1. Muddying the waters: transcript Key on RNZ

    Guyon Espiner’s interview on Radio NZ today, exposes the moral failings of John Key’s leadership -as Key attempts to divert, & justify the dirty game that NZ politics has become under his watch.  Partial transcript of the interview: to be continued  Updated: Transcript completed

  2. Why does Jason Ede still have Beehive access?

    Andrea Vance has reported that as late as last week Jason Ede still had access to the Beehive.  And Key’s replies to her questions concerning this suggest that there is a lot that he does not know.  It makes you wonder why he can be so insistent that Nicky Hager’s allegations are wrong when he has such little information.

  3. Rob Gilchrist On Nicky Hager

    Unmasked by Hager, former activist and police spy Rob Gilchrist says “It may come as a surprise but I have the utmost respect for Mr Hager, He doesn’t write ’baseless allegations’, ’what-ifs and fanciful speculation’ Mr Hager is also not a ‘conspiracy theorist‘, he’s just extremely good at finding conspiracies.”

  4. Was a crime committed when Slater accessed Labour’s computer system?

    Occasionally erudite disagrees with one part of rocky’s analysis of the legality of Cameron Slater and Jason Ede’s accessing and copying the data from the Labour party’s computer. However he still thinks it is likely to be criminal.

  5. The Left on policies and values

    In spite of what John Key & some of the media claim, Labour & the Greens have continued to campaign positively on policies and values throughout the week.  The Greens officially launch their campaign tomorrow.

  6. Naming and Shaming

    Judith Collins naming the eponymous Simon Pleasants to Cameron Slater as the suspect in a document leak is unconscionable.  She cannot remain a Minister, otherwise Key’s claim to a high standard when it comes to Ministerial behaviour is in tatters. This time the John Banks  defence “I haven’t read it” and “I have taken his/her word” will not do.

  7. John Key’s defence to Hager’s book starts to unwind

    The Herald is reporting that the first of Key’s denials about the allegations in Dirty Politics has been refuted. National did hack Labour’s crippled server in 2011 and even apologised for it but Key claims National had no involvement.

  8. Helen Kelly on Vote Chat: Questions for PoA & Key?

    Helen Kelly is interviewed on Vote Chat.  Kelly raises questions about the Ports of Auckland & Key’s role in Dirty Politics. She has read some of Dirty Politics, & was axed from today’s the Nation Panel, then replaced by Josie Pagani.[Updated]

  9. Some confirmation about Collins and Slater

    Over at The Ruminator there is a post corroborates the Judith Collins and Cameron Slater mutual back-scratching in private vendettas. It appears to me that there has been rather a lot of fiddling of the OIAs in recent years. In particular I’m thinking about the OIA requests on Liu for TV3.

     

  10. Who took Slater’s emails?

    Some interesting comments on Hager’s book by John Armstrong and Danyl McLaughlan and the nagging question of who is responsible remains …

  11. Pagani and the Straw People

    I don’t like listening to talkback radio, it’s not my thing.  But I was prompted to listen today to a clip of Josie […]

  12. The Credibility Stakes: John Key vs Nicky Hager

    BLip comments on John Armstrong’s article yesterday. Then he updates his “Honest Man” list about John Key and his limited understanding of the truth.

  13. Hi Guyon!

    In which I glow in the fame of being mentioned on Morning Report (and answer most of Guyon’s questions) and also encourage turnout in the wake of Dirty Politics.

  14. Well-known conspiracy theorist

    Categories: brand key, Satire, spin

    It’s John Key. In a wide-ranging interview, he tried to explain how “the left” conspired to ensure over the last three days that they burnt an effigy of him, used a few swear words about him on You-Tube, ran a satirical video, and Nicky Hager launched a book at the normal after-work time! No wonder his minders would rather he didn’t do stand-ups.

  15. The Hager Book – National fights back

    Two days after Nicky Hager’s book has been released and National’s response has been interesting. They are doing everything from attacking the author to the means of obtaining the information, to saying that it is politics as usual and Labour does it too. But John Key’s recent response to TV3 looked desperate. And the veracity of what he said needs to be checked.

  16. But the door was open…

    The intention of this post is to examine the similarities and differences between the hacking of Cameron Slater’s communications on the one hand, and the hacking of the Labour Party donor database on the other. There are two important issues to determine in both cases and I will cover them separately. The first is the legality of the hacking and the second is the ethics of using the resulting information regardless of whether the obtaining of the information in the first instance was unlawful.

  17. Irritated and up early

    There has been a bit of pestering of authors by media in the last few days and some inadvisable waffling by fools ignorant of the blogging world about this site. I’ve had to bestir myself to talk about it. I’m not too happy about the time wasting. But on a happier note, the site is performing superbly under load..

  18. Join the dates

    Categories: uncategorized

    According to John Key, allegations about Jason Ede’s muckspreading activities in cahoots with Cameron Slater are nothing to do with him because Ede now does not work any more on the 9th floor of the Beehive for the “Office of the Leader of the National Party.” The National Party employs him apparently. I would like to know exactly when Ede changed employers and email dates should establish exactly who paying for and managing him when the comments were made. Leader or Office – it’s the National Party spreading dirt – and many good people who are members will not be happy.

  19. National Response

    National’s standard response is to ridicule – other political parties, Jon Stephenson, scientists etc have all had it. It slots nicely with Cameron Slater’s style. Now they’re ridiculing Nicky Hager, but they need to be taken up on each allegation.

