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It’s the economy, stupid

Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, October 16th, 2010 - 11 comments

John Armstrong is at his insightful best today. He’s hit on the emerging change in the political discourse – the economy is going to crap and that’s what really matters, not the meltdowns of minor MPs and racist TV monkeys. And this do nothing government doesn’t care and has no solutions. This is Labour’s chance to offer a real alternative:

Lessons for Labour?

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, October 16th, 2010 - 53 comments

As the dust settles on the local body elections, what are the lessons for Labour?  Especially, of course, “the big one” in Auckland.  Len Brown, a “Labour Mayor from South Auckland”, beat Key’s anointed candidate for the right.  What lessons can Labour take away? How does this shape the 2011 election campaign?

What should National do?

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, October 14th, 2010 - 36 comments

What should Labour do?  One of our regular commenters steps up and answers the question.  What more can we add?  And, my challenge to the right wingers, can you come up with a similarly broad, coherent and principled summary of what you think National stands for?  What should National do?

Williams and Trotter on Carter’s expulsion

Written By: - Date published: 10:06 pm, October 12th, 2010 - 13 comments

RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan talks to Mike Williams and Chris Trotter about Chris Carter’s expulsion.

Carter expelled

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, October 12th, 2010 - 109 comments

The Labour Party council has decided to expel Chris Carter from the party. While party members should be free to criticise the leadership, Carter went too far. He has repeatedly embarrassed and damaged the party. In doing so, he disrespected every member of the Labour Party – that’s the real crime.

Carter faces the music

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, October 11th, 2010 - 21 comments

Chris Carter faces a disciplinary hearing at labour HQ this evening. Already evicted from caucus, this meeting could result in sanctions from the Party including revoking his membership. But I don’t think it will come to that, and I don’t think it should for both principled and political reasons.

Carter’s piss-poor blackmail & careerism

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 pm, October 3rd, 2010 - 89 comments

So, Chris Carter is threatening a ‘tell-all’ book on the Fifth Labour Government published at the next election. But he says he won’t publish it if he gets to stay in Labour. It’s blackmail, a further act of treachery for which he deserves to be evicted from the party. Carter’s rot is the corruption of all MPs who forget who they were elected to serve.

No Right Turn on GST policy changes.

Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, September 27th, 2010 - 113 comments

No Right Turn has covered todays announcement about policy changes for GST on fruit and vegetables. Since it is pretty comprehensive we will reproduce the two posts here.

Dunedin North – David Clark

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 pm, September 25th, 2010 - 20 comments

Long serving Dunedin North MP Pete Hodgson is stepping down at the next election.  The local Labour party today selected their next candidate, the Rev Dr David Clark.

Re: Chauvel on CERRA

Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, September 24th, 2010 - 18 comments

A few days ago Charles Chauvel wrote a piece on Red Alert on why Labour voted for CERRA. I have two big problems with it. 1) Labour may have won concessions that improved CERRA but they didn’t get the key one. 2) There’s a dangerous mindset in the position that Labour had to vote for dictatorship or get pilloried in the media and lose votes.

Cosgrove slams McVicar’s role in Garrett affair

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, September 23rd, 2010 - 10 comments

Great video of Clayton Cosgrove getting right stuck into the Sensible Sentencing Trust’s Garth McVicar over his hypocrisy on  David Garrett. Cosgrove’s certainly no bleeding heart liberal so I’d say McVicar’s credibility on law in order is now pretty much shot.

Fa’afoi for Mana

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, September 18th, 2010 - 75 comments

Kris Fa’afoi will be Labour’s candidate for Mana. There were four candidates – all very high quality -all spoke well and the selection panel would not have had an easy choice to make. There was a very large turnout and plenty of support for Kris in the hall; he was impressive and will do well. […]

Some thoughts on ACT

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 18th, 2010 - 81 comments

One way or another ACT’s troubles are going to ripple through the entire political discourse.

So what’s likely to happen with Garrett?

And what does it mean for everyone else?

Do I stay or do I go?

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, September 16th, 2010 - 105 comments

The Labour and Green parties’ activists are in uproar over their parliamentary wings’ decision to vote for the Gerry Brownlee Enabling Act. A lot of people are saying they won’t campaign for these parties and talking of voting for a minor party or independents. Is it time to damn them and leave them? No. We’re going to win our parties back.

Labour grassroots revolt against Quake Act betrayal

Written By: - Date published: 7:51 am, September 16th, 2010 - 154 comments

A couple of days ago Labour MP Brendon Burns posted a self-congratulatory piece over at Red Alert celebrating the ‘rare unity’ among parliamentary parties in voting to make Gerry Brownlee dictator of New Zealand for the next 18 months.
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The response from Labour’s grassroots in the comment section was swift and brutal. The Parliamentary Labour Party may have abdicated its role as opposition but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy.

