political parties

How the Covid era changes us

Written By: advantage - Date published: 3:42 pm, February 3rd, 2022 - 45 comments

With Prime Minister announcing effectively the beginning of the end of state control of COVID, the question that has to be asked is how will the end of COVID change us all?

And what have they done anyway?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:41 am, February 2nd, 2022 - 107 comments

With Ardern getting a good-old media beat-down, remember here’s how to change a country for good like no one else but Labour can.

About the latest Colmar Brunton poll

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:15 am, January 28th, 2022 - 52 comments

The latest Colmar Brunton (now Kantar) poll has now been released and some of the commentary and analysis is pretty ordinary.

The importance of proper mask wearing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:58 am, January 27th, 2022 - 55 comments

With an Omicron surge appearing to be inevitable the importance of proper mask wearing has never been more important.

Omicron is coming

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:54 am, January 21st, 2022 - 113 comments

So far the country has fought back and eliminated the original Covid infection, won a couple of skirmishes and then and fought and quelled the Delta incursion. But it looks like Omicron is coming …

Is it time for the Greens to go their own way?

Written By: weka - Date published: 1:18 pm, January 11th, 2022 - 122 comments

Climate, ecology, welfare, housing – we are now at the point for the Greens to go ‘fuck it, time to go back to our radical roots’.

What does Luxon do about Hipango?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:31 am, January 11th, 2022 - 49 comments

Harete Hipango is in the news again, this time for posing with a group of anti vaxxers and posting a photo and making some pretty way out there comments on social media.

A few random predictions for 2022

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:30 am, January 1st, 2022 - 117 comments

A few random predictions for 2022.

New Zealand 2 Covid 0 so far …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:36 am, December 30th, 2021 - 280 comments

But Omicron may be loose.

The Standard’s 2021 political awards

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:34 am, December 28th, 2021 - 68 comments

It is that time of year where nostalgia kicks in and the desire to review current events dims. So much has happened this year. It has truly been twelve months of the praiseworthy and the absolutely pitiful. And it is time to reflect on the personalities who made us smile, made us frown and made us raise our eyebrows to breaking point.

Our Energy Upheaval

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:39 am, December 23rd, 2021 - 79 comments

Ministers Wood, Shaw and Parker (Energy, Climate Change, and RMA reform respectively), must pull their eyes downward from the misty clouds of climate change and stuff multiple decades away and down into the jagged, shadowy deal-by-deal path of the transition to clean energy.

V Day!

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:16 am, December 17th, 2021 - 319 comments

Yesterday was Aotearoa’s V day, the day that we reached the goal of having 90% of the target population vaccinated against Covid.

The country’s books are in remarkably good shape

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:44 am, December 16th, 2021 - 79 comments

As the country rebounds out of partial lockdown the Treasury’s recently released half yearly Economic and Fiscal update suggests that the Country’s accounts are in remarkably good shape.

New Zealand moving Green

Written By: weka - Date published: 11:36 am, December 14th, 2021 - 89 comments

Long overdue, the recent Green upward trend continues.

Clearing the decks

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:00 am, December 13th, 2021 - 14 comments

The draft report into Nick Smith’s treatment of a young staff member that eventually saw him leave Parliament has made its way into the public realm, just in time to be lost in the pre Christmas media wash up.

Fair pay agreements – the employers fight back

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:19 am, December 11th, 2021 - 48 comments

BusinessNZ and Federated Farmers have this week attacked the Government for intending to implement policy designed to improve the plight of poorly paid workers.

National’s caucus reshuffle

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:49 am, December 7th, 2021 - 140 comments

The deckchairs have been reshuffled. And Chris Luxon is confident that reorganising the pecking order of a deeply dysfunctional caucus will make all the difference.

Some good news about Covid

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:58 am, December 6th, 2021 - 230 comments

In Auckland there ares welcome signs that the spread of Covid is declining and the Health system is holding up. And the Vaccination roll out has gone that well that Chris Luxon has described Auckland as having some of the highest vaccination rates of any city in the world.

Chris Luxon is not National’s messiah

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:16 am, December 2nd, 2021 - 245 comments

Two days into Chris Luxon’s reign as National leader and my initial impression is an overwhelming Meh.

National’s new leader is …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:06 pm, November 30th, 2021 - 291 comments

Chris Luxon is set to be the next leader of the National Party.

National’s factional problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:18 am, November 28th, 2021 - 91 comments

National’s basic problem is that it has three discrete factions, christian conservatives, urban liberals and the country grouping. And no coherent vision to reconcile these totally disparate groupings.

What National Needs To Do

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:04 am, November 27th, 2021 - 83 comments

Since the left are experts at internal knifing, National should learn from the left about how to recover. What National needsto do to recover.

The winners and losers from National’s leadership spill

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:12 pm, November 25th, 2021 - 146 comments

The winners and losers of today’s National Party leadership spill are …

How many centrist votes go to Labour?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 12:38 pm, November 25th, 2021 - 105 comments

Judith Collins lost a vote of confidence. David Farrar seems to think that Act will get the inevitable flow. Sounds unlikely. The far right and nutbar fringe has already vacated to Act – who represent them so well. But Labour overwhelming won last election on a vote from previous National voters. History repeats in 2023?

National’s civil war reerrupts

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:35 am, November 25th, 2021 - 131 comments

National’s civil war which has been simmering for a while erupted last night after Judith Collins demoted Simon Bridges for making inappropriate comments to Jaqui Dean five years ago.

National – let the virus rip

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:29 pm, November 24th, 2021 - 21 comments

There is no other explanation, and this week Paul Goldsmith gave the game away, National thinks that we should let the Corona virus rip.

Astroturfers of the world unite

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:14 am, November 20th, 2021 - 52 comments

Two days before what is claimed will be the mother of all protests links between the Groundswell organisation and the Taxpayers Union have been discovered.

National is being utterly irresponsible

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:46 am, November 19th, 2021 - 58 comments

In the middle of a pandemic where the numbers in hospital are increasing and a number of Kiwis have died from a virus that is spreading promising the loosening of current restrictions is the most irresponsible, stupid, foolhardy, idiotic, imbecile thing I could ever expect a political party to do.

Down the rabbit hole

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:17 am, November 17th, 2021 - 83 comments

Former National MP and University Lecturer Simon Thornley are in the news after publishing a video interview questioning the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine and suggesting that the evidence that Ivermectin is useful in treating Covid is epidemiologically sound and strong.

Covid and the latest polls

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:13 am, November 12th, 2021 - 148 comments

The results of two polls were leaked recently both showing a drop in support for Labour. Clearly the Delta outbreak has rattled confidence. But National has not surged up in support and the Greens have picked up some of the former Labour vote.

Freedom Protesters are a pain in the ass

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:36 am, November 10th, 2021 - 74 comments

Human rights are a pain in the ass. Yesterday’s protesters were rude, unfit to invite home to dinner, shouty, and so incoherent that you could’t make any sensible point with them. They were and are a pain in the ass. But they are OUR pain in the ass.