Irony
Granny Herald’s Editorial yesterday “Private market can help ACC” – dancing on the head of a pin to justify privatising ACC to make […]
Lots of ideology, not argument
I was going to write a piece on the much anticipated paper from ANZ’s chief economist on government spending. But now I’ve tracked […]
Nasty
On Tuesday, Helen Clark was asked what she thought of the fact that both John Key and Bill English have been unavailable for […]
Mind the gap
It’s worth remembering that polling gaps really do narrow when election campaigns start. We all remember the 2002 campaign. Labour reached 53% support in […]
Spin doctors
Nats vs journos
Shane Ardern is now saying he was misquoted by the Te Awamutu Courier when he said ‘[Kiwisaver] needs adjusting from the employers’ contribution […]
Drop the Immigration Bill
The September 11 attacks were used as cover to pass draconian laws around the world, particularly concerning immigration. The Government is, once again, […]
It’s not ok
Is it a sign of a successful campaign regarding family violence – that “it’s not ok” – which sees broadcaster Tony Veitch taking […]
David Slack at Drinking Liberally Auckland
(Via: greylynnsinglesclub)
Positive moves on housing
Housing has always been an important issue for Labour. The First Labour Government instituted a massive State house building project, freeing working class […]
Chief Press Sec O’Sullivan leaves Key questions open
Today’s Herald sees Fran O’Sullivan making another valiant effort to dig her hero, John Key, out of the hole he’s in over his […]
The clean man
Has anyone else noticed John Key’s absence from the media in the last few days? I finally clicked to it while listening to […]
Silence those media lambs
Media bleating about Labour’s ‘personal attacks’ is getting tiresome. Some journalists seem to forget from one election to the next that an important […]
More anti-worker policy from the Nats
On Sunday, Bill English let slip that National still intends to take away the work rights of employees of small businesses for the […]
Turnoff
UPDATE: Thanks to commenter T-Rex for reversing the cartoon to show workers taking a disastrous right turn. Far too much time on your […]
Hit and miss
Let’s look at some of the issues National has hit and run on. They were all you heard from the Nats for a […]
Blueprint for a Crosby/Textor campaign
While trying desperately to paint Crosby/Textor as ‘just ordinary consultants’ and argue that C/T does nothing that polling and research companies do, National […]
Havoc interviews Hager
Hager confirms that his info comes from a leak from within the National Party, not as the Nats would have you believe, a […]
Nats spending your money to build “Brand Key”?
Looks like John Key might be a little less “self-made” and a little more “taxpayer-made” than he’d have us believe… click the image […]
Broadcasting policy broadly outlined
National’s Jonathan Coleman has announced a bullet-point excuse for a broadcasting policy. Essentially, it adopts the status quo but moves TVNZ charter funding […]
Sacked
In perhaps the most unsurprising announcement of the year, National has let slip it’s going to maintain its 90 day no rights policy, […]
The Girl Effect
Learn more at thegirleffect.org
Introducing 08wire
Well, as promised 08wire launched today – “The Smartest Political Fun in the Galaxy.’ After you’ve joined their Facebook group check out their first […]
Havoc interviews Key on Crosby/Textor
Here’s some great audio of Key running Crosby/Textor lines to avoid answering Havoc’s questions. Around the half way point my personal favourite C/T […]
Nats’ NGO policy, give the money to Aussies
Charities are voicing fears that under a National Government public funding for NGOs would be administered by an Australian NGO called Mission Australia with dire […]
The right incentives?
National tells us that, if we put the right incentives in place, people will work harder and their incomes will go up. National […]
Beyond the political showboating
Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight […]
Who are National’s moles?
The information being leaked to Nicky Hager is obviously coming from well-placed sources inside National The idea of hacking is farcical (Lyndon Hood […]
Democracy under attack
Ruth Laugesen’s got a piece in the SST today entitled “How National’s spin doctors operate“. She points out that Crosby/Textor’s methods, contrary to […]
National’s New Plymouth candidate quits
National Party’s New Plymouth candidate Clem Coxhead has reportedly wanted to be in politics since he was nine years old. Earlier this year […]
Video: The Century of the Self
Hager’s Crosby/Textor revelations and the ensuing debate reminded me of this four party BBC documentary by Adam Curtis: The Century of the Self. Embedded […]
The making of some (commercial) magic
As usual we’ve been running the hot political stories this week but I, for one, need a breather. And what better way to […]
The Standard Week: June 27-July 4
A big week in politics. The rail system is back in public ownership as KiwiRail, Nicky Hager exposed Brand Key as a Crosby […]
Geek’s View – Papers Plus
One of the links to The Standard this week was from Reading the Maps on the topic of Playing the history card. The […]
On Freedom
It is time for the Left to take back the language of freedom. At its heart freedom, power for the ordinary person, is what […]
Report shows incomes up, inequality down
The MSD’s Incomes Report provides a wealth of information. For instance, here’s how the mean and median household incomes have moved since 1982. […]