open mike 02/02/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Did we just hear Steven Joyce sh*t all over his colleagues?!?!
Reprinted with permission from Frankly Speaking. Three ministers dropped in the Novopay mess by Steven Joyce. Three ministers parroting very similar lines…
Shearer Says
David Shearer’s weekly e-newsletter, this week – on the big year ahead.
We’re happy to post similar newsletters from other opposition leaders – our email is on our contact page.
Weekend social 01/02/2013
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Where were you Granny?
Granny Herald: “Some policies aimed at quenching what politicians perceive to be a public appetite for fairness are recycled regularly even when they have been shown to be deeply flawed.” Discuss…
Wave goodbye to another 200 jobs
While National continues to deny there’s a manufacturing crisis and the main opposition wastes its time plotting clever procedural tricks the high dollar claims another 200 Kiwi jobs – this time as Summit Woolspinners closes in Oamaru.
Open mike 01/02/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Foolish games
As I indicated would happen in my post this morning on the Labour reshuffle, Mallard made a run for speaker today.* He and the Labour leadership tried to keep the fact he was running secret right to the last moment. Why not run an honest, open campaign? Because a vote on speaker can only be made by MPs physically present in the chamber. No proxies. Let me explain.
Another flatlining Roy Morgan
The latest Roy Morgan poll has National on 46%, Labour 31.5%, the Greens on 13.5%, and NZ First on 5.5%. It just amazes […]
$300,000 homes in Key’s own electorate
While Labour flounders around talking about 4 bedroom houses for $485,000 (who wants a four bedroom house, anyway), Metiria Turei cut to the quick in a question to Key: “has he never visited his own electorate and taken a look at homes such as those on Hobsonville Road, Cyril Crescent, and Mona Vale that are stand-alone family homes costing around $300,000?”
Reserve Bank admits problem, sits on hands
Inflation is still below the Reserve Bank’s target band of 1-3%. It says: “ This mainly reflects the impact of the overvalued New Zealand dollar.” The high and overvalued dollar keeps import prices down , but kills exporters who must provide for our economy’s future. The Reserve Bank’s obsession with the very different problems of the 1980’s means that as a country we are eating our seed corn.
The fiscal hole
David Parker has drawn attention to a steadily growing $1 Billion hole in projected tax income. That gap, and the stalled economy which underlies the problem, are not going to be fixed by John Key acting like an angry chimp in parliament, flinging insults out of his cage.
A new broom?
Word is that Shearer’s team has taken a cue from the media response from Key’s reshuffle and is looking to bolster his new tough image by dropping some of the old hands in his own reshuffle. Almost without doubt the losers will be Street, Sio, and Mahuta. Hipkins and Jones look set for promotion. Goff, King, and Mallard will continue to hold top tier jobs.
Jobs & Manufacturing
National is failing to resolve the lack of jobs as they provide a 14-year high in unemployment – even after exporting 180,000 Kiwis to Australia. If we add them in the unemployment rate doubles to 13.8%. More than 40,000 of those job losses have been in manufacturing. Research says that manufacturing jobs have a multiplier of 2.9, that means about 80,000 other indirect job losses. Combined that’s 2/3rds of our unemployment rate, just by getting back to where we were when National took office.
Open mike 31/01/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Bain files against Collins
David Bain has filed a claim against Judith Collins. Here’s The Herald’s / APNZ quick announcement.
Opposition speeches & ‘Roads of Madness’
Debates on the PM’s statement to the House show that this do-nothing government needs to go. Plenty of good ideas from opposition MPs. An excellent speech by Genter against Joyce’s ‘Roads of Madness’ & for public transport.
ImperatorFish: A Day In The Life Of Steven Joyce
Even when flogging a dead horse, the man is not for turning…
Brian Edwards on Shearer
The macho posturing we’ve seen from David Shearer since conference never quite gelled with the Shearer I knew. I’d always thought of him […]
Jobs friendly government?
More work in prisons, fewer mail deliveries, fewer WoF checks. I won’t say these are bad policies – done right there’s some merits. But I will point out this: 2,000 job losses from fewer WoF checks, up to 3,000 jobs gone with three day a week delivery, and the very real risk of prison labour displacing free workers. So much for a relentless focus on jobs.
EPMU: Manufacturing Strategy Needed
Because the EPMU put it so well – here’s the summary of their submission to the Manufacturing Inquiry.
Get on board
Now I don’t know if there will be a leadership vote in the next couple of weeks or not, but if there is, and you’re a Labour supporter, then you really want to be a Labour Party member beforehand so you can have your say.
As on we go, drowning
Despair. That’s what I felt, watching Key’s speech yesterday. Others said he was boring. Some complained of his screeching. I just felt despair. This guy is running the country. Our country. And he has nothing. Nothing for us. Nothing for you. Nothing for me. Nothing for the people we care about. Some spoils of conquest for his mates. But nothing for New Zealand.