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 […]
national
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’ […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
National’s ‘whack-a-mole’ game
Trying to follow National policy is like playing that ‘whack-a-mole’ game. Up pops John Key or Bill English or a spokesperson, and they […]
Student debt, it’s the interest that matters
Today, outstanding student loan debt reaches $10 billion. That’s a fair old swag of money but what has been ignored in the coverage […]
Still no apology
Last Tuesday Bill English stood up in Parliament and accused the CTU and the PSA of breaking the Electoral Finance Act. Problem for […]
National forced to support meal breaks
National has found itself politically unable to oppose the amendment to the Employment Relations Act that will ensure workers are entitled to meal […]
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, […]
A dereliction of duty
John Key’s failure to ask a parliamentary question last week exposes a crisis of confidence in National’s ranks. It is unprecedented for an […]
What’s Eating Slippery John?
Slippery John and his mates seemed pretty down in the dumps in the House this week. I know that no one, but a […]
Ng on fact-free politics
Keith Ng of Public Address has a long-standing commitment to improving the quality of journalism in this country. Now, he is proposing a […]
English slapped down by CTU
The Council of Trade Unions has given Bill English a good slapping over his false allegations in Parliament yesterday that the peak union […]
Wayne Mapp’s Dukakis moment
Following the first incident of a New Zealand vehicle being attacked by an improvised mine, National’s Defence Spokesman Wayne Mapp has attacked the […]
The trans-Tasman wage gap
Now this is rich. National, the party that gave New Zealand its low wage economy, is running the line that the trans-Tasman wage […]
National’s victims policy
National has proposed several initiatives around victims’ rights, most of which are based on policy already under development by the Ministry of Justice. […]
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 […]
National’s nanny state
Seems to me we need some consensus on what a “Nanny State” actually is. Today the Nats have come out in opposition of […]
Democracy in action
The Press reports that: National’s hunt for a candidate in the new Selwyn electorate continues to cause problems, with one unsuccessful applicant taking […]
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 […]
Lies, damned lies, and statistics
David Farrar appears to be throwing his weight in behind National Party’s “New Zealand Sucks” campaign with another misleading post on migration to […]
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 […]
National still evasive over KiwiSaver plans
You do have to wonder sometimes what it takes to get a straight answer out of a National party MP. Having recently given […]
They know their man
This week’s NBR editorial, titled “Smarten up, John Key”, frets that Key keeps showing himself to be a slippery, policy lightweight (can’t have […]
National’s bad fortnight
A bad week last week from John Key got worse this week as other National MPs joined Key in a game of drop […]
Journalists react to attack on media freedom
Yesterday in Parliament, Winston Peters tabled a letter of protest from the Herald journalists’ chapel to APN chief executive Martin Simons. The letter […]
PSA on core public service
Richard Wagstaff from the PSA was interviewed by Sunrise on John Key’s plan to undermine the public service this morning. He notes Key’s […]
Connell evasive over trip
Brian Connell won’t say whether he’s planning on taking his wife on the taxpayer-funded Speaker’s tour. In the clip below Faafoi asks Connell […]
Key to scrap research fund
From Radio NZ: National says it will scrap a major new research and development fund for the pastoral and food industries if it […]
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y’all
Days after saying ‘we’ve always said, we aren’t that worried about, um, whether the Crown needs to borrow a bit of money [for […]
Yawn
Well National’s finally got their line straight on the research fund and, despite me old mate Dancer’s prediction, they are not supporting it. […]
Expect National to back research funding boost
At lunchtime today it is expected that the government will announce a major funding boost to promote innovation in food science, agricultural research […]