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Collins withdraws and pledges to support English
Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, December 8th, 2016 - 162 comments
Judith Collins has withdrawn from the leadership race and pledged support for Bill English.
The Standard is offering to the National Party leadership contenders guest post slots
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, December 7th, 2016 - 128 comments
In the spirit of bi partisanship the Standard wishes to offer the candidates for leadership of the National caucus guest post slots and the ability to answer readers’ questions.
Three’s a crowd
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, December 7th, 2016 - 24 comments
The policy wonk, the ambitious change-maker, or the no-bullshit bullshitter – the contenders for National Party Prime Minister set out their stalls yesterday with John Campbell. Just like the Kaikoura quake, their pitches exposed some complex fault-lines. It’ll be a long week in politics.
Sale of Key’s old house a powerful symbol
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, November 25th, 2016 - 11 comments
English admits that the government has done a poor job of maintaining state houses, and uses it as an excuse for privatisation – its by design. The attempted sale in Christchurch, incuding Key’s childhood home, is a powerful symbol of the way this government likes pulling up the ladder that they used behind them.
National tries to have it both ways
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, November 19th, 2016 - 51 comments
Despite the Kaikoura earthquakes, the damage to the Capital and the fact the EQC fund is now in deficit, the Government is still holding out the possibility of tax cuts in election year.
There is no surplus
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 14th, 2016 - 125 comments
In Year Eight of this National government, the idea of a budget surplus is a joke. They’ve promised it for nearly a decade. They’ve fiddled the books. The truth is, there is no surplus.
Housing Corp is running out of money
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, October 13th, 2016 - 38 comments
Housing Corporation is forecast to run out of money by next February if urgent action is not taken.
Government announces watered down version of Labour’s Kiwibuild policy
Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, October 12th, 2016 - 82 comments
National is borrowing another Labour-Green policy and has announced a lite version of Labour’s Kiwibuild policy.
Nats contradicting each other on panicked infrastructure policy
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, August 8th, 2016 - 29 comments
From Newshub:
The Unitary Plan will not solve the Housing Crisis
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, August 1st, 2016 - 9 comments
The Unitary Plan has been described as a panacea for the housing crisis by the Government. But will it actually address this most acute of issues?
Parental leave – did English know or care what he was vetoing?
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, June 30th, 2016 - 84 comments
Bill English didn’t know the cost of the parental leave bill that he vetoed on the grounds of cost, and he didn’t care enough about it to speak to the matter in Parliament last night.
Bill English unaware that GST is a tax shock!
Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, June 26th, 2016 - 69 comments
Is it true that 40 percent of us pay no tax? Why, no, no it isn’t.
Tax cuts! No! Yes! Maybe! Look over there!
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, May 17th, 2016 - 90 comments
English is right, Key is lying and he knows it. But Key would rather we were talking about the mirage of tax cuts (again) than current events like the protection of corrupt tax havens or our homeless living in cars.
NRT: Bill English wants to end your privacy
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, April 22nd, 2016 - 85 comments
I/S at No Right Turn the “data supermarket” and privacy concerns. “The government wants to be able to effectively spy on and database everyone, so they can save a few dollars here and there.”
Bowron on a tired government
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, April 18th, 2016 - 349 comments
Jane Bowron writes in the Dominion Post: “Two things happened this week that could signal the beginning of the end of John Key and his government.”
Offers of help flood in to Bill English
Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, April 14th, 2016 - 53 comments
Bill English’s abominable comment that young Kiwi men are “pretty damned hopeless” has caused quite a reaction. But here’s an unexpectedly positive one.
Kiwi workers are pretty damned hopeless – says Bill English
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, April 13th, 2016 - 205 comments
National are now so convinced of their invulnerability that they have taken to actively insulting us. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
One of these things is not like the others XIII
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, April 9th, 2016 - 31 comments
One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not quite the same.
Can you guess which one is not like the other, can you tell me before I finish the game?
Wee Todd Barclay may have a wee problem
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, March 12th, 2016 - 63 comments
Clutha Southland National MP’s employee dispute has escalated with a police inquiry into the possible secret recording of a staff member being conducted.
National willfully stupidly blind on climate change
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, November 20th, 2015 - 98 comments
As the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warns of the risks of sea level rises and recommends action, National are clear that they will take none. They are determined to leave all the risks and costs of climate change to future governments.
Thanks Canterbury for the surplus
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, October 14th, 2015 - 91 comments
The Government books have hit surplus. But it looks like treatment of the financials for the Canterbury Earthquake may account for pretty well all of it. Update: Underspending on special education accounts for much of the “surplus”.
English: it’s all the planners’ fault
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 30th, 2015 - 23 comments
A guest post from Ad analysing Bill English’s speech where he blames planners for Auckland’s housing woes.
From out of the Shadows
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, September 28th, 2015 - 20 comments
Goff has attempted to throw a fire-cracker into the notion of the National Party leadership and caucus being one big happy family. Is this the Labour Party’s way of sowing seeds of discontent without tainting the image of their leader? It is NOT Dirty Politics by any normal understanding of that term as captured in the book of the same name. Is this Goff’s role now? To box from the shadows?
The strip mining of Housing Corporation
Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, September 9th, 2015 - 82 comments
At a time where the need for social housing has possibly never been greater the Housing Corporation is to pay the Government a dividend of $118 million, the third largest in the Corporation’s history.
No, National shouldn’t have balanced the books.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, August 28th, 2015 - 34 comments
Simon Louisson recently made a post about National’s profligacy, and all of the debt they have racked up. Guest poster Michael disagrees with Simon and says that “Yes, National was profligate.” and “No, National should not have balanced the books.”
NRT: We can no longer trust Bill English’s OIA responses
Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, August 26th, 2015 - 8 comments
I/S at No Right Turn writes on the latest abuse of the OIA process.
In face of share market meltdown, Govt’s options limited
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, August 26th, 2015 - 55 comments
John Key says New Zealand has options in the face of a share market meltdown and is not like Greece (well that’s a relief). Simon Louisson asks how real are John Key’s options? Thanks to this Government’s profligate past spending, including irresponsible tax cuts, our options have narrowed drastically.
Who is to blame for Solid Energy’s failure
Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, August 16th, 2015 - 64 comments
… and why is Solid Energy removing links to its Annual reports from its website?
Saying one thing and doing the other
Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, July 22nd, 2015 - 40 comments
Both Key and English now on record as being “concerned” about rising inequality. So why are they acting to increase it?
Lets restrain those damnfool knights eh?
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 pm, July 6th, 2015 - 20 comments
“THE struggle has been long and arduous. But gazing across the battered economies of the rich world it is time to declare that the fight against financial chaos and deflation is won. In 2015, the IMF says, for the first time since 2007 every advanced economy will expand.”. But lets restrain the damn fool ideological idiots from screwing it up. Like Bill English and his damn stupid taxcuts…
Bill English’s groundhog decades
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, July 6th, 2015 - 45 comments
Bill English is a strange denizen of National’s Wellington groundhog set. He keeps repeating the wet dreams that have been tried three times now and come up as failures each time. On Q&A yesterday he played with some silly numbers about dairy, ignoring the damage that it and National’s obsessive focus on the past has done on the resilience of our export economy.
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