chris bishop

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National tries to blame Labour for National’s tax flip flop flip

Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, August 7th, 2022 - 13 comments

Chris Bishop has accused Labour of engaging in dirty politics for pointing out that this week National has changed its policy on income tax indexation twice.

Chris Bishop supports AND opposes vaccine mandates

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 3rd, 2022 - 51 comments

Remember when National’s Chris Bishop thought that Labour was not being staunch enough of mandates?  He now thinks that Labour is being too staunch.

Wear your #$%^& mask properly

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, July 16th, 2022 - 90 comments

Although we still compare favourably to the vast majority of Western nations in terms of our Covid response our performance has been eclipsed by Japan and Singapore, two nations which strong mask mandates and cultural norms supporting the wearing of masks.

Chris Bishop – manipulated, lying, or just plain stupid?

Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, February 9th, 2022 - 24 comments

Roche, a major manufacturer of RATs, issued a statement to media on Tuesday night saying none of its stocks had been diverted or seized by the Government.
“RAT kits have been, and will continue to be, supplied to all New Zealand customers, including the Ministry of Health, in the sequence that purchase orders were placed,”. Chris Bishop MP is still claiming mythical evidence from local suppliers.

The problem with and the benefits of MIQ

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, February 1st, 2022 - 93 comments

It may not be apparent from the wall to wall sound emanating from the opposition and from the media but this Government’s Covid response has been exceptionally good and way better than that of pretty well every other major country in the world.

National’s caucus reshuffle

Written By: - 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.

Wanted: a new Leader of the Opposition

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, November 30th, 2021 - 70 comments

National needs a new leader of the opposition.  The Standard has been leaked a list of the necessary qualifications …

National’s factional problem

Written By: - 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.

National is being utterly irresponsible

Written By: - 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.

Covid and the latest polls

Written By: - 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.

The Covid vaccine rollout

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, October 30th, 2021 - 185 comments

Matt Nippert’s in depth article in the Herald this morning provides a well researched deep insight into the Government’s vaccine roll out.  And as it progresses the New Zealand response places us mid table and improving in the OECD vaccination comparison and gives us some hope that the Delta outbreak may be controlled.

Time for Auckland to go back to level four?

Written By: - Date published: 7:55 am, October 15th, 2021 - 114 comments

With daily Covid infection rates in Tamaki Makaurau increasing it may be time for the Government to consider a short sharp lockdown to try and arrest this increase and to let vaccination rates improve.

National’s next leader?

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, September 3rd, 2021 - 60 comments

As the damage caused by Judith Collins’ leadership of the National Party intensifies it is inevitable that there will be internal discussions about who should replace her, and soon.  And I think the best candidate is clear.

Covid and the media

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, August 29th, 2021 - 54 comments

This week there has been some argy bargy between the Twitterati including the Waitakerati and the media on coverage of Covid in Aotearoa with elements of the media complaining that the criticisms are unjustified.  A brief review of some of the offerings this week would suggest otherwise.

Gumming up the works

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, August 28th, 2021 - 53 comments

Last night it was revealed that National and Act had refused to agree to a proposed virtual Parliament sitting where questions could be asked, and instead wanted face to face meetings, even though this would mean a third of the country’s MPs travelling regularly to Wellington from a Covid delta hotspot.

National used to be better than this

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 6th, 2021 - 59 comments

Back in the day National used to have a strong urban liberal wing that gave the impression that it was sympathetic to LGBTQI issues.  Yesterday that impression was trashed.

Openness and transparency

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments

On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.

Chris Bishop is tilting at Covid windmills

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, May 26th, 2021 - 32 comments

Right now, in terms of our Covid response, New Zealand is in a unique position.  It has no community spread of Covid and its level of restrictions is the most permissive in the world.  But this does not stop Chris Bishop from trying to double guess the handling of the pandemic.

About Trevor Mallard

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 pm, May 5th, 2021 - 67 comments

  • Trevor Mallard has made a concerted effort to change the tone of Parliament.  But last night got caught in a bickering match with National.

The politics of the Covid vaccination roll out

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, April 12th, 2021 - 91 comments

Poor National.  Faced with a Government response to Covid that has been superb it is reduced to criticising the Government for not rolling out the Covid vaccine quickly enough.

The Covid India issue

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, April 9th, 2021 - 29 comments

This is a desperately difficult issue. India is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases.  And faced with the prospect of quarantine beds being overrun if current trends continue the Government has taken the step of banning people entering the country if they have been in India during the two weeks prior to travel.

Much ado about nothing

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, March 13th, 2021 - 18 comments

Chris Bishop is claiming credit for Labour finishing a deal whereby the party rented premises to Parliamentary Services for the use of Gillian Anderson MP at a level well below market rates.

Pandemic to endemic covid-19

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, February 13th, 2021 - 84 comments

Back in May, I wrote a post “Covid-19: may be endemic“. That is looking like it is more and more likely. The depth of infection in world populations means that recombinant variants are likely. Vaccines and previous immunity will reduce the death rates and infection rates. But won’t stop reinfection. Human behaviour will keep covid-19 as an endemic disease.

Chris Bishop goes woof woof on variant ‘B.1.1.7’

Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, December 28th, 2020 - 43 comments

I realise that this would normally be our silly season, but it seems a bit macabre with the northern winter death toll. But nothing really excuses Chris Bishop for being a complete dickhead in barking for immediate offshore testing for travellers from the UK. It is pointless. The government are a bit more sensible. They’re instituting an extra test at our border.

Banning Rambo weapons not a knee-jerk

Written By: - Date published: 5:35 am, March 21st, 2019 - 185 comments

Passing stringent gun controls is far from a knee-jerk reaction to the Christchurch massacre – our politicians of all stripes have procrastinated over this ever since the 1990 Aramoana massacre. We already have the 13 recommendations of the 2017 Law & Order committee that were rejected. Let us at the very least now accept those.

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