bill english

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Good one Bill II

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:19 am, December 19th, 2008 - 35 comments

It’s good to see Bill English acknowledge the last government has left New Zealand in a good position to face the economic crisis. The only shame is that he’s using that position to throw money at people who are more likely to pay down debt and increase savings than engage in stimulatory spending.

Good one Bill

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 10:59 am, December 18th, 2008 - 20 comments

Bill English has stopped the sale of BlueScope’s Taharoa ironsands business to a Chinese investor based on the fact that it won’t bring any value to New Zealand. Good on him. If we aren’t going to profit from investment then why should we allow it? Of course there is the small issue of hypocrisy given […]

‘Become a nation of savers’

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:52 am, November 27th, 2008 - 35 comments

That’s Finance Minister Bill English’s message to Kiwis. So, that would be why he is cutting our Kiwisaver nesteggs in half to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, eh?

Bill, tempted to drop the Acting?

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 5:55 am, November 21st, 2008 - 60 comments

Psst, Bill. Hey, Bill. Sitting in the big chair is pretty cool, eh? Bet you never thought you would get your chance after Brash rolled you. And we all know who cast the crucial vote in that coup, which smiling assassin betrayed you. Speaking of which, what a pity John will be back from APEC […]

Shock revelation: Taper is Wellington Leftie

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 8:25 am, November 6th, 2008 - 99 comments

The secret taper has revealed himself as Kees Keizer, a leftie from Wellington. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday encouraging Keizer to tell his story, preferably to The Standard or the Herald (more credible), and he steadfastly refused. So imagine my surprise when I see a three page article of him talking to […]

Context

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 6:43 am, November 6th, 2008 - 10 comments

Yesterday morning on Sunrise, John Key was moaning that there is no context to the latest secret agenda tape, where Bill English praises the war in Iraq and criticises Bill English’s ‘moralistic’ approach to international relations. Key is right, context helps us undestand information better. Luckily, Scoop’s library keeps every media release, so we can […]

The Nats on Iraq

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 11:55 am, November 5th, 2008 - 34 comments

The Nats have had two responses to English’s “pull the trigger” comments revealed last night: first the taping itself was branded a “dirty trick” and now we have Key claiming on Sunrise this morning that the comments may have been taken out of context. Well here’s a view of his own, straight from Hansard, with […]

English “worried” about Obama

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 8:10 pm, November 4th, 2008 - 97 comments

More from 3News tonight on the secret recordings taken at the Naitonal Party conference in August. This time it’s Bill English expressing concern over Barack Obama’s “moralistic” stance to international relations: I’m a bit worried about this whole Obama and Europe thing, just because there’s a limited effectiveness in being moralistic about international relations… and the […]

English pulls a Lockwood

Written By: Tane - Date published: 2:28 pm, October 29th, 2008 - 64 comments

Oh dear. In the same week Lockwood Smith made his racist remarks and Maurice Williamson committed the gaffe of talking openly about National Party policy, it appears Bill English pulled a wee Lockwood of his own. According to the Ashburton Guardian, English complained to a local Greypower meeting about the Filipino ‘invasion’ in his home […]

Highly principled statements

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 12:29 pm, October 21st, 2008 - 16 comments

Yesterday, Bill ‘do whatever it takes to win’ English was out trying to assuage Kiwis fears of National’s secret agenda (which his recorded remarks helped ignite). He praised Labour’s achievements but said it was time for more positive leadership. In other words, ‘don’t worry, we’re just like Labour but John smiles a lot, oh and […]

Tories still bigots at heart

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:56 pm, October 12th, 2008 - 47 comments

When I saw this guy using the guise of a Youtube debate question to attack Clark on her appearance, I felt sorry for the little jerk – what a pathetic life he must lead. When I saw Bill ‘do what it takes to win’ English do the same thing (at 1.30), while an audience of […]

Trickle-down

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:22 am, October 12th, 2008 - 11 comments

A few thoughts from today’s Agenda: Questioned about why National would introduce another tax rebate, having endlessly criticised Working for Families because of its complexity, English says ‘we do, in the long term, want a simpler tax system’. So, be on notice, Working for Families is under threat from National – they would ‘eventualy, but […]

In case you missed it

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 9:31 am, October 10th, 2008 - 14 comments

Here’s the footage from 3News last night on the fresh National Party cocktail revelations. Bill English’s comments again serve to reinforce the message of The Hollow Men: this is a group of people who are about winning at all costs, principles be damned.

