john key
Categories under john key
- No categories
Key decked over supercity
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, May 5th, 2009 - 40 comments
A much better performance from Goff today in the House today. Finally, after weeks of fluffing, he managed to score a direct hit on Key. Goff’s questions on the Auckland supercity had Key denying the obvious, that the people of Auckland do not like his government’s supercity and do not believe they have been adequately […]
One of these things is not like the other IV
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, May 1st, 2009 - 53 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?
The Obama of the South Seas
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, April 30th, 2009 - 30 comments
The bizarre project to try to portray John Key as the Obama of the South Seas continues. Garth George today writes: “The new politics is being generated by two relatively young leaders, Prime Minister John Key and President Barack Obama, both of whom overcame less than desirable childhoods to succeed in business.” “succeed in business”… […]
Focused on what matters
Written By: - Date published: 7:36 pm, April 28th, 2009 - 60 comments
So John Key has set his taxpayer paid researchers onto David Shearer. The best they can come up with is that 11 years ago Shearer advocated using regulated mercenaries on UN peacekeeping missions because nations like the US are often unwilling to commit their own troops. If Key, who is clearly obsessed with winning Mt Albert, (he made […]
Imagine.
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, April 28th, 2009 - 6 comments
Inspired by a forwarded e-mail about Obama’s speech to the NAS with this line in it Imagine Key committing to invest 3% of GDP in R&D Obama 27th April 2009 at the National Academy of Science I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to […]
Another one bites the dust
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, April 28th, 2009 - 52 comments
And so another of John Key’s “big ideas” is shown to have been costed by monkeys. Treasury study suggests fibre plan will fall short: A study commissioned by the Treasury has warned it would cost between $5.3 billion and $10.4b to connect three-quarters of New Zealand homes with fibre-optic cable using the Government’s preferred active […]
Hide says no to referendum
Written By: - Date published: 5:59 am, April 25th, 2009 - 18 comments
Rodney Hide says Aucklanders shouldn’t have a vote on whether or not they want his supercity. He uses one of the weaker arguments the righties have been running in our comment threads “it’s not just a `yes’ or `no’ question” Yes it is. The question of how a super-city should be structured is not a ‘yes’ […]
Bouncing from cloud to idiot cloud
Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, April 24th, 2009 - 21 comments
Check out this piece on TV3. Key first talks about the “9-week fortnight” and doesn’t even catch his mistake. Then, trying to justify not offering 9-day fortnights for the public sector (which Germany etc are doing), he says “well, the public sector has different issues at the moment, you know, we’re, you know, undergoing some […]
There’s optimistic and there’s just wrong
Written By: - Date published: 1:11 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 14 comments
John Key has a habit of speaking much more bluntly to foreign media than he does to us. In his interview with the Financial Times published this week he stated unequivocally that there will be no stimulus package for New Zealand. He hadn’t told us. It was this, though, that caught my attention: “he is betting […]
Govt still refuses to act on youth smoking
Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, April 21st, 2009 - 42 comments
A couple of months ago you may remember Tony Ryall rejecting a health select committee recommendation that cigarettes and tobacco be kept out of sight in shops to help make them less inviting. On Sunrise this morning Oliver Driver wanted to know, in the light of fresh evidence, why Key’s government is still intent on […]
Johnny plays general
Written By: - Date published: 9:48 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 23 comments
This morning on Breakfast, Key said we’ll send in troops to Fiji as part of a multi-national force if need be. At the same time, McCully was on National Radio refusing to countenance any such deployment. Key also said we’ll send more people to Afghanistan if there’s an exit strategy. While McCully no decision would be made until a review […]
Turning a blind eye
Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, April 18th, 2009 - 16 comments
Unlike some of the other Standard writers, I don’t usually find Fran O-Sullivan too bad but her reporting of Key’s trip to China has been disappointing. Here’s how she describes Key’s failure to stand up for human rights: “Key is also quite pragmatic on human rights. He did not seem bothered enough on China’s record […]
Worth mired in corruption again
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 pm, April 16th, 2009 - 36 comments
(click the picture for the video) Why would Worth visit the Sandhu family to whom he was a stranger and who had nothing to do with his portfolio? What did he say to them? Why would he introduce himself as the Minister of Internal Affairs to the family? And why would he lie about that to the media? […]
Weak
Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, April 12th, 2009 - 18 comments
We’ve all been subjected to mainstream journalists gushing over Key’s ‘strong leadership’ but now it’s being put to the test and we’re seeing weakness, not strength. Look at how he has dealt with Richard Worth compared to how Clark dealt with ministers. When Helen Clark was Prime Minister, especially in her early days, she had […]
What comes around goes around
Written By: - Date published: 6:55 pm, April 11th, 2009 - 3 comments
It wasn’t so long ago that National’s covert attack organ, the Free Speech Coalition, were squealing about how anti-democratic the last Labour government was, with plenty of snappy billboards like this one. Well now that the tragedy of Fiji’s dictatorship is going from bad to worse, don’t expect to hear any more concern from the […]
Key, a Worthless Prime Minister?
