Key: “I just followed what was in my diary”
TV3 revealed last night that John Key has recently met with billionaire Tory donor Lord Michael Ashcroft. Lord Ashcroft clearly preferred that the […]
Wave goodbye to National’s crappy slogan
Over to you (click the image below for the high res version – 300K JPG): send us your versions and we’ll post them under […]
The polls are weird
Dave at Big News has a good post up on a vagaries of the polls. It expands on something that Idiot Savant noticed […]
Stark
John Key’s attempt to ride on Obama’s coattails has been rightly ridiculed in the New Zealand press, but the differences go much deeper […]
Break open the trusts
As we’ve discussed earlier, it would be highly surprising if the investigations into NZF’s finances find any serious illegality. At worst, a failure to […]
Buy Kiwi online
As part of the Buy NZ Made programme that was part of the Government’s abstention deal with the Greens, the Get NZ Made […]
Betting on likeability – Key’s strategy for 2008
Gordon Campbell spends some time examining Key’s likeability factor: “That’s why Key’s gamble over Winston Peters is so interesting because it could help […]
Weak
Perhaps I’ve overestimated the National Party’s PR machine. I mean I’ve seen them run their C/T strategy pretty well and, as much as […]
Key- you like Obama? OK.. I’m the white Obama!
“I’m a bit like (Barack) Obama,” – Key Of course, National has been trying to link Key to Obama because Obama is probably […]
New York Times praises NZ on nukes
‘Let’s hear it for New Zealand’ exclaims the New York Times editorial. Why? Because New Zealand is leading a group of countries that […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (4)
Because National has abandoned its wastewatch website, we keep track of the ‘waste’ National has promised to cut to pay for those magical, […]
Just sayin’
The TV channel in Lebanon that relays Fox News is called ADD. I…I just think it’s funny.
Whom to believe? (3)
John Key tells us that National hasn’t decided yet what it would spend its extra borrowing on, what projects would be PPPs, what […]
New Facebook groups
After I was part of the ‘Great NZ Sell-off’ skit protest outside the National Party conference at the start of the month, I […]
Throw-away
Sometimes, the throw-away comments a person makes are the most revealing – for example, Bill English’s attitude towards the “punters” and towards John […]
Labour’s 2008 list
Comment soon but for now here’s their full list (PDF link). Scoop’s got their presser up. [lprent: Handmirror: A Woman’s Place: The Labour […]
Aussie Invasion – a video with an agenda
We’re used to hearing opposition parties talk about people rushing to Australia. But let’s remember we’re attractive to Australia too – where could […]
Causes and effects
A series of graphs from the Social Report. First off, the unemployment rate When the unemployment goes up or down, the practical effect […]
Peters stands down
Peters has stood down. Clark has taken over his portfolios. It’s good that Peters appears to have accepted that this is a necessity […]
Guest Post: Herald like a blow-hard blogger on Tan
After a fair summary of the facts as they stand, the Herald enters the realm of the right-wing blogger, always ready to paint […]
Right to strike
Hundreds of Australian journalists walked off the job yesterday in protest at Fairfax’s 550 planned job cuts. Here in NZ journos employed by […]
Franks: “grumpy Christians and whining gays”
Here’s National’s Wellington Central candidate Stephen Franks giving his view on Civil Unions. I’m not even really sure what to say about it. […]
The Standard Week: August 22-29
It’s all been on this week. Maurice Williamson promising $50 tolls and more before being forced to retract, a poll showing more Kiwis […]
Connell departs and praises PM
Who would have expected to read this from Brian Connell upon his departure from Parliament? In a backhander against his own party, he […]
Nats, Farrar fail again in attempt to muzzle Kiwis
For the third time, National’s attempt to get a legal decision to block the EPMU and its sister unions from participating in the […]
But why?
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on Peters because its not the kind of issue that affects Kiwis lives (its […]
Clark cuts the thread
Winston Peters’ stories around the Owen Glenn donation to his legal fund are dangerously convoluted and have stretched everyone’s credulity but without real […]
Social Report shows Kiwis better off
MSD released its Social Report today, an annual publication that collates a wide variety of standard of living measures, and produces this awesome graph. […]
Herald poll shows Nats’ lead collapsing
Today’s Herald-Digi poll is the first to be released that was taken after the secret agenda tape scandal had fully emerged and had some […]
Workers demand decent work rights policies
6000 workers turned out in Manukau yesterday for the EPMU’s Wages Drive rally. With 25 events nation-wide over this month, which have attracted […]
Interviewing 101
Exam question 65 If you were a highly-paid media interviewer and John Key said to you that he was absolutely certain that Helen […]
The more things change…
70 years ago (more or less) and The Standard was correctly predicting a Labour victory as the ‘Nationalists’ ramped up a hollow election […]
Cullen on Nat apologies
Say what you will about his politics, you can’t beat Cullen for wit. Here he is on the similarities between Labour and National following Williamson’s enthusiastic […]
What will National do on student allowances?
Spotted in the Waikato Times: Cambridge High School students did their best to get a policy out of him, but National leader John […]
Whom to believe? (2)
Owen Glenn’s letter to the Privileges Committee contradicts Winston Peters’ previous statements to the media, the Privileges Committee, and, presumably, the PM. Glenn says […]
Drinking Liberally Auckland: Reminder.
A reminder – Drinking Liberally is on in Auckland tonight with Laila Harre as the speaker. These are always fun to listen to […]