False idol
We’ve said this before but, seeing as BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander is in the Herald this morning saying ‘the October 1 tax […]
Culture of secrecy
It’s 4.45 on a Friday afternoon and National has just released its Outdoor Recreation policy. It’s another one page wonder, only this time […]
The Standard Week: July 11-18
Finally, policy. National has two policies which, by all rights, ought to be election losers: the 90 day no rights policy and the […]
Nats unable to justify ACC policy
Unlike some of our counterparts, the Standardistas aren’t into vanity posts. So, in this clip from TVNZ7’s Back Benches on Wednesday, ignore who’s […]
Lightening the load
A universal student allowance of $350 isn’t going to happen. It’s too expensive and would bar major new spending in any other area. […]
PSA rips Bagrie report
Good piece in the Herald yesterday (and the Dom Post the day before) from PSA national sec Richard Wagstaff critiquing ANZ National chief […]
Key moves to shut down hard questions
Part of the Crosby/Textor MO is to avoid any hard questioning or real investigative journalism from the media. Step one in this process […]
Follow through
Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar has found an amusing error made by the Herald online in its politics section which has listed several […]
Nats’ ACC policy all about ideology
National’s ACC privatisation policy is another of its one page wonders (this time with three page backgrounder skimming the history of ACC and […]
Not ready for prime time
John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those […]
CTU rips Nats’ ACC policy
The Council of Trade Unions has put out a detailed, devastating critique of each of National’s arguments for privatising ACC. I’ve copied it […]
On the fourth estate
Francesca Mold on National’s ACC announcment: ‘What’s interesting is the way they’ve put this out under the radar, perhaps showing how sensitive they […]
ACC and the rhetoric of ‘choice’
National says its ACC policy will provide ‘choice’ on accident compensation, but choice for who? Employers will be able to choose between a […]
Oops
Spinbusting: NZF’s donations are Labour’s business
National is calling on Helen Clark to investigate alleged donations by Owen Glenn to New Zealand First (which, if they happened, were perfectly […]
Previewing the Nats’ work rights policy
The biggest protests during this term of Parliament were against National’s 90 Day Bill when it came up as a private members’ bill. […]
Nats’ ACC plan only good for insurance companies and lawyers
National has confirmed it intends to privatise the ACC scheme starting with opening the work account to private competition. This would see private […]
Key comes out against wage increases
This morning on Sunrise, John Key said “wage inflation” is a problem causing inflation and needs to be reduced. Wage inflation is a […]
National adopts Labour’s arts policy
So National has adopted Labour’s arts, culture and heritage policy essentially unchanged. Good. The flourishing of New Zealand’s arts and culture we’ve seen […]
Anti-abuse law in action
A front page story on Stuff at the moment is about a woman who systematically beat her child and has been successfully prosecuted […]
The same dream
Some people don’t seem to understand that being of the Left does not mean being soley allied to Labour or the Greens or […]
On infinity
[more ‘Tom The Dancing Bug’ comics here]
Crosby/Textor line de jour
Every Wednesday, John Key does his round of interviews. Breakfast TV makes a nice soft start with interviews on Breakfast then Sunrise. Then […]
90 Day No Rights policy, why?
Why does National want to remove the right of workers to appeal against unjustifiable dismissal in the first 90 days of employment? The […]
It’s not just the polls
Jordan Carter posted a month or so back (a little controversially) on how much easier life might be for some on the left […]
Tearaway on election ’08
A reader just alerted us to the fact that Tearaway’s latest issue features a piece on election ’08. Gotta love the question about […]
Inflation up but interest rates must come down
Inflation was 1.6% in the last quarter, 4% annually, the highest in 13 years. Petrol is driving inflation. By itself petrol accounted for […]
Some policy coverage, too much to ask?
Yesterday, Tracy Watkins wrote something I found a little confusing – “National is winning the war over wages and the price of cheese”. […]
Shouldn’t you be dead by now?
Australia’s ABC has a somewhat unusual online game to explain the impact of individuals on climate change to children. It’s called ‘Planet Slayer‘. […]
Murketing
Gordon Campbell has an interesting take on the political PR we’re seeing from National in his latest Scoop column. In it he quotes […]
NZIER poll
Buried away in the NZIER’s recent TNS survey on the Emissions Trading Scheme was this political poll showing a surprisingly high number of […]
Growing opposition to Immigration Bill
Nick Butcher has produced this excellent video opposing the Immigration Bill (which we blogged about last week and is covered in more detail […]
National’s plan for TVNZ
Ambitious for NZ political debate
It’s sad that Matthew Hooton passes for a political commentator in this country. If he was a blogger, he would be third, fourth tier. Surely, […]
So much for ambition
Yesterday on Agenda, SOE Minister Trevor Mallard said that the Government was undertaking an exploratory study to see whether the factory that currently […]
One true lesson about the Tony Veitch affair
It seems that everyone’s commenting right now on Tony Veitch. The various slants by the different commentators, on the same sordid matter seem […]