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, April 10th, 2009 - 24 comments
Yet another twist in the Worthless saga. It turns out that he used his diplomatic passport on the trip to India – which was a ‘private’ trip. John Key in his usual spineless way has issued another limp ‘warning”. It appears that even Worth does not believe the warning. Colin Espiner says Worth admitted in […]
Yes, if Bill will let me
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, April 7th, 2009 - 6 comments
A wag emails us: So Key is keen on offering mortgage holidays like in Aussie. Any bets on how long before English overrules him?
Out of touch
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, April 7th, 2009 - 32 comments
Vernon Small suggests that a further 60,000 workers may lose their jobs by next year. So it comes as a shock to read that John Key’s response to this latest news is to stick firmly to his: “optimistic and sunny” approach. It’s almost like he’s living in some alternative reality. While Bill is quietly crapping […]
Why won’t Key sack his Minister?
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 23 comments
The Herald is now reporting that John Key won’t sack Richard Worth, despite new information coming to light that an associated company to WSD Global (in which Worth was director while a Minister) was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office: Mr Key said today he had spoken to Dr Worth on Saturday. “I believe he […]
It’s just not worth the risk
Written By: - Date published: 8:06 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 23 comments
From Bill Ralston’s latest column on the Richard Worth scandal: Key’s predecessor had no qualms about making ministers walk the plank if they failed to tell her everything. Unless he wants to appear weak and risk further embarrassment to his Government, Key will have to throw the hapless Worth overboard. Ralston’s right. Key should protect […]
English kicks cycleway to touch
Written By: - Date published: 7:41 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 22 comments
While John Key’s been bouncing from cloud to cloud, Bill English has been grinding away in the back room. He’s finally done the the numbers on Key’s cycleway, announcing today that: We won’t be spending $50 million on it this year or next year or the year after. With one swift stroke, he’s effectively killed […]
Key plays the April fool
Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, April 1st, 2009 - 30 comments
Someone’s set up a swag of fake Twitter accounts under the names of Labour MPs. Apparently Labour came across these on Monday at the latest and wrote to Twitter telling them the accounts were fake. But no-one, including his staff, told John Key the tweets were obvious forgeries. So he jumped up in Parliament today […]
Mayday Mayday, Worth’s bought it and I’m losing altitude – Groser out
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 1st, 2009 - 36 comments
Richard Worth, OBE, is now in very serious trouble having been snared in what looks like untruths about using his Ministerial portfolio to further the interests of a company he had a private commercial interest in. It’s pretty blatant and really Key won’t be able to get away with keeping him on for much longer. […]
Take responsibility or take the blame
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, March 27th, 2009 - 11 comments
As Minister of Works responding to a disaster in his portfolio, Bob Semple famously said ‘I am responsible but not to blame’. That has become one of our political mores. If they are not personally at fault, ministers shouldn’t have to take the blame when things go wrong but they are responsible for dealing with the […]
Disgraceful
Written By: - Date published: 5:18 pm, March 24th, 2009 - 15 comments
A Standard reader emails: Today at the beginning of question time a minute silence was observed for Mary Bachelor former MP for Avon who died recently. John Key spent part of the minute running through his notes. Disgraceful.
Oh Johnkey Donkey!
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, March 24th, 2009 - 27 comments
We’ve been outed! By none other than Thelma (or was it Louise?) A promotional video for climate action, voiced by Susan Sarandon for Greenpeace in the US, holds New Zealand up as a beacon of hope on a sickly earth praising the former Labour Government’s plan to ban energy inefficient bulbs by 2009. Unfortunately for […]
Where would you get that idea?
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, March 22nd, 2009 - 19 comments
John Armstrong March 21 2009 – “So the National Government is variously inching, shifting, drifting, veering or lurching to the right, depending on where you stand on the political spectrum. Surprise, surprise… John Key may have portrayed himself as a moderate pragmatist in Opposition – indeed he is still doing exactly that as Prime Minister […]
Key on wages
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 pm, March 18th, 2009 - 93 comments
Key’s speech to the CTU today showed an interesting inight into how he thinks you lift wages. NZPA reports: He said it was not good enough for New Zealand to be in the bottom third of the OECD for per-capita incomes, but was cautious about tackling the issue by lifting minimum wage rates. “In reality, […]
Ambitious for New Zealand
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, March 18th, 2009 - 21 comments
John Key in the NBR*: There is more chance in this decade than the last one of New Zealand moving up the OECD league table because other countries are moving backwards. So, it’s OK if we’re getting poorer because other countries are getting poorer even faster. Not so ambitious for New Zealand after all I […]
The guy’s tired already
Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, March 13th, 2009 - 65 comments
If there’s one thing that strikes you about John Key’s post-cabinet press conference this week, it isn’t the scintillating prose or erudite diction. It isn’t even the brilliant plans brimming with enthusiasm, intelligence and vision. What’s remarkable is that the guy looks exhausted. He’s been in the job all of 3 months, extended holidays in Hawaii not withstanding, […]
Recent Comments