national
Categories under national
- same old national (1,617)
A cold cup of tea
Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, November 12th, 2011 - 15 comments
Well, that was a let down. The much-hyped ‘cup of tea’ climaxed in Key saying that he would be voting for Goldsmith but he “wouldn’t be unhappy” if other Epsom voters back Banks. A double negative? Hardly a ringing endorsement. I think it’s too little, too late, for a man and a party that are too unpopular. All Key has done is tie his brand to extremists.
A cup of tea and a lie down
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, November 11th, 2011 - 34 comments
hattip: the jackal
Two headlines to ponder
Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, November 10th, 2011 - 60 comments
IEA: World is hurtling toward irreversible climate change
Government shifts to ETS go-slow
Discuss…
Jobs for the boys, and girls
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, November 10th, 2011 - 37 comments
200,000 children abandoned so already rich can get richer
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, November 10th, 2011 - 52 comments
How many children is 200,000 in the context of New Zealand’s population? Statistics New Zealand says between June 2008-2011 around 62-64,000 children were born each year. So 200,000 amounts to every single child born in this country since National came to power three years ago, plus another 10,000 or so.
John Key’s mirror trust
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, November 9th, 2011 - 76 comments
All these things operate underground. There are two near identical pairs. But only one of these things is really not like the other. Let’s not forget John Key’s mirror trust that let’s him keep an eye on the investments that are supposed to be held in a blind trust while he’s PM.
Are we a caring country?
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, November 9th, 2011 - 125 comments
Nothing separates the political Right and Left like their attitude to welfare. The difference is very starkly highlighted in the recent policies from National and Labour. Which approach better serves the children of New Zealand? How much do we care?
John Key’s Top Ten
Written By: - Date published: 5:01 pm, November 8th, 2011 - 79 comments
Not as much fun as a Letterman Top Ten, but here’s John Key’s vital statistics – his record to be judged on. (h/t Phil Goff…)
Labour on the environment
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, November 8th, 2011 - 38 comments
I was going to write about the release of Labour’s environmental policy – and the resounding silence from National – but NRT has done a great job aleady.
Penguin: Key lies to help us
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, November 8th, 2011 - 30 comments
Yes, that’s an actual quote [sans ‘serfs’] from David Farrar lying about his master John Key’s lies about not raising GST.
hattip: frank macskasy
Economic credibility – mote and beam
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, November 8th, 2011 - 20 comments
The focus of attention has moved on to costing the policies, promises and projections of the major parties. The Nats’ are desperate to have the media focus stay on the mote in Labour’s eye, and ignore the beam in their own. In the interests of informed choice, let’s hear both sides of the story…
Show me the policy
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, November 7th, 2011 - 51 comments
We’re three weeks out from the election, and there’s something funny going on. National has hardly any policy out. Parties typically go into an election with a pretty comprehensive lineup of policy covering a very wide range of issues. Do the Nats really not have any plans, or are they just keeping them quiet to win a second term?
John Key puts truth on 90 day term deposit
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, November 7th, 2011 - 46 comments
hattip William Joyce
Nats’ $11b budget hole
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, November 6th, 2011 - 160 comments
Last year and the year before, the portions of the assets National wants to sell paid over $400 million in dividends. Labour estimates lost dividends from those assets would total $11 billion by 2026. That’s an $11 billion hole in National’s budgets they haven’t accounted for. When will National front up and show us the money?
John Key too drunk to drive
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, November 5th, 2011 - 49 comments
hattip: tumeke
Climate change predictions
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, November 5th, 2011 - 125 comments
Predictions on global greenhouse gas emissions have turned out to be wrong. The real emissions are higher than the worst case projections. Models of warming, however, have been confirmed as accurate. Here in NZ a joint VUW / Otago study makes damning criticisms of the Nats’ record on climate change.
Acshully John, you will be a monkey’s uncle
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 pm, November 4th, 2011 - 44 comments
John Key was really revving the crap out of his denimic environment generator today trying to discredit Labour’s costings for its policies. Either Key really is shit at math or he’s no clearer on Labour’s policies than he is on National’s.
hattip: a very prescient Jackal
Absurd arguments
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, November 4th, 2011 - 69 comments
National likes to take Labour proposals and extend them to the point of absurdity. Labour needs to fight fire with fire. Here’s a few examples…
Key can’t count
Written By: - Date published: 6:37 am, November 4th, 2011 - 113 comments
It’ll be interesting to see the full fiscal details from Labour today. National is planning to borrow too, the question is how much they differ by. Only $2.6b in the first term with both having net debt about $50b. That’s the alternative to selling our profitable assets to pay for capital investment. The Nats’ $17b claim is riddled with basic errors. Updated with more bad adding from Key
Drunken Seaman John Key: borrowed $40 billion in 3 years to spend on his mates
Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, November 3rd, 2011 - 222 comments
Another empty promise
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, November 2nd, 2011 - 61 comments
National says it’ll get 57,000 more people off benefits and into work over 4 years. That would require 50% more job creation than Treasury projects. Unless you do something about the lack of jobs, you won’t get benefit numbers down. Promising the latter without doing the former is a fraud on New Zealand. Just another broken Nat promise waiting to happen.
Battle of the Henrys
Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, November 1st, 2011 - 29 comments
Watching Goff and Key last night was a bit like watching Graham Henry arguing with Paul Henry…
Business isn’t buying it
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, November 1st, 2011 - 48 comments
You’d think if the Nats could convince anyone that they knew what they were doing it would be the business community. But no, less than 35% of business owners think that the government has a plan…
Nats’ ad claims credit for Lab’s infrastructure
Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, November 1st, 2011 - 51 comments
Oh dear. This is not what National needed on the back of Goff besting Key in the first debate. National’s new TV ad is on the world-class infrastructure they claim to have built. But it was all planned, funded, and mostly built by Labour. Have National accidentally revealed their real achievement: taking credit for others work?
Why the Nats Youth Rate is just plain bollocks
Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, October 31st, 2011 - 20 comments
Labour candidate for Northcote Paula Gillon has submitted us a post on National’s proposed starting Youth Rate that appears to be ready for peer-review – with academic references and everything.
Owning the discourse
Written By: - Date published: 12:28 pm, October 31st, 2011 - 2 comments
It’s been an extraordinary few weeks. It started with the double downgrade/DJ Key fiasco and Rena. Then Labour started dictating the play: its policies setting the beat of the campaign; its framing dominating. National took its only asset, Brand Key, and trashed it with its phony, weird opening address. And, then, National’s launch was over-shadowed by the rail loop announcement.
Key: tired & bereft of ideas
Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, October 31st, 2011 - 32 comments
So, that was National’s ‘big announcement’tm? Allocating money they’ve already banked into a fund which is just an accounting fiction for capital spending that was already budgeted for. A billion of it over five years to ‘transform’ schools? $80,000 a year per school … of already budgeted spending. Talk about tired and bereft of ideas.
This is how you win
Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, October 29th, 2011 - 68 comments
Sprout’s post says it all. Labour’s opening address blew National’s out of the park. But I can’t help myself, I have to put in my analysis of why National’s was so awful and Labour’s so good. Almost out of nowhere, Labour has seized the discourse. It is dictating the run of play with its policies, its framing, and, now, with its marketing. This is how you win.
Opening addresses for your convenience
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, October 29th, 2011 - 32 comments
In case you missed them last night, here are the National, Labour and Green election opening addresses, collected for your convenience.
Recent Comments