Author Archive

Spinbusting: the anchor-story

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 12:27 pm, December 4th, 2008 - 52 comments

There’s a lot of talk about the ACC budget deficit and National’s use of the issue to create an environment in which their privatisation scheme can roll with the minimum political fall-out. Any doubt I had that this was their plan evaporated this morning when I heard Nick Smith on RNZ moving the story along […]

Small-target governing

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:01 am, November 27th, 2008 - 28 comments

Yesterday it was a $7bn rescue package. Today it’s preparing a contingency plan to bail out big business. But do we get details? Of course not. I’ve got a bad feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that there’s no real plan here, or if there is it’s one that the public wouldn’t like […]

‘Cos I say so

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:22 am, November 26th, 2008 - 22 comments

Following Tony “cos I say so” Ryall’s media success with his plan to cut down waiting lists using the King Canute model of governance, the word around the traps is that several of National’s front bench are planning similar moves. Over the next few days expect the following: Simon Power will announce plans to tell […]

The Game

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 12:09 pm, November 18th, 2008 - 52 comments

The press gallery is ebullient at the moment and I can understand why. After years of having to analyse the same old government faces and drain the collective wisdom about political personalities to the point of seemingly-endless repetition they now have a new toy to play with. No more do these journalists have to search […]

Retro

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 4:09 pm, November 17th, 2008 - 46 comments

It seems 80’s retro has finally moved from being manifest only as the return of skinny jeans and naff facial hair and is now rearing its ugly big-haired head in parliament. Of course I’m talking not just about 80’s rock legend Roger Douglas but also this clause in the National/ACT confidence and supply agreement: Establishing […]

Snouts in the trough

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 3:57 pm, November 16th, 2008 - 68 comments

No Right Turn blogs on the National/ACT coalition agreement. Of particular interest is the clause he’s pulled out that shows ACT will be funded by the taxpayer for consultants and research: To enable ACT to make a substantive contribution to the government’s programme, it will have adequate access to funding, in a bulk form or […]

Stimulating

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 2:25 pm, November 14th, 2008 - 50 comments

One of the things I like about being left wing is how often the best moral decision is also the best economic decision. Take economic stimulus for example. In a recession it’s the most vulnerable such as beneficiaries, low paid workers and youth that are hit worst because they are the ones least likely to […]

Not what they expected

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 11:02 am, November 12th, 2008 - 58 comments

I’ve been out and about over the last few days talking to people from the left and the right as well as a few apolitical types and the sense I get is that people didn’t get what they expected from this election. Just last night I was out to dinner with a group that included […]

A change to what? Part II

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 12:14 pm, November 11th, 2008 - 88 comments

A few months ago I asked National supporters who comment here what they wanted to see in terms of hard policy from National. What I got was a lot of Labour bashing but not much else. Now National is in government there’s a lot of sentiment about how great it is that Labour is gone […]

What will National’s cabinet look like?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:55 am, November 11th, 2008 - 58 comments

Will it be the same tired old faces, the fresh noobs or a mixture of both? Will it be an all National cabinet or will Peter “marginal seat” Dunne secure himself a place at the grown-ups table? Here’s a few off the top of my head: Bill English – Deputy leader and Finance Obvious really […]

Don’t mourn, organise.

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 11:48 am, November 10th, 2008 - 70 comments

In 1984 I watched the incoming Labour government move on a set of policies they had no mandate for and I also watched the Left flounder to resist them. Given it was only three years since we had mobilised so strongly against the Springbok tour that failure to act was unacceptable. In 1990 when we […]

Congratulations

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:36 am, November 9th, 2008 - 77 comments

It’s been a hard fought campaign but it’s clear that we’ve got a firmly right wing government now. Congratulations are in order for John Key and the ACT party. Of course I’m not happy with the outcome and I expect it will bode badly for a lot of New Zealanders but that’s the democratic result […]

John’s walkabout itinerary

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:00 am, November 7th, 2008 - 44 comments

We’ve been emailed a copy of the itinerary for John Key’s last day of campaigning. It looks like he’s doing a last minute dash around heartland Labour seats which fits with their strategy of going into their opponent’s base. If you are in Auckland later today you should pop along and have a chat with […]

Pigs in muck

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:29 am, November 6th, 2008 - 137 comments

Yesterday, John Key was telling journalists that he knew the secret agenda taper, Kees Keizer, was a Labour Party activist. In fact, he knew that wasn’t true, which is why he refused to name him. The Herald has. And what it’s also reveled is a close relationship between Cameron Slater and the National Party research […]

Look! Over there!

