Archive for October, 2008

Vote smart: Progressives and Wigram

Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, October 17th, 2008 - 52 comments

Vote smart is a series of posts on tactical voting for people who support certain parties or live in certain electorates to help you maximise your vote. Today, the Progressives and Wigram: Since the last election, the Progressives have failed to register in half the Roy Morgan polls and never broken 1%. For a party […]

Tranzrail eyes

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, October 17th, 2008 - 23 comments

It’s possible to win a battle but, in doing so, lose the war. Like most commentators, I thought Key came off best from the debate on Tuesday. It was a good format for him to parrot his lines, all he had to do is deliver them well. As he said himself, 2 years of training […]

What exactly did Mr Key say?

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 17th, 2008 - 50 comments

We see this morning that: John Key concedes he has privately indicated to the Maori Party that National’s policy to abolish the Maori seats would not stand in the way of doing a deal with the party post-election. What did Mr Key say in that debate again? Shane Taurima: ” Pita Sharples said that you told him […]

Pita falls for the lines – but not for long

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, October 16th, 2008 - 97 comments

I have some sympathy for Dr PIta Sharples over the fallout of Mr Key’s promises. He’s clearly been left high and dry by Mr Key, his would-be coalition partner. According to the Maori Party’s chief of staff we now find: …that Mr Key was clear in the meeting that National’s position could be put on the backburner. […]

Maintenance

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, October 16th, 2008 - 9 comments

There will be some scheduled maintenance at the hosting company tonight between 10pm and 6am. During that period the site may be offline for some short periods. So if you cannot get the site for a period, then just try again a little time later. Yet another record breaking day at The Standard yesterday. We […]

Telling lies

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 16th, 2008 - 9 comments

With the wit we’ve come to expect, 08wire has Key up on his many lies during the Tuesday debate. To my surprise, TV One didn’t bother doing fact checking even during their tedious hour-long run-down after the debate, whereas we were fact checking live on The Standard. I wish TV One would be our CNN […]

Key vs Sharples, who do you believe?

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, October 16th, 2008 - 71 comments

On September 28, Key released National’s policy on the Maori seats. It is unequivocal (if light on the details): “At the conclusion of the settlement of historic Treaty claims, National will begin a constitutional process to abolish the Maori seats. National wishes to see all New Zealanders on the same electoral roll.” Pretty clear. The […]

Where were you then (and do you care?)

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 94 comments

Lots of comments continue over the leaders debate. One of the bits that made it through the usual dinner time madness in my household was the section on the Springbok tour. It reminded me of this video clip. In it, Key was all over the place, before adopting that favourite technique, tell everyone what they […]

Campaign hub rolling on

Written By: - Date published: 4:42 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 18 comments

Good to see so many people coming to the Campaign Hub for materials and info. Apologies for the delay in the events diary this week, so much to do. I’ve added Youtubes of some great videos and there are new designs for posters and flyers being added ad hoc like these:    Keep it up […]

Inequity laffs

Written By: - Date published: 3:32 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 1 comment

Make-work don’t work

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 24 comments

The Maori Party wants the dole abolished to be replaced by work schemes. It’s a bad idea but it’s not too far from being a good one. Make work schemes are bad in several ways. They distort the market for low-skill work. The State with an army of cheap, semi-involuntary labour ends up undercutting the […]

Wouldn’t you be embarrassed if…..?

Written By: - Date published: 1:28 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 40 comments

I have to declare – yes, I am an urban liberal. So I would be embarrassed if a member of my family said this: The National Party’s candidate for New Plymouth (Jonathan Young) says homosexuality is a choice and strongly objects to it being seen as a “normal alternative“: Jonathan Young’s views, printed in the […]

A matter of trust

Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, October 15th, 2008 - 42 comments

The Youtube debate was a bit of a let down to me because TV1 chose to play the least penetrating questions, allowing the leaders to pretty much stick to their stock answers. The only question that really broke through the pre-prepared stuff was Shane Taurima’s query about whether it is true that, as Pita Sharples […]

Nat vs Nat on National policy

Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, October 15th, 2008 - 22 comments

National wants to introduce a 90 Day no work rights period for new employees. Now, in the face of very strong opposition to the policy, they have been forced to scale it back to only workplaces where there are 20 or fewer employees. But big questions still remain – not least of all whether teachers […]

The Standard line: Showerheads

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, October 15th, 2008 - 41 comments

So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t have the arguments and facts at your fingertips to make a decisive point. That’s where our election series, The Standard line, comes in. The info you need in bite-size form. Today, showerheads: Counter-points: […]

Advice

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 63 comments

Labour has made two serious mistakes in their campaign today. One was specifically rejecting a policy to take the minimum wage to $15 an hour and the other was tonight’s debate. The first was an easy policy supported by every party other than National and Act that would have ensured a large chunk of people […]

