john key

An honest man?

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:35 am, April 22nd, 2013 - 65 comments

John Key has promised live on television to never lie and to always do his best. Now, four-and-a-half years later we know that was his first lie, and it certainly wasn’t going to be his last. And these are only the ones we know about. In fact, as the litany of lies still spills from John Key, it must be asked: is the litany orchestrated? – BLiP’s extraordinary list of Key’s lies.

The buck stops with the directors: Pike River

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:00 am, April 19th, 2013 - 9 comments

Pike River found guilty of breaches of health and safety, leading to the death of of 29 miners. The CTU is calling for law changes to make company directors responsible for their company’s negligence. And the NZ MSM coverage of the catastrophe immediately after it happened?

The view from Australia

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:16 am, April 17th, 2013 - 67 comments

Sometimes a certain distance gives the clearest view. A piece on PM John Key from Australian newspaper The Telegraph.

GCSB changes – outrageous anti-democratic

Written By: karol - Date published: 6:13 pm, April 15th, 2013 - 42 comments

Key has announced changes to the GCSB roles that will include assisting business and the police in spying against Kiwis.  it is anti-democratic, and will increase lack of accountability of the intelligence and crime fighting services.

Nat leadership speculation

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:30 am, April 15th, 2013 - 107 comments

I didn’t see Key’s Q+A interview on Sunday, but it seems to have been an interesting one. Speculation about the leadership of the Nats appears to be growing.

ImperatorFish: PM vows to work on his lying

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:58 am, April 12th, 2013 - 2 comments

John Key is promising to work on his lying, after a series of scandals rocked his government. “These blunders threaten to do real damage to his reputation”, said one insider. “The credibility he established as a result of four years of careful and considered lying is now under threat”.

Plus a poem from Seaweed.

The stealthy dismantling of democracy

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:44 am, April 12th, 2013 - 27 comments

John Key’s government has been gradually dismantling NZ’s democratic processes. Various activities this week are a major part of a frightening shift: a Bill enabling mining conservation land; punitive social security Act; Key’s control over NZ’s “intelligence community”.

The Key-Fletcher trail

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:36 am, April 11th, 2013 - 77 comments

The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.

Key’s Nixon moment

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 6:15 am, April 11th, 2013 - 55 comments

Nixon famously said: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal”. John Key would have you believe the same thing, that when his agency, the GCSB, has been breaking the law, the problem lies with the law. No – the problem lies with the GCSB and its oversight. Watergate here we come…

The fix is in

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:03 pm, April 9th, 2013 - 47 comments

So, here’s the play. Key’s been caught asleep at the wheel of our spies. 88 people illegally spied on. Key knew last July, but didn’t act until the Dotcom case brought things out in September. The Nats’ goal is to deflect blame from Key (and spies who could leak against him). So, they’re blaming the law. They want us to believe the law that clearly states the GCSB can’t spy on Kiwis was ‘confusing’.

Temper, temper

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:11 am, April 8th, 2013 - 38 comments

Key’s ‘knucklehead’ outburst has been interpreted by the more sycophantic parts of the press as a clever ‘wedging’ of the media from the public. The supposed logic, which a few journos surprisingly buy, is that the media is much less popular than him, so attacking the media when he is criticised is a vote winner (or at least voter retainer). Nah.

Key needs time to get his story straight

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 2:48 pm, April 5th, 2013 - 130 comments

In an interview this afternoon Key said that: “There will be no more answering of questions straight away, if I need to get details”. Defensive and petulant, Key is backing away from accountability.

PM’s Science Advisor worried PM doesn’t understand science

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 9:42 am, April 5th, 2013 - 74 comments

Why else would he say “that he is particularly concerned by the trend for the complex nature of science to be ignored or misunderstood in societal debates, leading to the argument that you can find a scientist to support any given position. This, he says, totally misinterprets the way that scientific consensus is achieved and can engender serious mistrust in the scientific enterprise.”

Vance asks the right questions on Key cronyism

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:07 am, April 4th, 2013 - 65 comments

Key’s adopted what Andrea Vance labels his “so what demeanour” as he tries to shrug off his highly irregular and inappropriate role in the selection of Ian Fletcher to head the GCSB. But whether or not Key was too involved in getting his mate a job is only the first round of this – the next calls into question the reliability of both Key and Fletcher’s account of the Dotcom saga.

Cronyism

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:30 am, April 3rd, 2013 - 289 comments

You know, when it came out that Key was good mates with his new GCSB spy boss, Ian Fletcher, (a man who was appointed despite lack of experience in spying or the NZ public service), I kind of thought ‘so what’? People know each other. But then I gave Robertson enough credit not to be raising this if he didn’t have a killer punch waiting. Today, he landed it.