Reflections on the war in Georgia
What can we learn from the war in Georgia? Without going into the rights and wrongs of the combatants, what I’m interested in […]
The Sensible Centrist
Tracey Watkins is said by some of her colleagues to be spending an ‘unseemly’ about of time hanging out in John Key’s office, […]
Nats: some of us look like youse
National is desperate for you to know its party list is a diverse one. It’s a diverse list alright. I mean you’ve got […]
Reviewing the weekend polls
As I said last week, the polls that came out this weekend can not reflect any impact of the secret agenda tapes. The […]
Jumping the shark
Remember the photos of McDonald’s wrappers strewn on a grass verge that John Key expected us to believe was evidence people had been […]
PM loses a mate
The death at just 59 of alpine legend Gottlieb Braun-Elwert will be greatly mourned around the Tekapo community, and much further afield too. […]
An election strategy, not a governing strategy
When you look at the policy National has released, it’s clear that the focus is on winning the election, not on developing policy […]
Policy by focus group
Colin Espiner on the Nats’ energy policy: …National’s energy policy is conservative and lacking in new ideas… What it has delivered is a […]
The Standard Week August 8-15
Quite a quiet week after the excitement of the secret agenda tapes last week. The Tories are keeping up their hunt for the […]
The Standard turns one
Today’s our first birthday. A year ago I had the privilege of the first post. It was on John Key’s contradictory statements about […]
Drinking Liberally – Palmerston North
A third Drinking Liberally chapter is underway. The first meeting of Drinking Liberally – Palmerston North will be next Friday at the Kingsgate […]
Energy policy fails to energise
A positive and ambitious energy policy that reflects the personality of National leader John Key, was announced today. Old people wiped tears from […]
Renewable energy policy
A policy paper has been released on how the Government’s goal of 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025 can be achieved. Micro-hydro projects and […]
National and the media
A few mini-posts on National’s relationship with the media in light of the secret agenda tapes. _______________________________________________ A signature Crosby/Textor move, seen here […]
Before the polls
There’s a Roy Morgan poll out today or tomorrow, then polls from Fairfax, TV1, and TV3 on the weekend. Naturally, people will be […]
Excel magic
Insight into Mr Key costing his tax policy (lots of clever bits, best viewed in fullscreen) – hosted by 08wire
Into hiding
The secret agenda scandal has reminded many people that, behind John Key’s smile, National’s leaders are still the same bunch who were cutting […]
Pulling the ladder up behind him
A lot of you won’t remember it but there was a time in this country when being on a benefit wasn’t seen as […]
Activist Workshop
I’ve been awfully remiss in not posting on this earlier. Transition Towns, a group dedicated to developing the skills needed for communities to […]
Petition: sign the Enforced Disappearance Convention
In December 2006, the United Nations adopted a major new human rights treaty, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from […]
Should the sins of the father be visited upon the children?
When the DPB was first proposed it had a very simple purpose, to allow mothers to leave abusive relationships, to allow them to […]
Wait, what’s working?
ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is […]
Bill’s big wink
‘No ifs, no buts, no maybes’ – that’s the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching […]
Cartoon: Attacking the poor
The Child Poverty Action Group thinks that National’s welfare policy is likely to hurt vulnerable children.
Gordon Campbell on Nats’ welfare plan
Dog whistle politics to some, beneficiary bashing to others. But is there logic to National’s policy on benefits? Gordon Campbell asks: Will John Key’s policy […]
I do a lot of work for charity, but I don’t like to talk about it
Many New Zealand politicians give away a large portion of their salaries to needy causes but they don’t make a song and dance […]
Sensitive about security
National activist/advisor Matthew Hooton on Nine to Noon: ‘the National Party leadership group is very sensitive about security. They look at the last […]
Nats bashing on solo mums
Wonder of wonders, the Nats’ benefits policy has an 11 page document attached to it. Oh, wait, it’s mostly just stats ripped from […]
3 more points on the secret agenda tapes
1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the […]
Ambitious for beneficiary-bashing
That nice man, Mr Key, the one who says the old Left/Right divide is over, that he’s a new man with a new […]
Policies for the wrong time (again)
We’ve heard a lot about the ‘private’ opinions of some senior National MP’s this week. What we haven’t heard much about is the […]
Giving with one hand, taking with the other
I’ve gotta admit feeling a little bit sorry for Key over the story of his offer to donate “a good part” of his […]
A hard place
Kudos to Crosby Textor for doing such a good job of changing the secret agenda debate to the issue of who taped the […]
Semantics
The SST reports that English says that he will “never” challenge Key for the leadership. Yet I’m told that over the past couple […]
Once too often
Last week Colin James wrote that behind National’s one-page wonder policies there was actually a substantive body of work. The publicly-released work rights […]
Point of debate
If most people knew as much as politics, economics, and how this country is run as they do about sport, the result would be […]