john key
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The Wall Street Journal gets it
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, March 9th, 2009 - 55 comments
Despite all the claims of “centrist” and “centre-right” none other than the the Wall Street Journal has pointed out that John Key’s government is very much a hard-right neo-liberal outfit: Mr. Key is returning the country to a formula for prosperity that’s worked in the past. As in Britain, the U.S. and Australia in the […]
PM eyes fetching tiara
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, March 8th, 2009 - 61 comments
The world may be going to hell in a hand-basket and National may have been pretty derelict so far in coming up with any real plan to combat the recession, but clearly they’ve been busy focusing on the really important business of dragging us back into the past. The British titles of Knights and Dames […]
An empty shell
Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, March 5th, 2009 - 28 comments
Question Time yesterday was extraordinary. There’s too much to quote it all: ministers attacking ACC, refusing to back the minimum wage for all workers, ministers calling their quotes in the Herald lies. But this topped it off. Hon Phil Goff: What is the current status of the New Zealand Skills Strategy developed by Business New […]
Key writes off Sealord jobs
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, March 3rd, 2009 - 50 comments
Despite making sound profits Sealord are laying off 180 workers in Nelson. They claim the move is part of restructuring and that there will be fifty new jobs aboard factory ships that will fully process fish. Remaining workers are also being asked to take a pay cut. I’m not sure I buy that. Even with […]
It’s raining men
Written By: - Date published: 5:21 pm, February 27th, 2009 - 60 comments
A reader just sent us this one minute montage of photos from John Key’s jobs summit. Enjoy.
‘Iconic’ bailouts
Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, February 26th, 2009 - 9 comments
Bailing out a company like Air New Zealand is one thing. It has a multiplier effect on the local economy in tourism marketing, air freight, and just having a airline that is interested in having routes in and out of NZ. Giving money to your mates because they are your mates… Well this is the […]
Granny’s baked some patsies for you, dearie
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, February 21st, 2009 - 24 comments
Can you spot the question that wasn’t asked of Key by Armstrong and Young in their six page interview with him in today’s Herald? Is there too much “doom and gloom” talk at the moment, especially by and in the media? There’s a lot of debate among commentators as to whether your stimulus package will […]
Thankfully, the election isn’t tomorrow
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, February 19th, 2009 - 148 comments
When John Key and Pita Sharples were jostled by two Maori men opposed to the National-Maori Party alliance, the thing that stuck in my mind was Key’s smile. Like Donald Trump’s hair, it was back in place immediately, covering whatever lies underneath. That smile, and the intensive, expensive, extensive image management it represents, are the […]
In for a penny
Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, February 8th, 2009 - 44 comments
Key’s old arm cast has sold for $18,500 on Trademe. The money will go to the Fred Hollows Foundation to help blind people in the Solomon Islands. Great, a fair old dollop of money raised for a worthy cause. But let’s not stop there. A large number of people bid large amounts for two things of […]
Rainbows tame Waitangi
Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 7 comments
Gosh what a difference a few years can make when it comes to symbols of national identity. Not so long ago National had a leader happy to springboard off dog-whistling race-divisive carping about the Treaty Grievance Industry in speeches and billboards. More recently National campaigned on abolition of the Maori seats, at least until it became […]
Half truths
Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, February 5th, 2009 - 10 comments
Across the Tasman Kevin Rudd has announced a huge recovery package. Here at home, National is merely tinkering around the edges. Key’s standard response to this criticism is that ‘his’ package puts us amongst the top few countries in the world in terms of spend to GDP. Someone needs to ask him how much of […]
Fonterra set to simmer
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, February 4th, 2009 - Comments Off on Fonterra set to simmer
Lawyer Stephen Price has rubbished Fonterra’s claim that the Chinese sub judice status of the Sanlu case prevents Fonterra releasing documentation of their communications. Price also doubts any discussion of the issues here would influence the outcome of Sanlu Chairwoman Tian Wenhau’s appeal. The criticism comes after Fonterra claimed it advised Sanlu only 0% melamine was acceptable […]
So that’s the plan
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, February 2nd, 2009 - 41 comments
Well it may not have been particularly self-evident just what National have been doing since the election, but clearly John has some kind of plan. The TradeMe auction of Key’s arm cast, acquired after an inauspicious Chinese New Year trip, has begun. Worried perhaps that the auction might also fall flat on its face, John has […]
Identity Politics
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, January 31st, 2009 - 10 comments
In 2007 Te Ata Tino Toa applied to Tranzit New Zealand to have the Maori Sovereignty flag flown on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. Tranzit declined permission on the grounds that it wasn’t a UN recognized national flag, despite having previously flown the Team New Zealand flag, which would have failed the same […]
John Key keeps disappearing into satire
Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, January 29th, 2009 - 3 comments
Danyl at The Dim-Post has been indulging in his favored pastime again – satire. In this case Cabinet expresses concern over missing PM is about John Key going missing all of the time. Danyl compares him to a pooch avoiding something… Finance Minister Bill English has accepted responsibility for his leader’s absence. ‘I usually let […]
Obama implements pay freeze for some aides
Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, January 23rd, 2009 - Comments Off on Obama implements pay freeze for some aides
