Misdirection
There’s a technique that sits at the heart of conjuring tricks called misdirection the act of drawing attention away from the trick itself. […]
Roy puts Police informants at risk
ACT is turning to increasingly desperate attempts to win media attention. Raising Roger Douglas from the dead didn’t work (he only got 6 […]
Nandor’s valedictory
Great final speech by the Green MP. Good interview in the Dom here. Full speech at the Green Party website.
Key’s principled stand
A good cartoon by Mike Moreu this morning about Key’s confusing stance on the smacking referendum. Though of course, as a_y_b pointed out […]
Standard Week: 20-27 June 2008
Three events this week epitomised the benefits of nine years of centre-left government: the continuing fall in benefit numbers, the Government’s moves to […]
Protecting ‘brand Key’
For the first second third time, National is trying to shut down the reporting of things they feel don’t cast them in the […]
Same thing?
In an attempt to cover for John Key’s ignorance of New Zealand history, National’s Gerry Brownlee has pulled out a quote from Michael […]
More migration mythbusting
From Brian Fallow in The Herald on migration and immigration: …Statistics New Zealand has been comparing last year with previous peak gross outflows, […]
Key denies Land Wars
Mr Key on NewstalkZB: “We’re not a country that’s come about as a result of civil war or where there’s been a lot […]
Ministry advised against concurrent referendum/election
In line with Ministry of Justice advice, the Government has decided not to hold the child discipline referendum at the same time as […]
No consistency needed
Colin Espiner’s just posted an entry headed “National’s position on smacking confusing”. It is – but only if you’re expecting philosophical consistency. Key’s […]
Calls for Police State ultimate admission of failure
Michael Laws has called for ‘draconian, central measures’ to fight gangs; he wants the army called out. He wants military force let loose […]
Leadership: What’s nice got to do with it?
An interesting article in the Washington Post poses the question: “You thought our presidential candidates were nice guys, regular guys, guys with whom […]
Johnny Key and the magic $500 million
Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll […]
Cake and eat it
I’ve noticed a new trend in the right’s spin lately (apart from their wholesale theft of campaign scripts) – the ‘have your cake […]
Lost highway
Petrol is over $2.10 a litre. The price will keep rising both with the ever upward march of the price of crude and […]
Enlightening debate
In Parliament yesterday: Anderton: “Has the Minister received any reports on how many National Party members it takes to change a light bulb?” Cullen: […]
Drinking Liberally – Auckland
You’re invited to the first Auckland Drinking Liberally event – 7.30pm next Wednesday night (2 July) at the London Bar with special guest […]
Helen, stop critiquing polls
Everyone in the know is aware that Colmar Brunton is the worst polling company in New Zealand and constantly over-rates National. We also […]
Free Zimbabwe
There is no longer any hope the union-led Movement for Democratic Change can remove Mugabe from power peacefully. Now, his thugs are killing […]
Bill to protect workers from labour-hire vultures
Labour, with the support of New Zealand First, has developed a bill based on Darien Fenton’s private members’ bill that will ensure tens […]
Neuro-Liberalism
George Lakoff has a new book out. You might remember him from such books as “Moral Politics” and “Don’t Think of an Elephant”. […]
How Obama reinvented campaign finance
Click for the full-res version. (an infographic by XPLANE)
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill […]
PSA broadens tax debate
It’s good to see the PSA broadening the public debate on tax cuts with a UMR poll showing the majority of Kiwis don’t […]
A big week for Treaty settlements
Tihei Mauri Ora Ki nga hou e wha Tena koutou Tena koutou Tena koutou Huri noa i te ao hurihuri, it te ao […]
Deja vu
I was having a look through some old campaign PR yesterday and found this gem: It seems John Key ripped off more than […]
Blog reader survey
Dear Blog Reader, My name is Andrew Cushen, and I am conducting a survey of New Zealand Political Blog Readers. This survey is part […]
You call that policy? This is policy
National has released a brochure, laying out all its policies. They take up two A4 pages of double-spaced bullet points. That’s incredibly lightweight. […]
Reflected by the internet
Clayton Cubitt (friend of one of the editors of BoingBoing) has recently visited NZ. He’s posted some fantastic visual material to his tumblr […]
The grass isn’t greener across the ditch
The cornerstone of National’s ‘New Zealand sucks’ campaign is that Australia is much better (and we have to lower taxes and slash work […]
A foolish promise
Simon Power promises a new prison in a National government’s first term. What a glib and foolish statement. Had he paused to reflect […]
National breaking promises already
As you know, National promised to cap core public servant numbers at 36,000. That was going to deliver each of us a whopping 50 […]
Contrast
National has been going on about the number of comms staff at the Ministry of Social Development. Rather than ask ‘what do these […]
Daily Show on Baracknophobia
Hat tip: onegoodmove.org
Hollow Men film to premiere next month
The Unionist reports Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men has been made into a film and will be screening as part of this […]