The silence of the lambs

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 pm, September 4th, 2010 - 51 comments

Where are the Greens and Labour on the South Canterbury Finance issue? Just looking at the sheer politics of the situation, this is something they should be all over. There is enormous public anger at the way National was willing to magic up $1.7 billion of taxpayer cash for its rich mates while services are being cut. This should be the tipping point, when the Left seizes the public mood for its economic vision but where’s the leadership?

Our $20 million bill for Nats’ expediency

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 28 comments

Many argue English should never have extended the deposit guarantee to South Canterbury Finance in April, or question whether the terms of the guarantee called for the pay-out. Then there’s the stink around the payment of SCF bonds. One thing’s for sure, the Nats didn’t need to spend $20 million on foreign depositors – they did it to try to kill the issue faster. Plenty of meat for Labour. Will they bite?

Sensible Sentencing Trust: a bunch of liars

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 am, August 28th, 2010 - 20 comments

The Sensible Sentencing Trust has lied about having Labour’s support.

Labour must come down on the trust like a ton of bricks for this bullsh*t.

Anything else is a betrayal of Labour’s members and their values.

Note to Labour: show some spine

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, August 26th, 2010 - 89 comments

Labour co-hosted the Sensible Sentencing Trust’s parliamentary conference.

That’s disgraceful pandering to disgraceful people.

It’s time Labour showed some spine and offered an alternative to the SST’s cowardly “lock ’em up” posturing.

Faafoi to challenge Mana selection

Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, August 25th, 2010 - 15 comments

I see Kris Faafoi’s been given the nod from the Goffice to have a crack at Mana. He’s always struck me as a decent and hardworking bloke, so I wouldn’t want anyone to take this as an attack on him personally, but isn’t it a little worrying how many of Labour’s new recruits are being parachuted in from the leader’s office?

Up for the challenge

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, August 15th, 2010 - 57 comments

The Herald is carrying this piece by Phil Goff – I’m sure Phil won’t mind if we reproduce it here. If you have any constructive suggestions or comments for Phil, make them below. I’ll collate them and email them to him on our behalf.

Commentators waking up

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, August 14th, 2010 - 38 comments

Some within Labour believe that the tide of popularity is beginning to go out on the National government. Commentators seem to be waking up too. John Armstrong takes the Nats to task for their scare-mongering on benefits. And Fran O’Sullivan, cuts to the chase – it’s the economy stupid.

National admits 90 day period not a choice

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, August 6th, 2010 - 280 comments

When National rammed through the first version of the 90 day fire at will law it claimed the period would be a ‘choice’ negotiated fairly between employees and employers.

Now employers are advertising it as a precondition in job ads, with the Minister backing them all the way.

NACTs leave ethical investment to ‘the market’

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, August 5th, 2010 - 38 comments

Last night National and ACT voted down Grant Robertson’s ethical investment bill on the basis that “the market” would somehow solve the problem.

You can imagine what these people would have said about slavery at the time of the Civil War.

For the economic record

Written By: - Date published: 6:03 am, August 3rd, 2010 - 130 comments

John Key trotted out a huge lie in Parliament last week: “It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy; it might take a bit longer than that for us to sort it out”. Let’s compare National and Labour’s economic records shall we.

Can Labour win in 2011?

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 1st, 2010 - 82 comments

Chris Carter’s bumbling attempt at a coup has pushed the question onto the tip of everyone’s tongue – can Labour win the 2011 election? And can Phil Goff be the one to lead them to victory? But 24 hours can be a long time in politics, and a year is a very long time indeed. The biggest mistake Labour could make now would be to get into leadership battles.

Labour can win led by Phil Goff

Written By: - Date published: 5:28 pm, July 31st, 2010 - 146 comments

Chris Carter is wrong. Labour can win the next election led by Phil Goff. The objective conditions make it possible, and there is enough time. That’s true even if Key calls an early election to gain the financial benefits of National’s new electoral law, as some have predicted on this site. First the objective conditions. […]

Just plain stupidity

Written By: - Date published: 5:28 pm, July 29th, 2010 - 242 comments

It sounds like Chris Carter has shot himself in the foot, or rather in the handwriting.

Phil Goff and the caucus look like they have taken the required quick and decisive action.

John Key’s right. The student loan scheme is a disaster.

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, July 29th, 2010 - 62 comments

John Key’s description of student debt as ‘dangerous’ is just the latest broadside from National against interest-free student loans.

But the real problem here isn’t who pays off the interest on student debt, it’s that we have a system that causes such debt to be created in the first place.

Nats stand up for loan sharks

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 22nd, 2010 - 86 comments

Disgraceful to see that National and Act have voted down Carol Beaumont’s moderate and sensible bill to take action against loan sharks.

All we got from National was weak spin and misdirection, while they sat there and committed to doing nothing. The result will be more Kiwis getting ripped off and abused.

Abortion debate the silver bullet Labour needs -not!

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 20th, 2010 - 82 comments

I was talking to an old friend last night.  She’s been a Labour voter/supporter/activist nearly all her adult life.  She lives in Rotorua.  She said she might have to vote Green next year because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to support Steve Chadwick and her proposed new law to legalise abortion on request for […]

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