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- same old national (1,617)
The politics of poverty
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 86 comments
Every election Key is confronted with the issue of poverty. His response is always pure politics with no effective action, and this election has been no different. We will be here again in 2017.
NRT: A model for unaccountability
Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, September 30th, 2014 - 14 comments
The Act party, well known for rorts, dodgy deals, general corruption, and the poor calibre of their candidates, is doing it again. National gave their single novice MP an “under-secretary” position to allow Act to rort extra money from taxpayers. It also provides him with a position that is wholly unaccountable to parliament or the public via OIA.
Grooming Bennett
Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, September 30th, 2014 - 85 comments
Key is grooming Bennett for a finance role and eventual succession. No point in Nat members making a fuss, they don’t get a say in who leads them.
Hello National, bye bye breaks …
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 28th, 2014 - 53 comments
Our guest poster has a look at the Employment relations Amendment Bill that National will attempt to sneak through during Labour’s leadership primary. This bill is clearly targeted at those employees who are most vulnerable. It reinforces the Nat’s slow and steady but effective chipping away of employee’s rights and will really resonate with its core constituency
National education
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, September 27th, 2014 - 10 comments
So National will continue their rorts by giving ministries to their tame poodles, Rimmer and the Hair. Despite each making the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party look like it has a serious electoral mandate. I guess it makes it look like National has friends, and Act and UF appreciate the extra cash. But Seymour will probably […]
Stop deep sea oil drilling hikoi
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, September 27th, 2014 - 2 comments
National wants to permit deep sea oil drilling. Last time there was huge opposition and the opposition is starting again. The hikoi is under way.
Local Bodies: Greens Immediately Become the Opposition.
Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, September 27th, 2014 - 63 comments
bspout at Local Bodies was well up on the Greens list, but as the Greens only got 10%, he didn’t get into parliament. But as he says, with Labour navel gazing and NZ First lacking experience, the greens are currently the only effective opposition at present.
Labour obviously never worked out MMP
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, September 26th, 2014 - 104 comments
Perhaps it is time for activists to have two parties. The one that specialises in electorates and the one that focuses on party vote. Because it is becoming evident that Labour is unlikely to ever manage to make the transition to being a MMP party. Their MPs clearly don’t care for the party or the brand.
Key rorts system
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, September 26th, 2014 - 52 comments
There is a rort being negotiated in Parliament that will cost the thick edge of $1 million a year. Where is the Taxpayer’s union on this?
WANTED: new ideas on child poverty
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 24th, 2014 - 88 comments
It’s great to see John Key taking a sudden interest in addressing child poverty in New Zealand. But why the change of heart?
The Election That Left One Third of Us Behind
Written By: - Date published: 5:32 pm, September 23rd, 2014 - 171 comments
No one should begrudge John Key and the National party the right to celebrate an impressive election victory. It is little consolation to those who opposed them that the win is very much a personal triumph for the Prime Minister rather than for the party and government he leads. As the tumult and the shouting […]
National’s promises to you. #1.
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, September 22nd, 2014 - 31 comments
Nationals promises to you. #1.
The lurch to the right begins
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, September 22nd, 2014 - 129 comments
Expect to see a lot of drastic rightwing policies this term as John Key redefines the term “centre ground.”
Looking Ahead
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, September 21st, 2014 - 145 comments
Win or lose, there are never any final battles in politics. A defeat simply means the firing of the starting gun for the next round in a never-ending struggle. And, especially for the left, it is the struggle that matters. Without that struggle and the effort that has gone into it, the values of fairness, […]
Three more years
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 21st, 2014 - 141 comments
This election result is not the end of the world for me – because I am very, very lucky.
Next time …
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, September 21st, 2014 - 174 comments
National has an outright majority and the left has gone backwards. Some thoughts on what may have happened.
Seat Watch – Epsom
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 pm, September 20th, 2014 - 11 comments
Who will win Epsom? Will enough people rebel at John Key’s instruction to vote for the ACT candidate or will ACT’s extreme policies and Jaime Whyte’s weirdness mean that the people of Epsom will rebel and vote for Paul Goldsmith? Updated: Early, but the Act guy ahead.
