Election Night Live Blogging: The Explanatory Post
Thanks to the Standardistas for giving me a method of distraction for the evening. I’m usually to be found at The Hand Mirror, […]
election 2008
CTU YouTube vid
Yep, that’s a pusy Roger Douglas zombie eye staring at you. Ew.
Fairfax poll
This morning’s Fairfax poll is bad news for Labour, with National easily having the numbers to govern alone. Following the hugely popular rail […]
CTU Secretary selected for Maungakiekie
CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont is set for a change of career later this year. She’s been selected as the Labour candidate for the […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What would National do?: Emigration
Simon Power has hit on the fact that Stats New Zealand produces migration figures every month, and that means every month he gets […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
NZ Growing Faster Than Aussie, US, Japan, and UK
The Reserve Bank produces a series of helpful tables of economic data. One table compares our growth to that of Australia, the US, […]
Fair and balanced
The Herald could barely contain its self-satisfaction when National’s David Farrar complained to the Electoral Commission that the country’s largest private sector union, […]
Davey gets it wrong again
David Farrar’s latest political campaign on behalf of the National Party has, like so many of them before, foundered on the sharp rocks […]
If I were Labour’s campaign strategist
Part three of the ‘If I were [Party X]’s campaign strategist’ series brings us to Labour. The strategy for a major party is […]
April 1 changes boost wages and cut taxes
Today is a big day for government policy affecting Kiwis’ incomes: The minimum wage is now $12 an hour, up from $7 when […]
The parties’ climate change policies
‘Tis the season for surveys of the parties. Greenpeace sent a questionnaire to each of the parliamentary parties asking for their polices on […]
Interview the leaders II: The Greens
Well, we’ve made our decision on the two questions you wanted asked of Jim Anderton and one of the decisions we made was […]
The Kingmaker Debate
TV7’s Kingmaker debate was an opportunity for the leaders of the smaller parties to promote themselves without being overshadowed by Clark and Key. […]
Herald Digipoll
The New Zealand Herald reports that Labour has almost halved National’s lead in its latest DigiPoll survey, following a month “memorable for slip-ups and […]
Interview the leaders
We’re going to interview the leader of each party but we’d like to give you the chance to ask the questions. Starting next […]
National’s tax cut dilemma
If National are so keen to cut taxes and so critical of the Government for not doing so earlier, why are they being […]
If I were the Greens’ campaign strategist
This should be the Greens’ time in the sun. For decades, the Green movement has been concerned about the future impacts of climate […]
The 50 cent tax cut
This morning on Breakfast, John Key repeated his line that capping the size of the core public service (that includes planning staff for health, […]
Creative pitch
With John Ansell now flat out with ACT and the Free Speech Coalition it suddenly stuck me that there might be an opening […]
Kiwisaver breaks half a million
Congratulations to Kiwisaver’s 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an […]
Policy Summary: Labour v National
The Sunday-Star Times has an interesting list of the policies the election will be fought on and where the two major parties stand on them. Here’s […]