Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, February 3rd, 2012 - 16 comments
The Briefings to Incoming Ministers, which government departments produce after each election, give the public (via the media) an insight into on coming challenges in portfolios, elaborate on how election promises will be converted into real policies, and – most importantly – reveal things the government is planning that weren’t election policies. So, it’s disturbing that the Nats are censoring them.
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, January 31st, 2012 - 35 comments
I/S at NoRightTurn says we should hold Key to his latest pathetic excuse making for his inaction on the sale of our farmland overseas: “John Key’s excuse for the Crafar farms sale? His hands were tied. But he’s promising to change the law if we make enough noise about it” Unfortunately, Key doesn’t mean it. He has no intention of listening.
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, January 24th, 2012 - 46 comments
The high point of John Key’s popularity came about 3 weeks before the election. Then the tea tapes meant a spectacle that was meant to be a show of his power became a media storm with him at the centre. National lost 5% in those last few weeks of the campaign. Key blamed the media. Bryan Gould looks at the war he has been waging against the press ever since.
Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, January 22nd, 2012 - 124 comments
Labour’s internal politics is public property while National get a free pass on theirs.
This imbalance of transparency and accountability seems weird given National are the ones wielding the real power.
More to the point, what does it mean for our democracy?
Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, January 18th, 2012 - 91 comments
National is quietly using its power to try to prevent programmes about important issues from being broadcast during election campaigns, after a documentary on childhood poverty upset them. When Key finally gets back from holiday, he’s got to explain why his party and government are trying to dictate what should be on TV during election campaigns.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, December 21st, 2011 - 71 comments
Irony will be if Anne Tolley gets sacked over a portfolio she no longer holds. And if she’s fired, not for turning one of the world’s most successful education systems into an ideological warzone over performance pay but, for lying to Parliament about a principal turned ministry expert with a sleazy husband being suspended.
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, December 16th, 2011 - 78 comments
“British philosopher Edmund Burke termed two different modes of viewing representation as the trustee and delegate models. ” Guest poster Pointy looks at this related to the recent Labour leadership selection debate.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, December 12th, 2011 - 70 comments
Tomorrow morning the Labour caucus will meet to vote on a new leader.
That means there’s just one day left for party member to have their say.
So email or phone your nearest labour MP and let them know who you want. It’s time for party members to own their party’s future.
Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 22nd, 2011 - 11 comments
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 pm, November 19th, 2011 - 107 comments
Bradley Ambrose, the cameraman widely maligned by John Key and his pudgey lapdogs David Farrar and Cameron Slater for daring to hold the PM to some basic standards of accountability, is demanding an apology from John Key or he’ll take the PM to court for defamation.
UPDATE: The final week of the campaign will kick off with a police raid on the Herald Monday morning.
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, November 19th, 2011 - 20 comments
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, November 18th, 2011 - 64 comments
John Key has a history of choking under pressure but this time, calling on the police to raid the premises of our national broadcasters TVNZ and RNZ, and our major privately owned newspapers - he’s cracked under the pressure of the campaign and the spectre of losing it all. There’ll be no knighthood if Key becomes the first National PM to lose after just one term.
Written By: - Date published: 6:28 pm, November 17th, 2011 - 15 comments
RNZ has a great Policy Q&A site up. Labour and the Greens have replied to the questions (most parties have or will do so), so you can find out where they stand on the issues. But National’s non-participation shows that they’re too arrogant to even bother engaging on policy.
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, November 17th, 2011 - 36 comments
Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, November 16th, 2011 - 116 comments
Winston Peters is suggesting that in the transcript of the PM’s meeting with Banks, John Key made some derogatory remarks about the older New Zealanders that tend to support New Zealand First, along the lines of “not to worry [about Winston's support] they’re dying off”. Slagging off older New Zealanders (ie. the ones that always vote) is a sure way to lose an election.
Could Key really be so clueless? Well yes, when you look at the excuses he’s trotting out – probably.
Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, November 14th, 2011 - 4 comments
Wave goodbye to higher taxes. Not your loved ones.
Choose a Brighter Future. Derp de derp.
This is what John Key was promising last election – before he came to power, raised GST, and record numbers of kiwis left New Zealand permanently for a brighter future in Australia.
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, November 10th, 2011 - 52 comments
How many children is 200,000 in the context of New Zealand’s population? Statistics New Zealand says between June 2008-2011 around 62-64,000 children were born each year. So 200,000 amounts to every single child born in this country since National came to power three years ago, plus another 10,000 or so.
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, November 9th, 2011 - 76 comments
All these things operate underground. There are two near identical pairs. But only one of these things is really not like the other. Let’s not forget John Key’s mirror trust that let’s him keep an eye on the investments that are supposed to be held in a blind trust while he’s PM.
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, November 8th, 2011 - 30 comments
Yes, that’s an actual quote [sans 'serfs'] from David Farrar lying about his master John Key’s lies about not raising GST.
hattip: frank macskasy
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, November 7th, 2011 - 46 comments
hattip William Joyce
Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, November 3rd, 2011 - 222 comments
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, October 30th, 2011 - 58 comments
Five million kilos of radioactive yellow cake uranium are being shipped through New Zealand ports every year. ERMA was unaware this practice has been going on for the last 15 years and only learned of it in 2009, but not to worry, according to John Key’s spokesperson the yellow cake is “Australian dirt, which is …
Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, October 30th, 2011 - 18 comments
Key’s “small target” strategy was always going to come under pressure during the election campaign. But by rights it should now be blown completely out of the water. Labour’s willingness to take on the hard issues leaves Key facing plenty of questions. Time we got some answers.
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, October 27th, 2011 - 37 comments
It’s not surprising that National are trying to run a presidential, personality based election campaign – after all, their policies aren’t going to win many votes from those middle and lower income kiwis who understand them. And up till now, presidentialism has worked very well for National. But it’s also starting to become apparent to …
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, October 22nd, 2011 - 35 comments
New Zealand’s economy, Christchurch, Pike River, Rena – all terrible disasters to befall our country and our Government. It’s a massive challenge to respond well to such crises, and nobody really expects a magic wand, but we do have a right to expect some kind of competent, coordinated and decisive leadership response from our Government. Yet …
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, October 17th, 2011 - 135 comments
Part of a worldwide phenomenon, the Occupation has reached Aotearoa New Zealand. Anyone who thinks that they know where all this will end is fooling themselves.
Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, October 14th, 2011 - 55 comments
Attentive readers may recall some time back, when talk about illegal police video surveillance was to the fore, that there was also mention of the existence of video surveillance of a politician having an affair with a P user. Now of course having an affair isn’t particularly dreadful by today’s standards, even if the person …
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, October 13th, 2011 - 22 comments
Perhaps Mr Key’s staff might like to explain to him what the implications of this development, in conjunction with the recent UN Report on NZ SAS rendering prisoners in Afghanistan and the housing of CIA operations at NZDF bases, might mean for the PM. Amnesty International (London) has issued a call to Canadian authorities to arrest …
Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, October 13th, 2011 - 212 comments
One of the turning points of Bush’s presidency was the failed non-response to Hurricane Katrina. It’s starting to look now very much as if the wreck of the Rena is John Key’s Katrina moment.
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