Lying to win

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 65 comments

A narrow victory for Key in tonight’s TV1/Youtube debate. A forum where he could repeat his tired slogans to his heart’s content suited him. No-one could pull him up on his lies, except Clark who, inexplicably, failed to do so. And when Clark spoke, Key just yelled his lines over the top of her. That […]

Fact checkin’

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 71 comments

Live fact-checking of the debate. Key: The unions supported National’s position on Kiwisaver. Lie: The unions do not support National’s plan and never have. “We have supported 2+2 arrangements as a starting point but under the current scheme, this attracts the full value of member tax credits and employer tax credits. Under the National Party proposal […]

Video: TV3 on Key’s campaign day 2

Written By: - Date published: 4:52 pm, October 14th, 2008 - Comments Off on Video: TV3 on Key’s campaign day 2

Media coverage of the campaign is coming thick and fast – a helpful reader pointed out this excerpt from TV3 on Key’s day yesterday.

The Standard line: ACC

Written By: - Date published: 4:10 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 22 comments

So, you’re talking with someone about politics and they say something really dumb and wrong and you know it’s wrong but you don’t have the arguments and facts at your fingertips to make a decisive point. That’s where our election series,The Standard line, comes in. The info you need in bite-size form. Today, ACC: Pro-ACC […]

Labour chickens out on $15 minimum wage

Written By: - Date published: 2:54 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 23 comments

Labour, why do you do this to me? One day you’re announcing neo-Keynesian policies to help us through the coming recession, then you stand up for the principle that access to education shouldn’t be dependent on the wealth of ones parents, and, then, just when I’m starting to believe that you really are a true […]

Every reason for Key to blitz debate tonight

Written By: - Date published: 2:34 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 20 comments

It is still possible to follow the news without encountering politics at every turn – but it’s getting harder. And the journalists are sitting alongside the leaders watching every step along the way. So far we see Otago Uni students giving Helen Clark a “rock star welcome“, with the ODT saying: The Prime Minister was […]

Wrong time for short-term thinking

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, October 14th, 2008 - 90 comments

National’s Nick Smith has announced that they would cancel the $1 billion fund to insulate New Zealand houses, which the Greens won as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme. This massive programme would improve energy efficiency, create warmer, healthier homes and would provide useful employment during the downturn. A study, ironically carried out under National and mentioned to me […]

Down with literacy

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, October 14th, 2008 - 45 comments

A crusade on illiteracy, surely. Um, I’m not sure we want to entrust these guys with improving language skills. [Update: true to form, the people in the sector don’t know what the hell National is talking about. Teachers say National seems to be taking about some vague reporting system, not more resources to actually improve […]

Confident or foolish?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, October 14th, 2008 - 20 comments

So, you’re one of the 900,000 Kiwis who have so far signed up to Kiwisaver. You know that you get $1000 on signing up, you put in 4% of your gross income, the Government matches that up to $20 a week, and your employer matches with at least 1% rising to 4% by 2011. It’s […]

The problem for National in fewer than 100 words

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 14th, 2008 - 14 comments

OK – they are not my words. I could do it – but then again I really liked what Gordon Campbell wrote: The financial meltdown poses a basic identity problem for National, the instinctive champion of de-regulation and market solutions. That’s a bit of a problem right now, given that Europe and the US are […]

Daily Show on Fox

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 pm, October 13th, 2008 - 4 comments

Jon Stewart looks at some recent clips from Fox News on the American presidential race. Just incredible.

‘Give me warning next time’, Key whimpers

Written By: - Date published: 4:08 pm, October 13th, 2008 - 44 comments

While Key was blathering on about who-cares-what yesterday, Clark announced a radical and forward-looking economic stimulus package. Now, Key is having a cry over Clark not notifying him beforehand of the deposit insurance scheme. As if the Prime Minister needs to seek the approval of an opposition party before setting government policy. Key whines that monetary […]

Universal allowance – Labour joins rest of Left

Written By: - Date published: 3:25 pm, October 13th, 2008 - 59 comments

Good to see Labour joining the Greens and Progressives with a universal student allowance policy. It has been a crying shame that many people who are trying to get an education and whose parents can’t support them have had to borrow to get a fraction of the money that one gets on a benefit or […]

Working our way forward

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, October 13th, 2008 - 16 comments

It was inevitable that the focus of media coverage of Labour’s announements yesterday would be the deposit insurance, it’s a good self-centred middle-class story. But the important stuff, as Irish pointed out last night, is the re-training money, the speed-up of infrastructure construction, the money for sewerage, housing, and anti-erosion projects. The deposit insurance simply acts to […]

Labour takes bull by the horns, Nats left standing

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, October 13th, 2008 - 25 comments

One of the first rules of politics is don’t set yourself up to be snookered; don’t position yourself in a way that your opposition can and will undercut, don’t run attack lines that your opposition can and will invalidate. National has repeatedly done this. They ran on tax cuts as their sole platform when it […]