spin

Categories under spin

taxpayers union (26)
you couldn't make this shit up (828)

Census 2013: glossing over the divides

Written By: karol - Date published: 12:21 pm, December 3rd, 2013 - 18 comments

The 2013 census data is being revealed. The initial information is presented in Stats NZ’s package, with some curious slants/biases: e.g. on income, occupations and housing. What else do the stats reveal? [Update: Stats NZ on income]

NZ Herald editorial smears the Referendum

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:42 am, November 30th, 2013 - 28 comments

NZ Herald editor/s selectively reports, omitting the full facts, in favour of the National government. It misrepresents the referendum on asset sales, ignoring significant facts – thereby also seeming to discredit the Green Party, the referendum, & democracy.

Battle weary & marginalised: state housing

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:37 am, November 28th, 2013 - 61 comments

The National government is destroying NZ’s state housing system. Right of tenure removed, a shift towards private provision of “social housing”, housing campaigners marginalised, & Tracy Watkins crowing about the shift from the “welfare state”. Greens & Mana are for more state houses. And Labour? [Update] Picket of (Nat) Party for the Rich Dec 8 Akl. NZH article.

150 years: tell us your NZ Herald Story

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:47 am, November 22nd, 2013 - 29 comments

NZ Herald has a long history as the voice of the (most often white, masculine, middle/upper class, Pakeha) conservative establishment. Dr Hope shows how this happened in the past. NZ Herald online provides 21st century support for Key’s government. Tell us your NZ Herald stories.

Shhh! It’s the ‘P’ word.

Written By: Bill - Date published: 5:01 pm, November 18th, 2013 - 340 comments

You don’t have to be white and male and financially wealthy to assume a prominent position within systems of patriarchy, but it helps. And you don’t have to be financially strapped and black and female to feel the full weight of patriarchy always pressing down on you, but it helps.

Key rewrites history for “Crazy Colin”

Written By: karol - Date published: 5:00 pm, November 13th, 2013 - 68 comments

Answering questions on the up-coming Asset Sales referendum, John Key spoke some appalling un-truths. He is rewriting political history to suit “Crazy” Colin Craig’s possible coalition bottom lines on the “anti-smacking” law. Cunliffe finally got there in the General Debate, but the opposition was too slow in countering Key’s lies & spin.

Good news me, bad news you

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 2:20 pm, October 31st, 2013 - 14 comments

Clare Trevett details in today’s Herald how Key has taken to bringing Ministers with good news to his Monday news conferences “to lambast the media with good news about the progress being made in a certain area.” Sources tell me that the good news goes well beyond the Monday presser. Ministerial staff run a filter across all portfolio announcements: if it’s good news, the Minister gets to make the announcement. If its not such good news, the job goes to the Departmental head.

Serious question: Treasury?

Written By: karol - Date published: 7:46 am, October 31st, 2013 - 86 comments

Why is Treasury providing the government with advice on spinning and disguising widespread changes to Education? In this way, NZ’s democracy is undermined, and changes are continually made that benefit the few and make life more difficult for the many. Government MO or renegade Treasury?

National’s civil war continues

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:39 am, October 28th, 2013 - 140 comments

Matthew Hooton said this week that Cameron Slater should put up or shut up. Slater then promised explosive new revelations in the SST and the Herald today. As detailed by Karol in her post The Blame Game the revelations were, but I suspect not in the way that Slater had hoped for. Because he has succeeded beyond what I thought would be possible in converting a story about a a philandering mayor into a story of how forces on the right tried to usurp the democratic choice of Aucklanders.

The Blame Game

Written By: karol - Date published: 7:51 am, October 27th, 2013 - 107 comments

And so it continues. Inside the Palino-Wewege-Cook-Slater camp, every one is pointing the finger at everyone else and putting the blame elsewhere for the clumsily executed smear campaign against Len Brown. Got to wonder who is in the shadows frantically pulling various levers?

Fuck off, Bob Jones: and advertisers? Be warned

Written By: QoT - Date published: 7:00 pm, October 22nd, 2013 - 94 comments

Bob Jones has produced another disgusting “opinion piece”, and the New Zealand Herald has once again been disgusting enough to publish it. I completely understand that a lot of people don’t have the spoons for taking on yet another awful triggery misogynist piece of shit produced by an awful misogynist piece of shit. On this […]

Playing dirty: The politics of contradiction

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:03 pm, October 19th, 2013 - 169 comments

Slater’s track record speaks for itself. As the Brown-Chuang-Wewege-Palino story unfolds, his angle on the story shifts, and the contradictions abound. On The Nation this morning, Slater lays it out: politics is a dirty game, and that’s the game he’s playing.

