Archive for June, 2009

Ralston vs Ralston

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, June 14th, 2009 - 16 comments

Two of New Zealand’s top political commentators (it pains me to write that) have gone head to head over the Mt Albert result: April Bill Ralston: Some who voted Labour might now feel that National has not turned out to be as bad as they expected and either withhold their vote or actively support the […]

Break the Power of Money.

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, June 14th, 2009 - 30 comments

For some weeks our media has been distracted by various sideshows. Worth, Swineflu, Mt Albert, Flight 447 and of course David Bain, have all in turn captured our national psyche… but meanwhile the most pressing political issue, the global fiscal crisis, grinds on with little comment. The crisis response more or less worked. Historians will […]

Get ready for the spin

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, June 14th, 2009 - 64 comments

63% to 17%. That’s not a defeat. That’s a slaughter. An utter humiliation for the Tories. How will the Tories and their fanboys (Armstrong, Ralston, Laws, Farrar etc) spin it? Pretty obvious: It was Lee’s fault for the gaffes. It was Worth’s fault for the past fortnight. Mt Albert people are dole-bludging darkies (see Kiwiblog […]

A disgrace

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 23 comments

I’m stunned by National. Their leader didn’t support his Mt Albert candidate by turning up tonight and now nobody will talk to the media. There’s being a poor loser and then there is this kind of behaviour. At the very least front up, concede and thank your supporters and the electorate. Lee is a disgrace. […]

Mt Albert results – Shearer in a landslide

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 66 comments

David Shearer has won a bigger share of the vote in Mt Albert than even the great Helen Clark did just 7 months ago. That’s a great win for him and a huge victory for Labour over National. It shows, incontrovertibly, that the salad days are over for this Key government. It’s all downhill from […]

Dragging myself to the party

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 7 comments

The by-election is over apart from finding out the result. So I’m dragging my tired and abused body to the party to find out the result. It was a long day and night. This is the second time I’ve been struck down with a cold, or in this case, some obnoxious common (not swine) flu […]

Questionable

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 20 comments

I was shocked, shocked, when I pulled up Kiwiblog just now and there wasn’t a long post of quotes by political commentators on how St John had slain the evil Worth interspersed with ‘indeed’. Instead, there was a long post of quotes from the Herald on juries interspersed with ‘indeed’. I quickly discovered why. Worth’s resignation has not […]

The psychology of buying green

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 10 comments

I know political animals are watching Mt Albert today, but something to read in the meantime on the psychology of buying ‘green’. We hear it in a myriad of places and phrases, from sustainability to the need to buy what’s best for the environment. But how much is that really a motivator, and how much […]

Mount Albert by-election

Written By: - Date published: 6:02 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 26 comments

Today all of the hoardings in Mount Albert go down. Tommorrow the many volunteers from all major and few minor parties will assemble to help get voters to go to the polling booths. For people in Mount Albert who are unsure if they can vote in that electorate because you just moved there. You can. […]

Richard Worth has resigned as MP

Written By: - Date published: 4:24 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 74 comments

Breaking news from Stuff / DomPost LATEST Richard Worth has resigned as an MP with immediate effect. Dr Worth, who entered Parliament in 1999, said he had gone for the good of the National Party. “Since I resigned as a Cabinet Minister earlier this month, I have been considering my personal options, and also the […]

Get a padded bicycle seat, save taxpayers money

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 7 comments

No Right Turn has been investigating John Key’s baby: Back in February, Prime Minister John Key came up with a bold and radical plan to end the recession and create jobs: a cycleway the length of New Zealand. As it became apparent that the plan was not a joke, and was in fact being taken […]

Class war

Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 71 comments

One of the particularly unpleasant parts of the last budget was the cutting of funding for night school classes in conjunction with the increase in private school funding. Apart from the grossly blatant transfer of taxpayers’ money from low and middle-income Kiwis to the rich the move represents the fact that this government has no […]

Pontius John

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 49 comments

How extraordinary of John Key to align himself with western history’s most notorious coward in his statement that he had “washed his hands” of Richard Worth. He’s a poor judge of people in his personal choice, that is clear – after all, he appointed Richard Worth as a National Party Minister, and he anointed Melissa […]

Watercare – minons of the dictator

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 9 comments

Rodney Hide, in his role of Minister for Local Government,  has made himself the petty dictator of Auckland’s future. Therefore he is ultimately responsible in that role for a curious request through his minions. Phil Twyford reports at Red Alert.. Council water staff in Auckland have been given a case of the  jitters  after Councils […]

A place in the sun

Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, June 12th, 2009 - 14 comments

