Written By: - Date published: 5:39 pm, June 14th, 2020 - 64 comments
How odd of Todd! A condescending gesture turns into a cry for help.
Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, June 13th, 2020 - 28 comments
Yesterday saw two back bench National MPs unintentionally set National’s position on the Government response to Covid 19 and on Hamilton City’s decision to take down a statute that was repugnant to Waikato Tainui. What has happened to their messaging discipline?
Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, June 12th, 2020 - 59 comments
Chris Penk has written a book suggesting that the Government’s Covid 19 response has been terrible. Because it was not quite perfect.
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 11th, 2020 - 10 comments
National has backed away from its policy of creating Strike Force Raptor Police Unit, a unit based on an Australian force dedicated to terrorising possible gang members.
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, June 8th, 2020 - 39 comments
Hamish Price’s twitter game is proving to be a boon to Labour.
Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, June 6th, 2020 - 34 comments
National has embarked on a moral crusade to not lose the Election.
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, June 4th, 2020 - 108 comments
The politics of Covid 19 present difficulties for the opposition. They cannot fault execution of the plan so far and have been reduced to complaining that the restrictions are not being loosened quickly enough.
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, June 3rd, 2020 - 85 comments
Todd Muller thinks it is up to Donald Trump to decide if Donald Trump is a racist.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 1st, 2020 - 65 comments
National’s new job-creation scheme appears to be inconsistent with their desire to fully re-instate the 90-day trial period.
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, May 29th, 2020 - 68 comments
Holy hyperbole. Todd Muller has claimed that most kiwis are unemployed although they do not realise it yet. Although in one case he may not be wrong …
Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, May 27th, 2020 - 24 comments
National has released a social media ad suggesting that New Zealand’s per head of population Government debt figure will be worse than Greece’s by 2014. But the data used presumes the effects of Covid 19 in New Zealand’s figure but no effects of Covid 19 in Greece’s figure.
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 pm, May 26th, 2020 - 33 comments
National’s new brains trust has not had a great day today. They responded to claims that their front bench looked awfully white and had no Tangata Whenua by claiming that Paora Goldsmith was from Ngāti Porou. The only trouble was that he wasn’t.
Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, May 26th, 2020 - 68 comments
Todd Muller has announced a front bench that resembles a National Party front bench from 30 years ago. And his first live interview on national television did not go as well as he hoped.
Written By: - Date published: 7:59 am, May 25th, 2020 - 119 comments
Todd Muller has spent the weekend not introducing himself to the country and talking about his ideas for our future but by defending the displaying of a MAGA hat in his office.
Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, May 24th, 2020 - 62 comments
The change of leadership inside of National is essentially meaningless. All it seems to have started is exposing the kind of internecine factional warfare that is lurking below their party surface. I can’t see the inexperienced National team, even with Amy Adams back in it, being able to make the kinds of long-term decisions required in a modern world.
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, May 23rd, 2020 - 151 comments
Is Todd Muller the solution to National’s inability to deal with Jacinda Ardern?
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, May 22nd, 2020 - 197 comments
The Nation holds its breath as the dullest political leadership race in a generation snores to a close. Who will win by losing? Who will lose by winning? Who cares?
UPDATE: It’s Mullertime!
UPDATE: Bennett dumped!
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, May 21st, 2020 - 93 comments
Tomorrow the National Party caucus meet to decide on a leadership challenge mounted by Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye. Both parties obviously think they have the numbers. Which MPs are misleading them?
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 20th, 2020 - 106 comments
The media is reporting there will be a vote of no confidence in Simon Bridges’ leadership at next week’s National caucus meeting.
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, May 19th, 2020 - 27 comments
Michelle Boag thinks that Mark Richardson should be the next National leader after Simon Bridges. Here at the Standard we wish to endorse this proposal.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 19th, 2020 - 53 comments
The latest Newshub/Reid Research poll is a bloodbath for National- but who are the likely victims? Pollwatch is back, this time with a model for electorate winners and losers to add onto the party vote stats.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 19th, 2020 - 33 comments
Last night’s Reid Research Newshub poll result will be reverberating through National’s caucus. And raises the question, do they gift Epsom to ACT and maybe get a right wing MP or do they preserve every seat they can for themselves.
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, May 18th, 2020 - 158 comments
The May 2020 Newshub/Reid Research poll is astonishing. You’ve have, quite literally, never seen anything like it.
Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, May 13th, 2020 - 97 comments
National has decided to play politics with Covid 19 and is opposing the Government’s attempt to pass legislation to secure level 2 arrangements. And has made the extraordinary claim that Jacinda Ardern is just like Rob Muldoon but with slogans.
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 12th, 2020 - 41 comments
Dr Ashley Bloomfield has responded to allegations by Simon Bridges that the government has suspended the Official Information Act and the Emergency Response Committee has made multiple requests for information from the Ministry that it is waiting for by advising publicly there are no outstanding requests for information.
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, May 9th, 2020 - 175 comments
In a Facebook Live event David Parker has schooled Simon Bridges on basic principles of constitutional law. And it appears that Bridges demand that legally privileged advice be handed over is heading to the Privileges Committee.
Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, May 7th, 2020 - 93 comments
Simon Bridges threw two stunts yesterday, firstly threatening to try and summons senior Public Servants to publicise confidential legal advice and then by attacking Dr Ashley Blomfield for not answering emails quickly enough despite the existence of a pandemic which the country appears to be handling pretty well.
Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, May 1st, 2020 - 142 comments
A leaked UMR poll result puts National on 29%.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 1st, 2020 - 71 comments
Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.
Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, April 28th, 2020 - 19 comments
Tova O’Brien has reported multiple leaks of a Nick Smith email which was highly critical of Simon Bridges.
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, April 28th, 2020 - 59 comments
National economics spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has advanced a plan to address the Covid 19 pandemic which includes union bashing and privatisation.
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