john key

Does John Key believe a word he says?

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:32 am, September 3rd, 2009 - 22 comments

This 2007 quote from John Key is doing the rounds among angry “No” voters: Labour shows contempt for New Zealanders The Labour Government has shown utter contempt for New Zealanders and the democratic process with its plan to railroad the anti-smacking bill through Parliament, says National Party Leader John Key. “The Labour-led Government knows the […]

Snake oil

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:16 pm, August 25th, 2009 - 18 comments

I’m surprised that the Maori Party have rolled over so easily on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland council. I will be even more surprised if the Maori people follow suit. Because they have every right to be angry. Remember what Key said of the Hikoi? The hikoi was sparked over the dumping […]

Afghanistan for the Afghanistanians

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:53 pm, August 11th, 2009 - 65 comments

It was a bit strange listening to Key’s interview on RNZ yesterday morning about deploying the SAS to Afghanistan. He kept on awkwardly saying ‘the people of Afghanistan’ rather than just ‘the Afghans’ or ‘the Afghanis’*. The reason soon became clear: “[if they take any prisoners] they’ll be handed over to the Afghanistanian government…. I […]

Caption Competition

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 3:25 pm, August 7th, 2009 - 35 comments

One law for all?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 46 comments

Are you? a disgraced former minister who resigned from Parliament in shame? a National MP who rents from a National minister (Judith Collins or Anne Tolley for example), claiming that expense back from the taxpayer while the minister simultaneously rents another place, again on the taxpayer’s tab? a private citizen who dares to publicly oppose […]

Key: Don’t join the conversation

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 72 comments

By telling Keisha Castle-Hughes she should “stick to acting” and keep out of the climate change debate, Prime Minister John Key is signalling to young New Zealanders everywhere keep out of politics. I guess he doesn’t want us to “join the conversation” after all. Speak up, get shot down. That’s the modus operandi of the […]

Sshhh! You’ll make the economy cry

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:00 am, August 5th, 2009 - 29 comments

John Key says we shouldn’t be talking about the number of people going on to the dole. He reckons that mentioning the fact that thousands of people are losing there jobs will cause people to lose confidence and hurt the economy. Isn’t the real problem for the economy that thousands of people are losing their jobs, […]

What goes around…

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 5:10 am, August 3rd, 2009 - 53 comments

Paula Bennett appears to have broken the law in releasing private information on members of the public who were critical of National’s “ambitious” cutting of the Training Incentive Allowance. Bennett says she did this to “round out the story”. John Key is “comfortable” with this abuse of power, so presumably now the law doesn’t matter, […]

Use of weapons

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:00 pm, July 31st, 2009 - 89 comments

I’ve been thinking about the different ways ministers from the Left and the Right approach governing. I think it goes back to where they come from, where their ideological roots are. Ministers from Labour and other leftwing parties tend to have backgrounds in serving a wider community. Teachers, professors, union officials, public servants. Those roles […]

Nick Smith lying with numbers.

Written By: lprent - Date published: 11:55 am, July 29th, 2009 - 12 comments

Nick Smith is the front-man for this government on climate change, and it appears that he knows absolutely nothing about the numbers. The ones he has been using are not related to his claims. It is puzzling because he was an engineer who are usually accurate users of numbers. It is more likely he is […]

Talking shite

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:10 am, July 22nd, 2009 - 28 comments

Right wing rhetoric can be absurdly stupid at times. IrishBill recently reminded us how crazy things were getting near the last election: One of my favourites was Hooton arguing that a fourth term Labour government would abolish the free press! Then there’s the pet attack bloggers, “dragging the discourse to new lows, with vicious, juvenile, […]

Leak: Key’s next big plan revealed

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 4:10 am, July 15th, 2009 - 19 comments

Today Key is giving a major speech on the economy. He told Oliver Driver on Sunrise yesterday that it would be “pretty high level”, and he wasn’t joking. The Sir Peter Blake Awesome Stratosphere Rollercoaster will rise from Queen’s Wharf, circle the Sky tower, rise to a height of 1500m, and do a twisting loop before plunging […]

Big dreams, no delivery

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 6:58 pm, July 12th, 2009 - 12 comments

Tv1 has revealed that our daydreamer PM had much much bigger plans for the cycleway. Like excited schoolkids, he and good mate Mark Weldon of the NZX drew up plans for a grand cycle race to be called the Sir Edmund Hillary tour that would go the length of New Zealand along the cycleway. They […]

Worth asking

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 3:55 pm, July 5th, 2009 - 23 comments

What a world where a supposed journalist writes this: The trouble is Key’s desire to be reasonable. Despite his intention to say no more about his reasons for losing confidence in Worth, he keeps responding to the media interrogation and seems unable to draw a line under the question. The best approach would be, simply […]