Another bad week is about to end for John Key with a mammoth defeat of his handpicked Mt Albert candidate. What’s that now, four disaster weeks in a row? And another one to come next week when the House resumes and he has to face all those unanswered questions about why he sacked Worth. Gee, […]

Media irresponsible to name her

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, June 12th, 2009 - 165 comments

I haven’t really wanted to get involved in the whole debate surrounding Richard Worth. It’s horrible and messy, and makes me feel sick every time I see fuel added  to the fire. It was no surprise to see the creep Cameron Slater (Whale Oil) publish her name, but it was a surprise to see the […]

Poor Melissa, well, not so poor

Written By: - Date published: 5:38 am, June 12th, 2009 - 13 comments

She’s really trying her best. Even with only one news cycle to go, Melissa Lee is still out there, working hard to get herself into third place. From NZPA: Appearing in a candidate’s debate in front of members of the Unite union, Ms Lee was asked how she would survive on the minimum wage of […]

Self-inflicted wounds

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 am, June 12th, 2009 - 5 comments

Whale Oil has a page of ‘trophies’. Little pictures of people he thinks he has dragged through the mud and embarrassed. Even made himself a little ‘harpooned’ image. Running this ‘ludicrous’ (as John Armstrong called it) honey-trap line. Getting Farrar to run it too. Only to have Key come out and say he believes the […]

Back to basics

Written By: - Date published: 5:07 pm, June 11th, 2009 - 50 comments

Radio NZ is playing John Key saying that, following the letter from the woman in the sexual harassment saga, he has “washed his hands” of Richard Worth. It seems likely he will move to have Worth expelled from caucus. Good to see he chose a sensible path rather than the ‘attack the woman’ strategy the […]

John’s recession-buster: a party, in 2 years

Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, June 11th, 2009 - 29 comments

On Monday, John Key promised he would make a ‘major tourism announcement’ today. Apparently, we’ve just had it. In a speech today, Key announced that during the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Queens Wharf in Auckland will be a temporary ‘live site’ (whatever that means) where there will be an opening ceremony. Apparently, it will […]

Marxism, whoo!

Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, June 11th, 2009 - 11 comments

All going according to plan, I’ll be there. Hungover in the back row.

Let’s avoid an expenses side-show

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, June 11th, 2009 - 30 comments

Most people with an interest in politics will have heard about the expenses scandal in the UK. Their system allowed rorts of all shapes and sizes to take place – MPs’ expenses were not questioned because they were Honourable Members. Intense scrutiny has proved quite a few of them otherwise. Could this be happening here? […]

Nats slash education

Written By: - Date published: 6:37 am, June 11th, 2009 - 21 comments

Did anyone else notice that for all this supposed government waste that National was going to get rid of it made only $500 million (less than 0.7% government spending) of ‘savings’ per year in the Budget. To get these ‘savings’ that it had to cut education spending savagely: Cut Early Childhood Education Professional Development – $9.8m Rescinding […]

Live blogging from Backbenchers

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 31 comments

Jarbury is live blogging from backbenchers tonight 🙂

National: targeting the victim

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 129 comments

So National’s latest tactic in the Richard Worth affair appears to have been to leak the identity of the first complainant against Richard Worth (the one with all the “textes”). Why do I say this? Simple. The story that broke on the TV news tonight first appeared earlier today on the website of National Party […]

Where’s the trap?

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 73 comments

Yeah. Great honey-trap. – First, target a minister that doesn’t matter with a woman who is openly Labour – Second, delete the most offensive texts and don’t record any phone calls – Third, don’t go public, refuse Goff’s offer to raise it privately with Key – Fourth, raise the issue privately with Key once the […]

Cameron Slater gets it wrong

Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 21 comments

Cameron Slater (WhaleOil) gets it wrong again in his post about me today. On the upside he managed to write his post today for once not using any disgusting names. Anyhow, to clear up the issue once and for all, here are my political affiliations. I was misquoted in the Herald article that Cameron Slater […]

“From the Edge”

Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 9 comments

Kevin Roberts has a new post up on his Herald blog, “From the Edge”. What a load of bloody waffle. To think in the 80’s and 90’s people used to take the man seriously. Mind you they took neo-liberalism seriously too. Perhaps Roberts is due a comeback along with all the other old tat.

Something cool

Written By: - Date published: 1:05 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 3 comments

Werewolf, new from Gordon Campbell and friends.

A sign of things to come

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, June 10th, 2009 - 41 comments

Boniface hits the mark

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, June 10th, 2009 - 9 comments

From Linley Boniface in the Dom 0n Monday: …My kids love hearing about the teacher who used to soak his strap in warm water every morning; about the uncle who was regularly caned on the back of the legs for refusing to get a haircut; about the family friend whose secondary school had a tradition […]