Written By: - Date published: 8:44 pm, June 22nd, 2009 - 102 comments
The child beating lobby launched its “Vote No” campaign site today. They’ve worked hard in this campaign to present themselves as regular Kiwis standing up for common sense values, so I find it interesting they’ve chosen to decorate the front page of their campaign with this racist, sexist cartoon: The cartoon is clearly designed to …
Written By: - Date published: 5:41 pm, April 25th, 2009 - 42 comments
There was a great turnout at the Mount Albert War Memorial building this morning, both inside the hall and people outside waiting for the flag and the silence. What has been intriguing me over the years is the changing number and demographics of the people who are now turning up. When I first started attending …
Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, April 7th, 2009 - 19 comments
Normally I don’t put up press releases but this one is special to me. It is about my home electorate and where I moved to in 1964 to start primary school. Labour Party President Andrew Little is calling for nominations for the Mt Albert by-election, following the appointment of Rt Hon Helen Clark as Head …
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, April 25th, 2008 - 61 comments
We’re very pleased to have Prime Minister Helen Clark respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? I am proud to lead a government which has worked so hard to restore fairness, opportunity, security, and hope to many New …
Written By: - Date published: 4:33 pm, April 23rd, 2008 - 25 comments
We had hoped to have the answers for our ‘interview the leaders‘ series from Helen Clark today. I talked with the PM’s office and they explained the questions are with Clark, she’s been busy travelling, and we’ll have them as soon as they come back. So, they’ve asked for an extension and I said ‘fair …
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, April 21st, 2008 - 39 comments
Even amateur, part-time bloggers sometimes make mistakes, and last week we didn’t send Clark her questions until Wednesday, rather than Monday, due to a miscommunication between ourselves. So, we extended her deadline to this Wednesday. We’ll post her replies when we get them. In the meantime, here are the questions to ACT’s Rodney Hide that …
Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, April 14th, 2008 - 33 comments
A big thanks to Greens’ co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons for participating in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series. Her answers provided an insight into how the Greens view themselves as influencing political culture as much as promoting specific policies. Our next leader is Prime Minister Helen Clark of Labour. The general question remains: Of which of your achievements in politics are you …
Written By: - Date published: 5:14 pm, April 7th, 2008 - 62 comments
A big thanks to Progressives’ leader Jim Anderton for being the first participant in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series. The quality of his answers has set a standard for the others to emulate. Our next leader is Jeanette Fitzsimmons of the Green Party. The general question remains: Of which of your achievements in politics are …
Written By: - Date published: 3:20 pm, April 7th, 2008 - 39 comments
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 Opposition leader to be in attendance in the House for a full sitting week, and to not once challenge the Government. This never happened when Helen Clark led Labour in Opposition from …
Written By: - Date published: 6:39 pm, April 6th, 2008 - 15 comments
From the Sunday Star Times: A new poll suggests that National Leader John Key may be up against a bigger obstacle than he thought in knocking Prime Minister Helen Clark off she is the person New Zealanders most admire after Sir Edmund Hillary. The much-loved mountaineer topped the Roy Morgan Poll with 17.4 per cent support, followed by …
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 pm, April 5th, 2008 - 16 comments
Sarah Montague from BBC’s Hardtalk interviews Helen Clark – starting with a question about whether the time might be right for a New Zealand referendum on republicanism. I’ve got to admit that I found it thoroughly refreshing to watch an interview where the interviewer doesn’t pull punches but also isn’t competing to be the centre …
Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, January 31st, 2008 - 46 comments
I don’t know if this is breaking some cyber protocol (oh, but I don’t much care if I am) but I want to put Jordan Carter‘s post on Helen Clark’s speech up here on The Standard. The reason is that while I agree with a lot of what IrishBill said – mainly that her speech …
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, January 30th, 2008 - 78 comments
I haven’t had time to do a thorough analysis of Clark’s speech but from a quick once-over I can say with certainty that it is underwhelming. Let’s face it, this was her chance to take the front foot and show the government had a policy agenda fit for a new term. Instead her speech is …
Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, August 27th, 2007 - 5 comments
The National Party have been complaining about the increasing scrutiny on John Key’s business dealings. First, his association with the “Earl of Auckland” property development firm that’s attempting to go into liquidation to avoid leaky building costs and second the nature of his involvement at Elders during the Equiticorp scandal of the 1980s – both …
Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, August 27th, 2007 - Comments Off
Hone Harawira hits the nail on the head in this interview on ‘Sunday’: “Well, you know, the strange this is that everybody calls her Auntie Helen but I can’t see anybody calling that fella Uncle John. He’s a smiling snake. That’s how I see John Key. He smiles a lot. He’s charasmatic. But none of …
Written By: - Date published: 9:35 pm, August 15th, 2007 - Comments Off
Ian Templeton, doyen of the parliamentary press gallery, was on Close-up this evening talking about the extraordinary 50 years that he’s been getting up close and personal with politicians. Interesting that he named Helen Clark as the best of the bunch of the dozen or so prime ministers that he’s reported on. And remember the …
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