Spinbusting: the biggest party must govern
A National line that is doing the rounds goes that if National wins more votes than Labour but can’t govern alone it would […]
National’s policy vacuum
From the editorial in the ODT today we learn that Bill English is keen to dampen down concern within the party at the […]
Spin-busting: ‘Hardworking kiwis’
‘Hardworking kiwis’ is National’s new ‘mainstream New Zealanders’. Referenced by Key ad nauseam, it is the population at which National purports to target […]
Mythbusting: The govt gets rich off high petrol prices
We regularly hear calls (not backed by any major party, including National) for the taxes on petrol to be lowered or removed because […]
Anyone for more pork pies?
On TV3 last night John Key was continuing to tell outright porkies about how advanced National is with its “policy” development compared with […]
Brand Key
We got this in from the ‘sod and we like it so here’s the guest post we swore we’d never give him (taking […]
What’s Behind Key’s Cheesy Grin?
Ever since Labour’s budget was released, John Key has been talking cheese. I’ve been wondering why all his talk of blocks of cheese has been […]
Bubbles and empty spaces
John Key’s policy vacuum is such a joke that even the ad-men are using it for comic material. Have a listen. powered by […]
Video: Dr Cullen at Drinking Liberally
We just received a video of Michael Cullen’s speech to Drinking Liberally on Wednesday from one of the attendees. It’s well worth a […]
Key greets high school students, Vulcans
Before you bag him, give it a go yourself, it’s harder than it looks. It’s a little known fact that Spock took years […]
Quote of the week
On John Key’s visit to Waitara High School yesterday: Ms Gellen said Mr Key’s visit had been excellent and the students had got a […]
Peters refuses to answer your questions
In the final of our ‘Interview the Leaders’ series, we asked Winston Peters three questions submitted by readers. Damian Edwards from his office […]
Who is the Listener listening to?
Here’s an interesting piece from Otago University student magazine, Critic – “Who is the Listener listening to”: Substance does not always equate to sales. […]
Introducing the Standard Week
We know that if you miss a couple of days of The Standard you can have 15 posts to read. Even though we try […]
National policy vacuum becoming a joke
A reader just alerted us to this. When John Key went missing in action on Sunrise what did the “Allstars” suggest he was […]
How Obama did it
Time has a special report on how Obama “become the first Democratic insurgent in a generation… to knock off the party’s establishment front-runner”. Obama’s […]
Down Under Feminists’ Carnival
Hoyden About Town have just written to let us know that they’re hosting the first edition of the Down Under Feminists Carnival. They’re calling it […]
17-year-old disses Key on Bebo
The Taranaki Daily News reports: National Party leader John Key was at Waitara High School, where he pushed his party’s plan to spend […]
Into the void: examining National’s ‘policies’
National’s so-called policies are laughable. National says it has released ’14 policies’ (14! wow! anyone would think they were planning to run a scout […]
Many liberals, many drinks at Drinking Liberally
Drinking Liberally last night was another raging success. The crowd was about 80, lots of new faces and good fun had by all. […]
OCR unchanged
The Reserve Bank has left the Official Cash Rate unchanged; no-one expected a rate cut this early. It’s encouraging that Bollard has firmly […]
A World Environment Day Carol
Garth George surprised me today, and a welcome surprise it was. Here’s an extract from his article – I decided that in this […]
Drinking Liberally tonight
Just a reminder that Drinking Liberally is on again this evening. See youse there. WHAT Drinking Liberally WHEN From 5.30pm, Wednesday June 4th. […]
Obama clinches nomination
Thank God that’s over.
Food Police State fails to eventuate
Remember the tories and the Kiwiblog Right getting all flustered about the ‘Food Police’, when guidelines were announced to control junk food in […]
Ward sees sense
Good on Mike Ward for finally seeing sense and stepping aside, allowing Greens co-leader Russel Norman to enter Parliament replacing Nandor Tanczos. Norman […]
Scott McClellan on the Daily Show
Last night on the Daily Show Jon Stewart interviewed Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who has come out and accused […]
How much did Key pay for his seat?
It’s funny the stories you hear when you’re out in the provinces. I was up in Auckland over the long weekend and came […]
Labour re-opens Botany
Brenden Sheehan, the high profile spokesperson for the Muliaga family has withdrawn as Labour’s candidate in Botany. A press release put out by […]
Foreign media owners slash journo numbers, again
The New Zealand Press Association, owned by APN and Fairfax, has announced it is slashing its journalists from 55 to 48. In election […]
Advice for future aides
Those interested in the political situation in the States will be wanting to read the new book written by Scott McClellan (former White House press […]
Treasury dreams of cheap oil
This is the graph of the oil price forecasts Treasury used to underpin its fiscal model for the Budget. It assumes that oil […]
Polling companies confirm reputations
Another pair of TV polls, another embarrassment for Colmar Brunton as their poll goes widely out of line with the others even as […]
Regrets? I’ve had a few
Is Don Brash trying to help or hinder John Key? A revealing couple of articles (a news story and a feature) in the […]
Bo Diddley RIP
Rock’n’roll pioneer Bo Diddley has died of heart failure, aged 79. Here’s a little something to remember him by (ignore the crazy Dutch […]
What’s National’s real assets policy?
Isn’t this the one issue where we truly know what National will do? Didn’t John Key say ‘there will be no asset sales […]