Greens challenge Fonterra
Good to see the Greens coming out with a relevant, populist message at the weekend’s conference by tackling the issue of food affordability. […]
PC scourge claims another victim
A recent newsletter from anti-PC campaigner Murray McCully led with this comment supporting the right of the Burmese people to decide for themselves […]
Cullen to speak at Drinking Liberally
Drinking Liberally’s Facebook group has just sent out the invitation to their second event. I don’t know how they’ve swung it, but they’ve […]
Butting out
The Government has announced that the percentage of kiwi adults who smoke has fallen to 19.9%. The number of daily smokers is down from […]
Ryall: disgraceful
National’s Tony Ryall has made a disgrace of himself, yet again. This time, by labelling a Government initiative to hasten improvements in the […]
Policy releases
On the perils of polls
We’re used to hearing that a poll has a margin of error but what does it mean? A margin of error of 3% […]
Free doco screening, 6pm tonight, Wellington
If you’re in Wellington, head along to the City Gallery tonight at 6pm to check out the free screening of a documentary on […]
Herald Digipoll
Another Herald Digipoll is out today, with a sample taken both before and directly after the Budget. The poll pretty much confirms what […]
Yet more government waste
Following a series of National Party questions to the house the Herald has discovered the Labour government has spent nearly $27K on sausage […]
Notional Policy: Kiwisaver
Tracy Watkins reported yesterday that National’s weakening of the employer contribution to Kiwisaver may take a different path to the one we envisaged. […]
Gosche to retire
Mark Gosche has announced he will retire from politics at the election. Gosche has represented the people of Maungakiekie for 12 years and, […]
Farrar’s company, Curia, polls for Family First
I’d thought at the time that it seemed a little odd for David Farrar to pass up a free hit regarding the Family […]
Why didn’t Kate know Nats’ Kiwisaver policy?
The most surprising thing to come of the National’s Kiwisaver fiasco is not that they want to undermine the scheme and get employers […]
Key: Vietnam War was “right thing to do”
Yesterday, the leaders of the parliamentary parties apologised to the veterans of the Vietnam War for the treatment they received both while fighting […]
“pretty similar”
I noticed an interesting comment from Ferdinand in our Kiwisaver thread yesterday: I signed up to Kiwisaver based on the 4% employer contribution […]
Some facts on benefit numbers
Hear that sound? It’s Judith Collins banging the sickness beneficiaries drum again. Fresh from a sensationalist report on the front page of the […]
Greens must not let ETS fail
The Dompost reports that the Greens will not vote for the Emissions Trading Scheme if the introduction of transport fuels into the scheme […]
Nats to journos: say what we want or shut up
Here’s Barry Soper on ZB on the ‘Kate-gate‘ Kiwisaver debacle: What I found interesting was the way it was handled. I was the only person […]
Kremlinology: National and Kiwisaver
National’s refusal to say what it stands for is becoming so ridiculous we have resorted to the Cold War art of Kremlinology. Today, […]
The Nats on KiwiSaver
Here’s the footage of the Nats’ accidental commitment to employer contributions under KiwiSaver. The first video is of TV3’s 6pm coverage, the second […]
Clydesdale report rubbished
Greg Clydesdale’s report that labelled Pacific Islanders a ‘drain on the economy’ has been rubbished as a lazy, intellectually dishonest piece of work […]
Reality check
Housing NZ’s decision to hold a conference for 94 staff at the luxury Tongariro Resort raises serious issues about extravagance in the public […]
Political Blogs Survey
A survey on political blogs has been on a number of blogs. If you haven’t filled it out, then why not? I can’t […]
Interview the Leaders IX – Questions for Peters
We’ve chosen the questions for Winston Peters in the final installment of our ‘Interview the Leaders’ series. The first question remains the same, […]
The status of KiwiSaver
Tracy Watkins reports: “National has been forced into an embarrassing u-turn on KiwiSaver after its industrial relations spokeswoman Kate Wilkinson appeared to put the […]
Getting blood from a stone
A reader has just written in as a followup to IrishBill’s post earlier today on National’s plans to line the pockets of oil […]
ToryAid: The Standard resurrects Wastewatch
Remember wastewatch.co.nz? It’s National’s site listing all the ‘government waste’. From six years of Labour government it managed to find a grand total […]
Grueling
Nats announce launch release consider rural doctors bonding scheme. Here’s the link, but honestly, don’t bother.
Ambitious for big oil
We’ve all heard John Key bang on about his ambitions for New Zealand’s infrastructure and now one of my sources within the National […]
Vote National, get ACT
A source present at the University of Victoria debating society event last night tells us that Heather Roy referred to herself frequently (but we’re told […]
Pumps are baulking at the price of gas too
As the price of our petrol continues to climb, having recently crossed the $2 a litre barrier, spare a thought for some US […]
Back in the real world
Let’s have another look at our friend, the distribution of income graph. The red circle is what most people earn. The blue circle […]
Predictions on Parliament
We’ve seen many of the commentators suggest that National is coming up short on policy proposals after the Budget last week. What I’ll […]
Down the club
National party activist and spokesperson David Farrar has surpassed himself this time with a post attacking Helen Clark for not having children that […]
Kiwi Scott Dixon wins Indy 500
Astronomical world dairy prices are to see the traditional champagne replaced with milk on motor race winners’ podiums around the globe next year. […]