On ‘doing what it takes to win’

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 10:51 pm, October 9th, 2008 - 33 comments

As you know, the latest secret agenda tape has Bill English saying National will do what it needs to do to win, even if that goes against their stated principles. The obvious line from National, which their spin doctors will have been running to the press gallery, is ‘this is nothing, winning trumps principles, all […]

Wait, what’s working?

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 6:26 am, August 13th, 2008 - 18 comments

ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is to spend the whole election campaign with families of four on TV saying ‘Mr Key’s taking money off us’. You can’t do that. So later on we’re gonna have to have a […]

Bill’s big wink

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 1:51 pm, August 12th, 2008 - 44 comments

‘No ifs, no buts, no maybes’ – that’s the phrase Bill English chose to use when denying he had any intentions of launching a coup against John Key after the election. It’s a phrase that is burned indelibly into many New Zealander’s memories, not least of all English’s; a phrase heavy with connotations of deceit. […]

When you smile….

Written By: Dancer - Date published: 2:30 pm, August 8th, 2008 - 8 comments

Hitting the email circuit is a video on the leaks within the National party over the Hollow Men.

English calls for own resignation

Written By: Tane - Date published: 12:05 pm, August 7th, 2008 - 29 comments

A reader has alerted us to this article from the NZ Herald where Bill English explains why he should resign or be sacked over his recorded statements at the National Party conference. Have a read for yourself – the analogy with the events of the last few days is perfect: National Party deputy leader Bill […]

08wire on Nats’ Kiwibank secret agenda

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 9:48 am, August 6th, 2008 - Comments Off on 08wire on Nats’ Kiwibank secret agenda

08wire.org, your videos make me smile.

Sarcophagus

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 11:29 am, August 5th, 2008 - 9 comments

After a stunning attack on John Key last night, Bill English is now reverting to more standard National techniques for handling ‘accidental frankness’. Initially, deny. When played a recording, claim not to remember it. When that doesn’t kill the story, claim to have ‘mis-spoken’. Finally, attack the source. It’s the same pattern we saw with […]

Meltdown

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 10:36 pm, August 4th, 2008 - 90 comments

The English tape has exploded into a massive scandal. You’ll be familiar with the content of the recording: – English mocks voters as greedy simpletons taken in by a flashy con-man “they’re saying that nice Mr Key, he’s pretty smart, he will get me some more” – He claims Key doesn’t understand basic trade-offs in […]

Behind closed doors

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 7:55 am, August 4th, 2008 - 69 comments

The scandal over Bill English’s comments at the National Party conference has not only overshadowed Key’s purposely vague conference announcements, it has derailed National’s entire election strategy. The audio is damning. Clearly and unequivocally, we have National’s Deputy Leader saying National will ‘eventually’ (possibly within a first term) sell Kiwibank. English not only says National […]

National still won’t say what they’d do

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 2:41 pm, May 21st, 2008 - 9 comments

Seemingly content to coast along on the “time for a change” sentiment, the National Party are still refusing to offer any substantive details in major policy areas: government debt, work rights and retirement savings. English ended up sounding like a broken record on Agenda a few days back. His stock answer was ‘I can’t tell […]

Kremlinology: National on work rights

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 1:56 pm, May 20th, 2008 - 24 comments

National’s refusal to say what it stands for is becoming so ridiculous we have resorted to the Cold War art of Kremlinology. Today, we look at work rights. On Agenda, Bill English said he is concerned about new ‘entitlements’ for workers. ‘Entitlements’ is an anti-worker way of saying work rights – it implies that they […]

Police confirm Brash email leak an inside job

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 10:42 am, April 16th, 2008 - 19 comments

Police have closed their investigation into the theft of e-mails from former National Party leader Dr Don Brash and have announced that they have been unsuccessful in identifying those responsible for the thefts. Despite Brash’s ongoing insistence to the contrary, the police have said that they’ve been able to rule out the possibility than an […]

Still no apology

Written By: Tane - Date published: 3:42 pm, April 10th, 2008 - 19 comments

Last Tuesday Bill English stood up in Parliament and accused the CTU and the PSA of breaking the Electoral Finance Act. Problem for Bill was he’d got it completely wrong, and as we noted at the time the appropriate course of action was to make a formal apology in Parliament. Well to Bill’s credit he’s […]

English slapped down by CTU

Written By: Tane - Date published: 11:26 am, April 2nd, 2008 - 17 comments

The Council of Trade Unions has given Bill English a good slapping over his false allegations in Parliament yesterday that the peak union body had broken the Electoral Finance Act. English accused the CTU of failing to include the home address of its financial agent in its application to become a third party, a lapse […]