Our bank beats the rest
Today, ANZ and National Bank announced they are lifting their variable mortgage rates another quarter of a percent to 10.95%. That comes a […]
Talking down the economy
National is a party weak on policy. It has had to drop nearly every one of its principled but unpopular policies to get […]
will.i.am vs john.he.is
So you’ve seen Obama’s Yes We Can music video; here’s the McCain response:
Simon’s semantics
Never one to miss an opportunity to stir up fear over crime, Simon Power now wants us to believe that we’re less safe […]
Government to fully fund virus vaccine
Vernon Small reports that the PM is due to announce an immunisation programme for teenage girls targeting human papilloma virus. The programme is […]
Get your questions in for Dunne
Do you have a burning question to ask Peter Dunne? Does it not involve his hair? If so, submit your question here by […]
Corporate responsibility
Anyone remember the Pinto? Arguably not Ford’s finest hour. When in 1968 it became apparent that the Pinto’s defective fuel tank could result […]
Mission Accomplished
Today is the fifth anniversary of Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech in which he stated that “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. […]
Mythbusting: Crime is down, not up
It’s hard to know why people keep interviewing Garth McVicar from Sensible Sentencing. The organisation has no credibility, no research every statement on […]
Electoral donations reported
The Electoral Commission has published the parties’ donation returns for 2007. It is worth noting from the outset that under the electoral law […]
Who do you want answering the phone?
Just received this parody of Hillary Clinton’s 3am ad, but with a New Zealand twist. Very funny.
Know your Nat: Judith Collins
If National were the Government, Judith Collins would be Social Services Minister. That should be enough to send shudders down the spine of […]
The Golfball and Sickle
Personally, I think it’s hilarious. A brilliant piece of activism that got the public’s attention and raised the issue of why we have American […]
Right answer, wrong question
It’s not often National gets something right but their latest flip-flop, on bio-fuels, is a good policy (well, partially and for the wrong […]
Herald Digipoll
Today’s Herald Digipoll has National up 2 points and Labour down 2, a result the Herald describes as the “Nats pulling away”. As […]
Tweaking the updates
Yesterday’s site issues were due to a combination of inadequate Expires (causing a lot more files being transmitted) and the web-crawlers grabbing the […]
Aloha means hello and goodbye
Strangely, given the fact the National Party is doing so well in the polls and looks to be the favorite heading into the […]
National on personal attacks
Greenwoman just flicked us this:
Child beating petition falls short
Family First’s petition for a referendum on reversing the amendment to s59 of the Crimes Act that removed the defence of reasonable force […]
Put it on the kids’ tab
Some may have noted an odd series of questions in Parliament and press releases from Bill English around government borrowing over the last […]
On child poverty
The Child Poverty Action Group has released a report [PDF, 400k] showing there were 185,000 children living in poverty in New Zealand in […]
7 reasons why cutting GST on food will not help
Scrapping GST is a classic, populist issue that sounds delicious in times of high food prices but at closer inspection – it doesn’t […]
Repeating the mistakes of others
Remember National’s policy of charging a $50 levy on everyone convicted of or, maybe, charged with (Key keeps on mixing up the terms) […]
Interview the leaders VI: United Future
Thanks to ACT leader Rodney Hide for participating in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series this morning. Our next leader is the Maori Party’s […]
Clem Simich stepping down
Clem Simich has just announced he will be stepping down at the election. As regular readers may have noticed I’m not generally a […]
Buy it back
I see that the Wellington lines network has been sold. Given the network has been in in the hands of foreign investors before […]
Dunne: feathering his own nest
Peter Dunne is once again touting his plans to introduce income splitting. It’s a policy aimed at helping out the wealthy. New Zealand […]
Pepsi vs Coke
Last week, Campbell Live ran an article about the framing of Key as slippery. It could have been an excellent piece on the […]
Right question, wrong answer
Interesting to see people gradually waking up to what Fidel Castro, last year, called “The sinister idea of converting food into combustibles”. Even […]
Rodney Hide answers your questions
We’re very pleased to have ACT leader Rodney Hide respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of […]
Upgrades
I upgraded the site tonight. There have been a lot of security fixes since we pushed a test site together in August 2007. […]
Mistakes, I’ve made a few
David Farrar’s three more prominent weaknesses came together in a speculator PR disaster yesterday. The weaknesses are his ego, his trick of using […]
Fairfax reporting staggeringly awful
This morning’s Dom Post buys into National’s “Aussie exodus” spin with a lead story claiming “A staggering one in 10 voters are considering […]
Helen Clark answers your questions
We’re very pleased to have Prime Minister Helen Clark respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of […]
If I were National’s campaign strategist
National will not win by running on its rightwing principles and policy. For 20 years, New Zealanders have consistently said they do not […]
Roy Morgan
No real surprises in the latest Roy Morgan poll, but Gary Morgan’s hilariously bad political analysis continues. You’ll remember in the last Morgan […]