The Standard » flip-flop

Schrödinger’s Prime Minister

The Standard — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:13:21 +0000

No Right Turn on John Key's confusion over Pike River. The flip flopping PM at his finest.

“Boosting science and innovation”

The Standard — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:19:39 +0000

No Right Turn says all that is required on another of Nationals aspirational failures.

For the past year, the government has been talking a lot about "boosting science and innovation" as the "keys to economic growth". Today, we saw the reality behind that talk, with news that NIWA is planning to sack 5% of its total workforce:

Flip flopping on the beach

r0b — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:02:49 +0000

The usual suspects are accusing Labour of "flip flopping" on its position on the foreshore and seabed. You have to admire their bare-faced gall eh?

GST is going up today

lprent — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:23:35 +0000

Remember how John Key used to talk about GST? Here is a video reminding everyone of the past before he did his usual flip-flop to favour the rich while increasing costs on most people. The GST increase and the consequent inflation will make almost everyone worse off unless they are wealthy enough to bribe the NACT's.

Shed some sunlight on a limp response

lprent — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:32:13 +0000

David Farrar has finally made a comment on my "Hey Chubby..." post. It raises more questions than it answers. So I ask some of the obvious questions, and conclude that he has forsaken the principles of "free speech" that he so enthusiastically espoused only a few years ago.

Garner sez ‘take the fight to Key’

Marty G — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:02:58 +0000

Phil Goff has put some good solid (if rather moderate) left-wing substance on the table in his pre-budget speech yesterday. Duncan Garner says that was the right move, but wonders if Labour now needs to focus on the questions surrounding John Key. Garner says in the wake of several questionable moves Key's integrity is now on the line and Labour should exploit it.

Nats plan to subsidise greenhouse polluters

Eddie — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:07:59 +0000

National is predictably planning to put the cost of polluters' actions on to the rest of us by canning the major parts of the ETS. This stupid game of pass the buck is played out all over the world - polluters refuse to accept their responsibilities, governments refuse to act - as more greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere, locking us in to economic and ecological devastation.

Pollyanna Finlayson ignores reality

Marty G — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:33:10 +0000

The other day, Chris Finlayson described himself as a Pollyanna - it's an American term (of derision) for someone who sees everything as positive, ignoring unhappy realities. Finlayson is all bouncy and optimistic, selling his 'no-one owns it' 'solution' to the F&S issue. But I have not heard a single Maori leader who agrees with his offer or anything like it.

Trouble brewing for govt on GST

Eddie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:07:19 +0000

“An unscientific poll yesterday of 846 readers asking whether they would be happy to pay more GST if it meant they paid less income tax found 46.9 per cent in favour, 43.9 per cent opposed and about 8 per cent undecided.” – Stuff “Unscientific poll” I take to mean one of their online polls, and ...

Half the population

r0b — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:51:18 +0000

Poor DPF must feel like he’s through the looking glass these days. He’s got to defend a government that flip flopped on tax cut promises. He’s got to defend a leader that refuses to be open with the public (on why a Minister was sacked). He’s got to defend the blatant greed and hypocrisy of ...

Flexible Farrar

r0b — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:01:07 +0000

If DPF doesn’t practice Yoga already I think he should take it up. He’d be a natural. He’s so damn flexible! I’ve had occasion to comment on this once before. But for the EFA we see DPF lowering the bar of consistency to unbelievable depths, and limboing right on down. The Electoral Finance Act (EFA). ...

Toast

the sprout — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:00:23 +0000

What a horrifying sight today’s Q+A interview with Minister of Food Safety Kate Wilkinson made. It was a shameful performance from a media point of view, with Wilkinson looking ineffectual, implausible and well out of her depth. But from a political point of view it was gobsmacking. Wilkinson enthusiastically admitted that she didn’t agree with new ...

Rhetoric & Reality 2: Jobs

Guest post — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:29:10 +0000

Before the election National’s “Employment & Workplace Relations” policy set out the principle of “building opportunity for all”, and the need to “Expand job opportunities for those having difficulty getting work -like young, inexperienced people or new immigrants.” The Job Summit talk-fest paid plenty of lip service to the importance of jobs: Key: [Jobs] count ...

NACT policy – like pistons in a Vespa

lprent — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:17:38 +0000

Jeanette Fitzsimmons has written a very good post from the Emissions Trading Scheme special select committee* about her views on the impact of farming on our Kyoto obligations. She commented on the Federated Farmers submission which essentially said that they thought farming should be excluded from paying anything. That really isn’t feasible in NZ because… ...

What comes around goes around

the sprout — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:55:26 +0000

It wasn’t so long ago that National’s covert attack organ, the Free Speech Coalition, were squealing about how anti-democratic the last Labour government was, with plenty of snappy billboards like this one. Well now that the tragedy of Fiji’s dictatorship is going from bad to worse, don’t expect to hear any more concern from the ...