President Obama has announced his intention to institute a pay freeze on the salaries of senior White House aides earning over $US100,000. He says “public service is a privilege, it’s not about advancing yourself”. I think it is significant that he has implemented this for those at the upper end of the payscale, rather than across […]
Still swilling the small beer
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 am, January 23rd, 2009 - 52 comments
John Key has written to the Remuneration Board imploring them not to increase wages for MPs and judges in the annual review later this year. Now, I’ve stated my view on this issue – on National Radio the other week and last year in this post. I reckon MPs’ wages, along with the minimum wage and […]
Time to pony up with some policy
Written By: - Date published: 6:22 am, January 22nd, 2009 - 11 comments
After three years of solid growth, the latest stats show international tourist numbers collapsing 8% last November compared to November 2007 due to the global recession. Goldman Sachs forecasts a drop of over 5% this year and more in 2010. Like all economic projections since the world tipped into recession, these numbers are likely to be revised down […]
Easily impressed
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, January 15th, 2009 - 24 comments
John Key in person is extremely amiable; talking to him face to face, it’s hard not to like the bugger. I guess that he hasn’t lost any of that magic on his holiday. How else could one explain John Armstrong’s piece in the Herald today? The guy sounds like he’s in love. All it takes […]
Time to reconsider Hobsonville
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, December 17th, 2008 - 29 comments
After initially saying they would cap the number of state houses, National/ACT’s Housing Minister Phil Heatley actually got informed. Despite the good work that Labour did increasing the number of state houses and their quality, the problem has not been completely solved – there are thousands of families still in need of affordable housing. Now, Heatley says, there […]
Class divide
Written By: - Date published: 4:08 pm, December 12th, 2008 - 117 comments
Taken a matter of minutes ago, the Workers Party protest outside John Key’s multimillion dollar Parnell mansion. Just to remind you that we’ve just seen a man worth tens of millions of dollars take work rights off a whole bunch of people who earn minimum wage. In case you’re wondering what they’re holding up, it’s […]
The Secret Diary of Prime Minister John Key aged 47 1/3
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, December 8th, 2008 - 4 comments
If someone sent me this to put up as a guest post on The Standard, I would probably reject it as too childish. But seeing as the Dompost printed it and it is pretty funny, here is Bob Jones’ The Secret Diary of Prime Minister John Key aged 47 1/3:
Off the Agenda
Written By: - Date published: 5:56 pm, December 7th, 2008 - 10 comments
Well, if that was the best they could manage for the final Agenda then we haven’t lost much. There was one decent question in an hour. That was from the business editor of the Press asking Rodney Hide why if people wanted their councils owning local assets and bringing in a profit that wasn’t a […]
It’s 3am again
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, December 3rd, 2008 - 10 comments
Armstrong’s a little more charitable in relation to National’s dithering on the evacuation of Kiwis from Bangkok than I would have been. Yes, Key got there in the end but we had to endure yet more of the painful “there are a range of options that we’re considering” BS he’s so prone to. I’m sure […]
Fiasco
Written By: - Date published: 3:56 pm, December 2nd, 2008 - 68 comments
John Key’s first test as Prime Minister in a crisis is turning into a bloody fiasco, with the leader of the opposition having to tell him how to do his job through the media. Read the linked article, it’s extraordinary. For the sake of the hundreds of Kiwis stranded in Thailand, can’t John just spare […]
First days on the job disappoint
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, December 2nd, 2008 - 18 comments
The journos don’t seem to have been very impressed by Key now that he has returned to take up the reins of government. Several journos criticised his performance at his first post-Cabinet press conference. There is growing criticism of Key’s response to the situation in Thailand. Certainly both both his lack of urgency and his […]
More to worry about
Written By: - Date published: 5:54 am, December 2nd, 2008 - 41 comments
John Key said yesterday that he expects growth in “the next financial year to be pretty close to zero”. That means he’s anticipating a serious recession. That’s our national wealth shrinking for two years, even as the population continues to grow – a smaller pie for more people to share. Here’s hoping we will see an […]
A plea to National
Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, November 27th, 2008 - 92 comments
Don’t let Key go abroad representing us again until he has had some diplomacy training. I can’t believe, I literally can’t believe, the comments he has made in the UK. In addition to the comments yesterday, where he called the new carbon-offset airport departure tax “protectionism” and said it will lead to a “contagion effect”, […]
The departed
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, November 26th, 2008 - 56 comments
The UK has announced plans to increase departure tax from its airports for flights outside Europe to pay for offsetting their carbon emissions. This is part of the worldwide response to climate change – countries are making emitters pay and even aviation, which is excluded from Kyoto, is now being targeted (quite rightly too, it […]
Signature performance
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, November 25th, 2008 - 37 comments
Before our new Prime Minister went to APEC I wrote “it’s not an opportunity to get some names in your autograph book”. I feared he would view this meeting of the world’s most powerful people merely as an opportunity to get his picture snapped with some famous faces to impress the folks back home, rather […]
Key’s first test – fail
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 pm, November 22nd, 2008 - 44 comments
Well, John Key took my advice and gave a speech at APEC different from the pro forma MFAT-written speech that might have been expected. Unfortunately, it’s still all style and no substance, all bark but no bite. Key is scathing of his fellow money-men for taking on more and more risk; he accuses them of […]
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