Book review: Absolute Power
As regular readers will know, we’ve long refused to let Robinsod write for us due to his penchant for filth and gutter politics. […]
Emigration in perspective
Last year, 99.33% of New Zealand citizens liked their country so much they stayed. Some left for short periods, and some left forever but they […]
Blogger sweatshop
(Via BoingBoing.net)
Interview the leaders V: Maori Party
Even amateur, part-time bloggers sometimes make mistakes, and last week we didn’t send Clark her questions until Wednesday, rather than Monday, due to […]
National makes work rights the defining issue
National’s strategy, the strategy of a weak party, is to present a ‘small target’ by promising to change virtually nothing if they were […]
Reading the tealeaves
One News reports on their Colmar Brunton poll showing a 19 point lead to National and Key ahead in the preferred PM stakes: […]
Conflicting polls
The two political polls on TV last night say far more about the limitations of political polling than they do about the likely […]
Note to John: get a new lawyer
John Key: ‘ my lawyer actually does those things clearly [he] had the wrong information.’ That’s how Slippery John explained why legal documents […]
Ralston sez: leave poor Johnny alone
In the Herald today, Bill Ralston sticks up for poor John Key who has been the subject of personal political attacks recently. Like […]
ACT: shamelessly campaigning with your money
Earlier in the week we heard that Heather Roy may have broken the Electoral Finance Act by including party advertising messages in her […]
Hutchison chases the Green Fairy
Earlier this week, John Key had a whinge about ‘personal’ political attacks on him. Particularly, he thought it was a waste of taxpayers’ […]
Business to Key: ‘You’re ruining everything’
Business is starting to get worried. This was meant to, finally, be the year that they got the Left out of government and […]
Herald’s anti-EFA campaign in tatters
As predicted by The Standard earlier this week, the Press Council has upheld the Coalition for Open Government’s complaint against the NZ Herald’s […]
Last chance to grill Rodney
Remember, our party leader in the ‘interview the leaders’ series this week is ACT’s Rodney Hide. Questions are picked on Sunday, so take […]
A ring of truth in the Hollow Men
Congratulations to Dr Brash for fronting up and going to see the play The Hollow Men at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland (that’s […]
The shape of things to come
With the loss of 500 ANZ National jobs to Bangalore India and 430 jobs from Fisher and Paykel to Mexico announced today, a […]
Spot the difference
Hmm, spot the difference in the headlines of two press releases out today: ‘Fisher & Paykel Appliances Announces Global Manufacturing Strategy’ ‘Next Steps […]
Flip-flopping at warp speed
On Monday, I wrote ‘Stay tuned for National’s next assets policy, due out sometime next week.’ It seems I miscalculated. Here’s what Key […]
Cost of benefit system plummeting
Continuing our benefits theme, here’s a look at how much the benefit system costs you. The figures are the combined expenditure by the […]
If I were the Maori Party’s campaign strategist
The Maori Party is in an enviable position going into this year’s election. It is likely Kingmaker, and the more seats it gets […]
Fewer on sole parenting benefit
You may have seen the announcement that there are fewer than 20,000 now getting the unemployment benefit, down from 160,000 odd when Labour […]
Running scared
Why did National block Parliament from debating the Auckland Airport sale? Only last Friday, Key was ‘fuming‘ over the Government’s decision to prevent the […]
Inflation targeting puts Kiwis under the gun
As you know, petrol and food prices are up. These are international prices spiralling up due to growing demand and limited or falling […]
Peters doesn’t trust National
Yesterday, Winston Peters said that in any deal with National he would require all National MPs to personally sign the agreement and that […]
Police confirm Brash email leak an inside job
Police have closed their investigation into the theft of e-mails from former National Party leader Dr Don Brash and have announced that they […]
Nothing personal, John
John Key’s latest line is to whine that Labour and others (including this blog) are launching personal attacks on him, and would we […]
Our condolences
Our condolences to all those affected by the Mangatepopo Gorge canyoning tragedy.
From slippery to send up
Mike Moreu provides insight into the art of turning news events into images – using as one example his latest piece on asset […]
Press Council to uphold complaint against Herald?
Word has it that the Press Council will tomorrow uphold the complaint laid against the New Zealand Herald by the Coalition for Open […]
On the scrapheap
This graph shows the number of people employed in New Zealand, and employment would have been had the number of people with a […]
Nats’ school funding policy under attack
Stuff reports that “Principals and teachers have savaged a National Party plan to increase funding for private schools, calling it a thinly disguised […]
Key’s record on Te WÄnanga o Aotearoa
The Herald is really doing its best to help out National. Today it proclaims ‘Key’s wananga visit undoes Brash legacy‘. That nice Mr […]
A decent job with fair pay
That’s what the labour movement is all about: ensuring that people who want to work can find jobs and that they receive fair […]
Join the smackathon
Just what you may have been waiting for: www.righttosmack.co.nz While we want the government to interfere with people’s private activities to some small […]
John Key on asset sales
National’s interest rates record
National’s latest line is that interest rates have doubled under Labour, with the implication that National would magically lower inflation (while simultaneously pouring […]