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:53 pm, November 4th, 2008 - 40 comments

The latest secret tape has come out and it’s a classic example of the face of the National Party that John Key doesn’t want you to see. Pro-war and anti-Obama. National’s response? The classic “dirty tricks” misdirection. This is all about Labour apparently. Not that there’s any proof however. And not that it’s even likely […]

Hypocrite

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 9:45 pm, November 3rd, 2008 - 47 comments

Watching Key tour Progressive Enterprises today was bad enough but watching him claim to support those workers in the leaders debate was sickening considering his party’s stance in 2006 when those same workers were locked out of their employment for daring to ask for a decent pay rise. At the time National’s employment spokesperson (who […]

How does ACT fit in?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:54 am, November 3rd, 2008 - 10 comments

I have my doubts about the veracity of Meurant’s statements as he is well known for bigging himself up as a hard man and all of this “politicians in our pockets” stuff certainly fits that description. But the media is treating them as potentially damning and so are many rightwing commentators so I guess there […]

End of Winston?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 9:30 am, November 1st, 2008 - 82 comments

The Dominion Post has published some pretty damning evidence indicating Winston Peters’ connections with the Vela family. According to the Dom Winston’s right-hand man, Ross Meurant, was telling the Vela’s that their donations to New Zealand First would give them “input” into the party’s policies. Like many others I’m always hesitant to predict the end […]

Chain gang

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:17 am, October 29th, 2008 - 76 comments

The Nats’ private prison scheme just gets worse. As No Right Turn points out prisons would be used to do contract work and prisoners would be forced to be used as cheap labour or lose their parole. Aside from the fact this would constitute slave labour it would also allow prison companies to undercut other […]

Caught in the ACT

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:43 am, October 24th, 2008 - 48 comments

The Dom Post reports that ACT will have to file amended returns after failing to declare $20,000 of donated office space. Luckily for ACT nobody found out until they got past the time-limit for prosecution. Rodney Hide is, of course, not embarrassed. I’m reminded of that proverb about glass-houses.

Ramshackle PR fiasco

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 1:35 pm, October 23rd, 2008 - 27 comments

It seems DPF, Cameron Slater and John Ansell have pooled their collective genius and come up with a new campaign. Apparently they had some money left over from their earlier ramshackle PR fiasco so they’re putting up more anti-Labour billboards as the Free Speech Coalition: I have some advice for them: 1. Pick an issue […]

Sharp as a tack

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 1:07 pm, October 22nd, 2008 - 20 comments

I’ve just listened to the reporter’s tape of Lockwood Smith’s racial gaffe and it is hilarious. Not for his appalling comment but for the marvelous follow-up question the reporter (I presume it’s Marlborough Express reporter, Cherie Howie) makes about whether Smith is more guarded in his statements after the secret agenda fiasco. Smith’s response? “it […]

Patu online

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:43 am, October 22nd, 2008 - 78 comments

There’s been a bit of fuss about the ’81 tour lately and whether it is pertinent to today’s politics. For years now I’ve suggested to those too young to remember the tour to watch Patu because it provides a visceral sense of just how important the tour was as a formative political event and it […]

Right questions, wrong answer

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:53 am, October 21st, 2008 - 56 comments

Colin James has a column in today’s Herald in which he lays out the difference between perception and reality in New Zealand politics. In it he goes through seven points: crime, healthcare, education, the treaty, immigration, poverty and social engineering and points out that in nearly every case Labour has taken action and in each […]

Sensible Sentencing Trust in drag?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:44 pm, October 19th, 2008 - 29 comments

Act have run an anti-crime protest outside of Mt Eden today and it was particularly theatrical by the sound of it with lots of coffin lids and whatnot. ACT have never done anything like this before. But the Sensible Sentencing Trust certainly has. I’ve asked before why the trust has refused to register as a […]

Spending ends

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 5:08 pm, October 19th, 2008 - 18 comments

At the Labour party’s Wellington launch this afternoon Helen Clark has declared there will be no more spending promises from Labour. This was unexpected and will mean that the focus will now be on National and whether they will follow suit. If they decide to release more spending policy in this environment they can expect […]

Advice

Written By: IrishBill - 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 […]

A real economic plan

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:21 pm, October 12th, 2008 - 16 comments

One of the things that has pissed me off about MSM political analysis lately is the constant repetition of the idea that cutting taxes in a recession is all you need to do to be considered Keynesian. This is generally remarked upon in the context of National shifting their economic policy left (that “Keynesianism” and […]

John’s cheese

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 9:03 am, October 12th, 2008 - 16 comments

For the many of you who won’t know, Tory boys David Farrar and Cameron Slater have been driving around the country interviewing MPs and youtubing the results. They did John Key in Rotorua the other day and the result is telling: What particularly interested me was Key’s response to DPF’s question (at 1’45”) about what […]

Liable to suffer

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:08 am, October 10th, 2008 - 17 comments

When confronted by media, both Key and English immediately described the secret agenda recording as “Pathetic”, despite being doorstepped in different cities. They, or Crosby|Textor, have obviously previously constructed a line. Just in case. All very good but the origin of pathetic (and pathos) is not quite what a lot of people would think: [Origin: […]

No, Bill.

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:29 pm, October 9th, 2008 - 27 comments

I felt a pang of pity for Bill English tonight as I watched TV3 roll out another secret tape. After all, “winning is everything” isn’t an unusual sentiment in politics. But when I considered the second part of his comment, “despite the highly principled statements”, my pity faded. It’s one thing to engage in “win […]