“We may as well kiss democracy goodbye”
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 19th, 2014 - 104 comments
The words of the title of this post are those of the Ombudsman, reflecting on yet another typical Nat government scandal as broken by David Fisher in The Herald this morning.
Three final polls
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, September 19th, 2014 - 98 comments
Three last polls and National’s support is declining, Labour’s improving and the Greens are stable. Things are getting very close with Winston Peters looking more and more likely to hold the balance of power. This election will be decided vote by vote.
Vote Key, get Colin
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 18th, 2014 - 97 comments
With the latest poll results it’s basically a coin-toss whether a vote for National gets you Colin Craig and his extremist mates at the Cabinet table.
Stability vs Change
Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, September 18th, 2014 - 79 comments
This election there are two very different visions of the future on offer. I know which I prefer.
Leader’s debate IV
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 pm, September 17th, 2014 - 155 comments
The fourth and final leaders debate has now finished. John Key will be pleased at his decision to limit it to 30 minutes.
Jackal: A conspiracy theory too far
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, September 17th, 2014 - 114 comments
Over the last month John Key has been displaying behaviour of being a raving right wing conspiracy theorist. Over the weekend megalomaniacal John Key even said that he wants the governor general to stage a coup to allow him to remain in power. The Jackal summarises recent nutty right wing conspiracy theories from the PM and others.
Flashback post: Poetic justice
Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, September 16th, 2014 - 11 comments
Irish Bill originally posted this on 1 December 2007. For no reason at all we thought it warranted a reprint, with a guest comment from David Farrar.
Eminem sues National
Written By: - Date published: 3:11 pm, September 16th, 2014 - 182 comments
Eminem is suing the National Party for breaching his copyright in the song “Lose yourself” used by National in its campaign video. Stephen Joyce previously claimed that National had the full rights to use it. But it appears that this may not be the case. Update: There may be some interesting legal issues for National if it loses in terms of its spending cap and the Electoral Commission broadcast allocation.
The blowoff stream
Written By: - Date published: 6:02 pm, September 15th, 2014 - 348 comments
The queue is enormous. But here is the feed. Thanks Selwyn for the link….. 19:05: Liala Harre has been improving her speaking since I last heard her. Introduced the speaker guests. Looking at the progressive achievements of the NZ past. 19:07: Glenn Greenwald is first up. 19:10: Greenwald calls John Key an adolescent 🙂 John […]
John Key On Trial
Written By: - Date published: 4:35 pm, September 15th, 2014 - 27 comments
The latest instalment in the saga of John Key’s struggle to maintain his image as someone above suspicion has produced the amazing spectacle of a Prime Minister in free fall. Faced with the threatened revelation that he has been – not just economical with, but contemptuous of – the truth as to whether or not […]
John Key planned our mass surveillance
Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, September 15th, 2014 - 65 comments
John Key and National let the GCSB spend 12 months on plans to conduct our mass surveillance. Without telling us. And he intends to release the details now only for political considerations. Without Glenn Greenwald’s presence we probably would never have learned about this.
Jackal: A coalition with Winston Peters
Written By: - Date published: 3:54 pm, September 14th, 2014 - 79 comments
Jackal has compiled a number of the reasons why NZ First and particularly Winston Peters are unlikely to form a coalition or even to support National and John Key. Probably the way that National through their sockpuppets Act, David Farrar, and Whaleoil attacked with spurious charges in 2008. That he came back must have been a shock…
Blue on the polls
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, September 14th, 2014 - 62 comments
Landline polls are a traditional gripe for lefties. But this election polls look seriously out of whack with reality. Is National at 55%, 50%, 48% or 46%? But it’s always far too large for a party at National’s current stage in the political cycle. Just unbelievable and highly unlikely.
Greenwald on the GCSB
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, September 13th, 2014 - 155 comments
Glenn Greenwald has arrived in New Zealand and has been interviewed on the Nation. He has alleged that the GCSB is a fully fledged member of the 5 eyes network and has been engaged in mass surveillance of New Zealanders, contrary to assurances previously given by John Key.
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