Author Archive

Bridges’ many and varied positions on coalition with NZ First

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:48 pm, February 12th, 2020 - 18 comments

In the past 10 days Simon Bridges has said that National will not go into coalition with NZ First after the next election, to it could consider coalition in the future, to there is no way it will ever go into coalition with NZ First.

Will the last remaining National MP please turn off the lights

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:35 pm, February 11th, 2020 - 58 comments

Three more National MPs have joined the ranks of those leaving Parliament this year.

Will DPF condemn National for hiding the identity of its donors?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:35 am, February 11th, 2020 - 59 comments

David Farrar has called for the suspension of Winston Peters from Cabinet for reasons which would also justify the suspension of Simon Bridges from the National Party.

The end of petrol driven cars

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:57 pm, February 9th, 2020 - 36 comments

Boris Johnson’s UK Government has announced that by 2035 there will be no more petrol or diesel cars entering the UK fleet. Is it time for the New Zealand government to announce the same thing?

No mates Simon

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:48 am, February 7th, 2020 - 86 comments

The repercussions from Simon Bridges’ disastrous Waitangi performance continue to reverberate. His suggestions that Māori seats and the Waitangi Tribunal should be done away with have resulted in the Māori Party indicating it is more likely to support Labour after the election.

Trump survives

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:18 am, February 7th, 2020 - 35 comments

Donald Trump has predictably been acquitted by the US Senate on the impeachment charges laid against him by the House of Representatives.

The MPs go to Waitangi

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:04 am, February 5th, 2020 - 93 comments

Yesterday the political parties were welcomed onto the upper Marae at Waitangi. Jacinda Ardern took the occasion to give a stock take of what the Government was doing to address Iwi concerns, Andrew Little gave his speech totally in te reo, and Simon Bridges chose to use the opportunity to politic.

Bridges’ biggest gamble

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:46 pm, February 2nd, 2020 - 103 comments

Simon Bridges has mimicked John Key and ruled out National working with NZ First after the election. The difference is however that back then Key ruled out working with NZ First because NZ First was involved in a SFO investigation about the hiding of a $100,000 donation. This time it is National.

Pay the money back Simon

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:17 pm, February 1st, 2020 - 33 comments

Simon Bridges has stated that National wants to pay the undeclared $100,000 donation back but even though nearly two years have passed since it was made it still remains unrepaid.

Is National the party of law and order?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:26 am, January 30th, 2020 - 38 comments

Following the announcement by the Serious Fraud Office of charges relating to the donation of $100,000 to the National Party Simon Bridges claim of being exonerated appear to be optimistic.

SFO files charges in relation to National Party donations

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:37 pm, January 29th, 2020 - 55 comments

The SFO has confirmed that it has charged four persons with offences relating to the receipt of donations by the National Party.

The Government’s $12 billion infrastructure package

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:33 am, January 29th, 2020 - 96 comments

The details of the Government’s $12 billion infrastructure announcement have been released.

Trump’s Middle East peace plan

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:47 am, January 29th, 2020 - 21 comments

This news shows how strange International Relations has become. Donald Trump, currently on trial in the Senate for withholding approved funds from the Ukraine in an attempt to get the Ukranian authorities to dig up dirt on his possible opponent Joe Biden, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and […]

How low will Bridges go?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:55 am, January 28th, 2020 - 23 comments

Simon Bridges has wondered out loud if anti semitism stopped the Government from sending a senior representative to a Holocaust memorial in Israel.

Steve Mnuchin, not Greta Thunberg, needs to go back to school

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:52 am, January 27th, 2020 - 11 comments

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has attacked Greta Thunberg for not understanding the economics of climate change. But he has then been roundly criticised by a number of people, including his wife.

Labour is signing up to Facebook transparency tool

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:58 pm, January 23rd, 2020 - 68 comments

Jacinda Ardern has announced that Labour will abide by Facebook Ad Library Report rules which allow voters to see where campaigning money is being spent on Facebook ads. And that it will have its major policies independently costed.

The right is splintering on climate change

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:30 am, January 23rd, 2020 - 70 comments

The right appears to be splintering on climate change, with former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull describing Donald Trump as the world’s leading climate change denier. And locally National MP Andrew Bayley has talked the profound effects of climate change on Antarctica’s ecosystems at the same time as Paula Bennett is attacking educational material designed to make children think about climate change.

RIP Terry Jones

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:47 am, January 23rd, 2020 - 16 comments

Sad overnight news with the death of Terry Jones being announced.

The great political heist that wasn’t

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:47 am, January 21st, 2020 - 40 comments

National has hinted darkly that the theft of laptops from its headquarters was possibly motivated by political considerations even though it had been told of a similar burglary of a neighbouring office had also occurred recently.

Bridges will talk tough to the Philippines but not China

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:36 am, January 20th, 2020 - 18 comments

Simon Bridges is visiting the Philippines. And unlike his recent trip to China this time he has decided to talk tough to the local leaders about human rights.

Federated Farmers launches petition against its business model

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:20 am, January 19th, 2020 - 157 comments

Federated Farmers has started a petition against an educational resource that teaches about climate change and activism because it does not present their industry in a sufficiently positive way.

National created more working groups than Labour

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:00 am, January 18th, 2020 - 31 comments

The Herald has reported that National in its first two years of Government created *more* working groups than Labour.

McClay accused of supporting China’s mass detention of muslims

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:26 am, January 17th, 2020 - 51 comments

Freedom House has criticised National MP Todd McClay for reinforcing Chinese descriptions of the mass imprisonment of Muslim minorities as vocational training centres.

News Corp climate change denial attacked by (checks notes) James Murdoch …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:04 am, January 15th, 2020 - 116 comments

News Corp has had a bad week in the media with many questioning its continued climate change denial and its support for politicians refusing to accept the reality of climate change. But the most surprising opposition has been expressed by Rupert Murdoch’s son and News Corp director James Murdoch.