  20. Just made for Winston

    I think I know someone who 5 weeks out from an election who thinks he has just had a few percent tacked on to his parties votes. After all remember the “cup of tea” in Epsom last election. And he may have read some parts of the book?

  21. Cameron Slater dirties John Key (or vice versa?)

    I haven’t read the Nicky Hager’s book “Dirty Politics” yet. But I’m not surprised that Cameron Slater is up to his neck in dirt provided by John Key’s dirt merchant Jason Ede. That he has been given information sourced from the SIS is extremely surprising. I had not thought that John Key was quite that stupid.

  22. Bracing for the book

    Nicky Hager has certainly got the attention of political circles in NZ, by announcing his (untitled) book launch today at 5.15pm. J[update: 3 news Livestream of book launch] Update: Title “Dirty Politics” – on attack politics – implicates John key & Slater]

  23. ACT goes weird

    ACT Epsom candidate David Seymour is complaining that left voters in the seat may vote tactically.

  24. Labour – “Ready to Win”

    David Cunliffe’s campaign launch speech.

    Added a video of the speech.

  25. NRT: Election 2014: A clear choice on clean rivers

    The National government’s policy for economic growth has been simple: pump up dairy production, export more low-value milk powder, and keep low-value farmers as the “backbone of the economy”. To achieve this, they have dismantled the protections for and then defiled our fresh water on an industrial scale. The Greens want to reverse that and thereby ensure a long-term future for both our farming and peoples. Updated.

  26. David Cunliffe’s speech to the Labour Party congress

    David Cunliffe’s speech to the Labour Party congress delivered today.

  27. Irascible: The Herald and Key duck, scuttle and run as Donghua Liu story loses credibility

    It looks like the powers that be on the Herald’s editorial board are starting to realise that being a paid shill for the Key owned National Party is not as wise a move as they thought. Particularly as the realisation that the allegations fed from John Key and those around Donghua Liu are proving to be a quicksand that is sucking the already doubtful credibility of the paper as a crusading, principled record of fact away from it.

  28. Why the left despair about NZ’s main stream media

    Categories: uncategorized

    The media seem to be mesmerized by John Key.  He can start a media beat up by talking publicly about a rumour then get a sympathetic headline when stating that Donghua Liu should reveal his evidence, even though it was Key who made the claim publicly.  Yet after a week of bad press for Labour over a claim for which there is no real proof Key’s role is not scrutinised and he seems to get away with it.

  29. Turn out and vote National out

    At the last election, the high non-vote spoke to one important truth – many voters saw no reason to turn out. The media had told them that National would win by a landslide and they either didn’t mind or thought that one vote wouldn’t make any difference. This election is radically different. It is rapidly becoming clear that we are losing control of our country.  Vote on September 20, and vote against this Government.
  30. Local Bodies: National’s Campaign Strategy Stinks

    We all know from reading Nicky Hager’s The Hollow Men (or watching the documentary) that the National Party actually advocates for a small section of society. Their policies rarely support most New Zealanders and after each period of a National led Government we have costly messes like leaky buildings and dead miners as the aftermath. This isn’t to say that Labour shouldn’t take responsibility for not repealing dodgy legislation, but National has always stood for less regulation, fewer protections for workers and the environment and an upward flow of money to the already rich.

  31. Stand up – for an inclusive, caring & sharing NZ

    Stand up: fight back: We know what we are up against. We’ve seen the depth of the negative, right wing campaigning.  NZ wants and needs better politics, and a more inclusive society.

  32. Internet Mana: the sell-out and the reaction

    A common response I saw to the Mana/Internet alliance today was, “Oh great, Mana’s sold out. Mana’s meant to be grassroots! Mana and the Internet Party have nothing in common!”

    The thing is, it largely (not entirely) came from people who aren’t Mana members or supporters. It came from Labour supporters.

  33. LocalBodies: King Luddite and the Green Wave

    Categories: greens, john key, Satire

    King Luddite was resolute in his belief in the power of black gold and he decided to make a public stand against the green tidal wave that was rapidly approaching his small kingdom. On September the 20th he decided would place his throne on the nearest beach and, with his ministers standing behind him, command that the wave come no further. He had once heard a story of another king who had done something similar and thought it sounded like a good idea. Of course he had never been a good history scholar and he had never bothered to consult his wise men.

  34. Outing Nats’ smear machine

    Standardista, andy (the other one) nails it: “Two days, two articles, two different media outlets admitting that they know National use Slater/Farrar to smear and dissemble.”  Trotter raises questions about sources.

  35. David Cunliffe’s speech to the New Zealand Institute

    Categories: david cunliffe, labour

    Speech notes from today’s address to the New Zealand Institute.  “Trickle-down economics and its neoliberal parentage have failed New Zealanders and left many of our emerging businesses starved of investment capital and skills.  The opportunity gaps have widened and there is no clear, shared strategy to a high value, high income future.  That’s something Labour will change. We want an economy that works for all New Zealanders.”

  36. The surveillance state online

    The leaks by Edward Snowden show many ways state surveillance agencies can workaround the legal requirements placed on them.  Selwyn Manning explained about the “Two Hop” surveillance of online targets.  On Intercept Glenn Greenwald explains the information about the use of “online covert operations”. [Update Andrea Vance on NZ spy tactics]