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The Big Mo

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, October 8th, 2023 - 48 comments

Recent polls suggest that National and Act is going backward while Labour has stabilised. A win for the left is possible but this last week will be all important.

Managing Expectations – the NZ Housing crisis and Labour’s response.

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, October 6th, 2023 - 42 comments

Watching the 2023 election campaign in New Zealand, one of Labour’s challenges appears to be that it has failed to manage voters’ expectations over the last six years. Recalling the election campaign in 2017, Jacinda Ardern gave people hope that politics could be different. However government is about handling problems – like building at scale and pandemics.

Even Capitalists think that too much Capitalism is a bad thing

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, October 5th, 2023 - 9 comments

In recent times Goldman Sax has warned National that its policies will hurt the economy. And S&P has praised Labour’s handling of the economy and expressed a high assessment of various factors relating to the country.

What really matters this election – poverty

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, September 30th, 2023 - 38 comments

National has shown its real priorities with proposals to cut benefits that will pay for increased tax concessions for landlords and increasing prison resources in anticipation of the crime wave the increased poverty will cause.

Tax or quality public services – which is more important to NZ voters?

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 16 comments

Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.

Even Mike Hosking thinks that a National-Act-NZ First coalition would be an absolute disaster

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, September 26th, 2023 - 63 comments

As the polls show a further slump in support for the right and as Winston Peters emerges as a kingmaker there is growing concern about the possibility of a real coalition of chaos being elected.

There is no recession in New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, September 21st, 2023 - 57 comments

The growth figures are up and National operatives will be in despair.  Not only did the economy grow considerably faster than anticipated in the last quarter at 0.9% but the previous quarter’s figure has been resolved from -0.1% to 0%.

Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, September 20th, 2023 - 15 comments

From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.

Labour’s Women’s Manifesto

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, September 18th, 2023 - 65 comments

“A re-elected Labour Government will continue its proud tradition of advancing women’s health, employment, and legal rights Spokesperson for Women Jan Tinetti said.”

National is devastated as PREFU is better than expected

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, September 13th, 2023 - 26 comments

National has reached new levels of excessive hyperbole in response to the PREFU release which was better than expected.

The silver lining of last night’s poll

Written By: - Date published: 1:56 pm, September 12th, 2023 - 31 comments

The silver lining to last night’s Reid Research poll is that Act’s support is slumping and if there is a change in Government it may not be as extreme as it could have been.

Labour pledges free cervical screening 

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, September 12th, 2023 - 9 comments

“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and regular screening saves lives, so it is critical cost isn’t a barrier to accessing early detection”

Can’t we have more charging stations AND the clean car discount?

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 7th, 2023 - 18 comments

National’s proposal to increase the number of electric car charging stations is something that should be considered but not at the expense of the extraordinarily successful clean car discount.

Jeremy Corbyn was not fit to be Prime Minister. But is Starmer?

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 am, September 4th, 2023 - 20 comments

It is said that there is a thin line between bravery and stupidity. Posting a link to my blog post which said that Jeremy Corbyn was not fit to be Prime Minister, to the ‘Labour London Left’ WhatsApp group. I will leave it to the reader to decide which one that was.

Labour’s 2023 campaign launch

Written By: - Date published: 2:35 pm, September 2nd, 2023 - 54 comments

Video from Labour’s 2023 campaign launch in Auckland.

The report of our death has been grossly exaggerated

Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, August 31st, 2023 - 44 comments

Now is not the time to give up, now is the time to work harder at winning.

Labour should not cut spending on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, August 30th, 2023 - 22 comments

At a time when the effects of Climate Change are becoming pronounced now is not the time to cut spending on carbon reduction projects.

Hipkins rules out coalition with Peters

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, August 28th, 2023 - 27 comments

Yesterday was a good day for Labour.  Leader Chris Hipkins started talking about what the party stood for and what its values are while also ruling out a coalition with NZ First.

Education policy and the compulsory teaching of subjects

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, August 22nd, 2023 - 26 comments

The brains trust of Labour’s leadership have recently released a policy providing for the compulsory teaching of financial literacy in schools. Tacking to the centre and seeking votes from the pro business part of the electorate is an interesting approach to campaigning.  Time will tell if it is the correct approach.

What is at stake this election – housing

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, August 16th, 2023 - 87 comments

Since 2017 this Government has constructed 12,000 new Kainga Ora houses, overseen record numbers of new housing consents, moved to resolving the housing crisis and stabilised and reduced house prices. All this is at stake if there is a change of Government.

Labour’s GST and WFF policy announcement

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, August 13th, 2023 - 168 comments

As predicted Labour has announced a policy of taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and a significant adjustment to Working for Families In House Tax Credit levels and the Thresholds.

The difference between Blackrock and China

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, August 9th, 2023 - 4 comments

Some big news yesterday as the Government announced a deal with US Investment Firm Blackrock for a $2 billion fund for renewable electricity projects.

Climate NGOs on the BlackRock deal

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, August 9th, 2023 - 2 comments

NGO responses to the government’s announcement yesterday of the deal with global investment management firm BlackRock, to fund 100% renewable electricity generation in New Zealand.

Tree protection for urban trees to be restored

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 6th, 2023 - 12 comments

The Government is set to overturn the previous National Government’s laws that prevented proper protection of urban trees and which has seen a stampede of urban tree removal.

Labours’ party list

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, July 31st, 2023 - 25 comments

Arrived in the email. Here is the full list of your 2023 Labour Candidates:

A letter to Chris Hipkins

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, July 30th, 2023 - 31 comments

My 2c on what I think Chris Hipkins needs to do to win this year’s election.

Should Labour take GST off fresh food?

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, July 28th, 2023 - 87 comments

National’s Nicola Willis has claimed that Labour will soon announce policy to take GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.

Politics is indeed a blood sport

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, July 25th, 2023 - 56 comments

But should it be? Without acknowledging in any way its role in politicising Kiritapu Allan’s issues National has stated that politics is a blood sport.

Allan fired

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, July 24th, 2023 - 162 comments

This does not help.

Year of the Long Grind 2

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, July 22nd, 2023 - 26 comments

There will be no respite for any of us this year and National has no cure for it.

How Hipkins Can Still Win

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, July 13th, 2023 - 28 comments

Hipkins being himself is his election-winning attribute.