spin

Dear Greenpeace – difficult cases make bad law

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:06 pm, July 15th, 2014 - 55 comments

Greenpeace has been told by the Electoral Commission that its Climate Voter Website requires third party authorisation and that a cap on the amount that can be spent applies.  There is an exception in the law if the site is a “news media” site which is paradoxically the same defence Cameron Slater is running in his case against Matt Blomfield justifying his refusal to disclose who his informant is.  The sense of irony is strong here …

Repost: Not the war on men you’re looking for

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 6:00 pm, July 10th, 2014 - 224 comments

It’s headline news again: Labour is trying to take away men’s rights and exile you all to a desert island. If you believe David Farrar, that is.

A quick note to John Key

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:59 am, July 7th, 2014 - 44 comments

Remember when John Key explained why he sends his children to private schools….. and now the Nats and Parata are saying that such advantages don’t work for all Kiwis.

Bryan Gould: An impartial press

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:25 am, June 29th, 2014 - 34 comments

Ed Miliband is competent, has the support of his party, but has abysmal poll ratings. The right-wing British press has played a significant role. For instance a messy bacon sandwich. In New Zealand, we all know that the British press is notoriously biased and that our own press may have their own allegiances but are reasonably  impartial. Which is why there are some disturbing features about the press treatment of the supposed “scandal” (as it is regularly referred to) of Donghua Liu and David Cunliffe.

John Key: a tale of two ‘truths’

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:08 am, June 23rd, 2014 - 34 comments

John Key claimed he didn’t know about the big shift in the US-NZ surveillance relationship in 2009.  Now he claims he always likes to be fully briefed on intelligence matters. Robert David Steele points the way from  such anti-democratic governance & misinformation, to an open source everything revolution.

The dirtiest election campaign backfires

Written By: Stephanie Rodgers - Date published: 10:00 am, June 19th, 2014 - 280 comments

Yesterday wasn’t a good day for Labour. But it’s not the end of the world – because we know how this game goes.

TPP – the expensive vanity project of NZ diplomacy

Written By: lprent - Date published: 10:32 am, June 13th, 2014 - 51 comments

Wayne Mapp is worried about the possibility of Labour backing away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If National and MFAT would like support from the free-trade advocates inside Labour, then I’d suggest that they get off their padded arses and provide some solid information not only to us, but also to the public. But all I have heard so far is some psuedo-religious Randian rants about free-trade that are about as convincing to business people as statements about the imminent arrival of the Rapture.

David Farrar badly needs night school

Written By: lprent - Date published: 3:08 pm, June 6th, 2014 - 45 comments

In Kiwiblog this morning, David Farrar appeared to be running a 9th floor pre-pump for John Banks to resign. But I was rather incredulous when I read this “I don’t think the Judge has actually helped the Government by delaying the decision on entering a conviction. Now that it is the Judge’s role to care about the impact on the Government.”. Huh? DPF badly needs to go back to do some adult education. Perhaps to night school?

John Key’s surplus

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:09 pm, May 15th, 2014 - 86 comments

A tiny surplus. After six years. And how much does New Zealand owe six years later? That’s right Seventy Five Billion Dollars. Mayby it should be you that apologises, John.

The desperation of the National’s sockpuppets

Written By: lprent - Date published: 6:51 pm, May 14th, 2014 - 77 comments

National Party pollster David Farrar must be seeing some numbers he really doesn’t like because he is claiming that David Cunliffe photoshopped himself into a rally that he was really at!  Yeah right – a doyen of the local net governing body failed to use google before making a complete dick of himself on the net. I expect we will see a lot more of National’s paid for bloggers acting like fools heading into this election because National only being good at putting us heavily into debt (again!) rather limits the good news they can write.

Spin Slater Spin

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:21 pm, May 4th, 2014 - 94 comments

Cameron Slater is spinning that an informal question of a police minister about staff leave entitlements by an opposition MP is the same as a Minister effectively requiring the review of a police prosecution of a National Party donor.  There is a sense of desperation emanating from the right over the Oravida issue … Update – and John Key appears to be displeased that Collins has brought a TVOne reporter into the debate …

Corrosive, anti-democratic power of big money

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:23 am, May 2nd, 2014 - 86 comments

Too many MPs in the NAct government, & some journalists, fail to understand that the negative impacts of the infiltration into politics of the worst ethos of big business & big money: croynism, networks of power & influence, self-serving, buddy-supporting actions, & deceptive manipulations of public relations.

David Cunliffe’s grandfather’s medals

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:01 am, April 29th, 2014 - 136 comments

Collins under fire

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:06 am, April 16th, 2014 - 115 comments

Judith Collins, once one of National’s most assured performers, is facing increasing pressure.  Her handling of the ACC privacy release form scandal is under scrutiny.  And the release of a letter from Oravida to the Government asking for help in handling reputational risk focusses even more attention on the “private dinner” and the identity of the mysterious Chinese Government Official.