Caption contest
Pagani dead wrong
Former senior Labour party strategist John Pagani has written an extraordinary blog post where he says Labour ought to cuddle up to National because its policies are so popular and then, somehow, convince people to vote Labour for some reason. If this has been Labour’s strategy for the past few years, it explains a lot.
Reaching out to expat Kiwis
The Kea “Census” of expat Kiwis is under way. Unfortunately it coincides with government plans for a Crackdown on student loan repayments. Instead of chasing our expats for an entirely hypothetical return, we should be reaching out to them, embracing them, making them welcome back home.
Open mike 19/04/2011
Hot topics:
• earthquakes and oil drills
• what is “success”?
• and more!
Candidate Conference
This weekend just gone there was a conference in Wellington for Labour candidates to get us all up to speed with the campaign. We’re ready to go out there and make it happen.
Caption contest
Inflation credit and blame
Back in October last year the Nats, in a sea of bad news on the economy, latched on to the low inflation rate as something that they could claim “credit” for. No doubt they will now be just as ready to accept blame for the worst inflation rate in 20 years. Almost half of this figure is driven by the Nats’ GST increase…
The class politics of Lotto
Bright Red asks why people buy Lotto when, for the vast majority, gambling means losing money in the long-run. Because gambling gives a taste, a tiny chance of a life-changing win. It’s no coincidence that Lotto and casinos were legalised during the neoliberal revolution, which took away the route to decent wealth through work for most.
Winnie’s big chance
The TV3 poll has the NACT vs Lab/Green/NZF gap at 22% vs 9% in the latest Roy Morgan. I’ll tend to pay attention to the company that polls every fortnight to the one that polls once in a blue moon. Nevertheless, the story of both polls is the same: Labour struggling to make headway + Nats potentially with a majority = opportunity for Winston Peters
Open mike 18/04/2011
Hot topics:
• Hooton wants to gloat
• polls
• every Kiwi counts
and more!
Spending cuts I’d like to see – No 1
This Herald story about spin doctor Brad Tattersfield was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Ministerial offices of the Prime Minister, Judith Collins, Paula Bennett, and the Chief Executive of the Department of Labour to “minimise scandal” is one example of the sort of back-room spending of public money I’d like to see cut.
Phone hack saga now Pandora’s box
The News of the World phone hacking saga involving the Murdoch media has opened up with news that there could have been over […]
Upgrading (yet again)
There will be a number of (hopefully) small disruptions over the next few days to upgrade the site servers. The sunday upgrades are underway. Hopefully there will not be too much of a disruption.
Some Epsom arithmetic
Unsurprisingly it’s taking the nats a wee while to decide who to stand in Epsom.
I’d imagine that’s because they’re struggling with the maths.
Hartevelt hearts Brownlee
Young John Hartevelt has obviously decided it’s a good idea to cozy up to our new dictator. How else to explain the fawning piece in today’s Sunday Star-Times? Hartevelt heaps plaudits on Gerry Brownlee for deigning to have a one day select committee and swipes at Labour’s Lianne Dalziel for daring to demand better for her constituents.
A broad church
Ratana elders are unhappy with Labour over its list rankings, and have called on supporters to abandon the Party. Phil Goff needs to work on the relationship with the Church immediately. For Labour the only silver lining in this cloud, and the focus on its list in general, is the fact that it illustrates what a large and diverse group of people the Party has to represent.
Dim-Post: Electoral Commission to offer suicide voting booths
The Electoral Commission will give New Zealanders voting in the November General Election the option to take their own lives rather than live in a country run by any of the possible governing coalitions, the chair of the Commission Sir Hugh Williams announced today.
Open mike 17/04/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Beware of politicians brandishing statistics
John Key wants to talk about how average after tax wages have gone up since he became Prime Minister. But as Brian Fallow […]
How to tell you have a Tory govt
Brian Fallow is one of the Heralds more understated columnists. Brian and I probably vote differently, but I find his articles usually worth […]
I’m sorry, I’m out
Every country that has ever sleepwalked from democracy to dictatorship has done it in the belief that it was taking extraordinary, temporary measures in response to an emergency. Seeing Labour denounce every aspect of CERA and then vote for it has shaken me to the core.
Whambulance needed for P North Nats
National’s Palmerston North candidate, Leonie Hapeta, is having a cry because the Labour MP, Iain Lees-Galloway, and supporters had an anti-asset sales demonstration that happened to be outside her hotel. It’s one thing for a n00b like Hapeta to cry about politics but surprising that Farwhaa and Wail-oil joined her.
Welcome to the Stroppery
The brilliant haranguer and occasional guest poster here Queen of Thorns and a few of her mates have launched a new blog, The Stroppery.
It looks like it’ll be a bloody good read.
Armstrong on Nats’ elitist agenda
National has pillaged the poor to benefit the rich. That can be seen in the tax cuts, the GST hike, the subsidies for climate polluters, even the cuts to public transport to fund holiday highways. But sometimes it’s the smaller stories that best expose the underlying theme of a government, as John Armstrong shows in his piece today.
Garth George’s China syndrome
I don’t read Garth George columns. Life’s too short eh? But I could hardly miss this one, with its bizarre anti-China quote plastered on the front page of The Herald.
Open mike 16/04/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Economists line up on “Robin Hood” tax
1000 economists have written to the G20, about to meet in Washington, and to Bill Gates, asking for a tax on financial transactions known as a Tobin tax after its originator, or a Robin Hood tax as it is known in the US. 4 New Zealanders are among the 1000; Prue Hyman, Stefan Kesting, Peter Conway, and Petrus Simons. Good on them.
Caption contest
Weekend social 15/04/2011
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
SCF broke rules, kept deposit guarantee
Yesterday, under the cover of CERA, the government released hundreds of documents relating to South Canterbury Finance, it’s use and abuse of the deposit guarantee scheme, and the bailout. They show SCF broke the terms of its guarantee but National turned a blind eye. Someone needs to resign.
Elitist Nats divorced from everyday Kiwis
National pollster David Farrar reckons that its sweet for the elite to spend $100 a head on meals at the taxpayer’s expense. Same time as he’s sneering at a woman struggling to get by feeding four people on $200 a week. This is National’s New Zealand. The best for the elite. Cat food for the rest.
Good-bye rule of law
I was going to write about how ludicrous it is that National is abandoning the idea of a warranty or bond system for builders in the new Building Act designed to stop a repeat of the leaky homes debacle, given that we’re about to embark on the largest rebuilding programme in the country’s history. But then I realised it no longer matters what laws say.
Worth a crack Nigel?
Even the supporters of Deep Sea Oil Drilling admit it is risky. Like the two rats in the old advertisement discussing the odds of going for a cheezel set in a trap, Petrobras and the Herald editor discuss the advantages of Deep Sea Oil, in the columns of the Herald.
Boiling the frog
There are many significant changes to our legal and democratic rights that are going on under this National government. Each on its own might look like a small thing, but collectively they add up to a major erosion of our freedom.
Open mike 15/04/2011
Hot topics:
• protest in Palmy
• public broadcasting
• and more!