Angry Simon implodes on Campbell Live

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:32 pm, October 14th, 2013 - 239 comments

This must be one of the worst “interviews” given by an NZ cabinet minster tonight on Campbell Live. Simon Bridges all bluster, anger, spin and diversions, and fails to answer the real questions about the dangers of the deep sea drilling off NZ’s coast. The ugly face of John Key’s government. [Update: Youtube video of the interview]

Discourage the pantie sniffers

Written By: lprent - Date published: 9:01 pm, October 13th, 2013 - 30 comments

It isn’t that hard to get around the prurient arsehole peekers that populate the NSA and the kiwi puppets – John Key being a prime example. Encrypt, falsify your “metadata”, and send lots of crap purely so they have no idea what to look at. Hell – even the NZ Herald gets it these days as in an anonymously published article in the weekend rag…

Maurice Williamson: a fool speaking without numbers

Written By: lprent - Date published: 4:05 pm, October 11th, 2013 - 12 comments

Maurice Williamson has apparently been proclaiming that the lower than expected population growth in the census (mostly from people fleeing his government and emigrating) means that a revision of Auckland’s infrastructure plans was needed, such as an increase in high-rise apartments and the construction of an inner-city rail loop. Bullshit. Perhaps the idiot minister should look at *where* the growth has been going…

Useless

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:33 pm, October 2nd, 2013 - 81 comments

So John Key goes out into the world to represent our interests and what does he get? His good mate David Cameron tells him to get stuffed when he asks for better access to the UK for Kiwis. A meeting with the Queen that made us look like a bunch of hicks. A “hard hitting” […]

Hooton and CV “embellishment”

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:39 am, September 27th, 2013 - 53 comments

Hooton has somewhat backed down from his liar liar accusations against David Cunliffe, but the allegations of “CV embellishment” are still coming. For future reference, I look to the “master” for an example of how not to pad a CV. What can we learn from him? [Update: John Key’s bio?]

The birth of NZ’s very own Birther movement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:07 pm, September 26th, 2013 - 81 comments

The right must be very afraid of David Cunliffe. Because they are coming up with the most extraordinarily crazy conspiracy theories to try and discredit him.

Radio New Zealand apologises to David Cunliffe

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:35 am, September 26th, 2013 - 78 comments

Radio New Zealand has issued an apology to David Cunliffe following Matthew Hooton’s recent smearing of him. If only Cameron Slater would do the same because he is starting to get pretty obsessional about Cunliffe. This may not be a bad thing as he is rapidly turning the Collins faction of the National Party into New Zealand’s equivalent of the Tea Party

Return of the Hollow Men

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:16 am, September 26th, 2013 - 48 comments

With Cunliffe’s Labour in the ascendance, NAct and/supporters pull out their bag of dirty and deceptively manipulative, Hollow Men, tricks. Adviser to John Key & Boris Johnson, Mark Textor, will most likely be used again: ruthless attack politics, playing on fears & prejudices.

On national’s smear tactics

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:34 pm, September 25th, 2013 - 100 comments

As Irish predicted, the Nats continued their desperate smear campaign today with the revelation that David Cunliffe doesn’t actually have a qualification he never actually claimed to have. Honestly, you couldn’t make this shit up.

Key loses his “Centre”, Herald spins right, Smith on the ropes

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:31 am, September 25th, 2013 - 35 comments

Cunliffe’s moderate, centre left Labour is on the rise; MSM-supported, NAct smears & negative spin is in over-drive. John Key and the NZ Herald editorial spin from the radical “neoliberal” right. Slippery Nick Smith, a NAct weak point, is under concerted pressure. [Updated]

Hooton – please apologise

Written By: karol - Date published: 1:46 pm, September 23rd, 2013 - 220 comments

Matthew Hooton accused David Cunliffe of lying about his involvement with the Boston Management Group when it was providing advice that led to the development of Fonterra. A little research supports Cunliffe’s claims and not Hooton’s.

TV3 needs to be fact checked

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:43 am, September 13th, 2013 - 75 comments

TV3’s analysis of the Labour Leadership contest is leaving a lot to be desired. Rather than reporting on what has happened they are trivialising the leadership campaign and getting important details wrong.

NRT: The Herald supports oligarchy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:09 pm, August 28th, 2013 - 27 comments

No Right Turn makes the point on what the NZ Herald considers a “democracy under attack” to be. Their track record indicates it only ever happens if they find it harder to get advertising revenue or some of their audience finds harder to make money off selling other people’s assets. Of course having people participating doesn’t appear to them to be a part of democracy.

Smell the fear

Written By: karol - Date published: 2:28 pm, August 27th, 2013 - 236 comments

John Key claims he doesn’t care who becomes the next parliamentary Labour leader, while trying to drive a wedge between candidates. As Cunliffe gains momentum, Key turns negative on Cunliffe & throws some stones in his glass house. Gordon Campbell puts things in perspective.

Key vs Campbell: the transcript

Written By: karol - Date published: 1:22 pm, August 15th, 2013 - 272 comments

The interview of John Key by John Campbell last night on Campbell Live (on the GCSB Bill), showed what a formidable spin merchant Key can be. It is important to understand Key’s MO. This is a work in progress – transcript ~~of the first~~ ~~10.44 12.27 mins.~~ completed.

John Key – in contempt

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:30 pm, August 12th, 2013 - 71 comments

John Key shows contempt for New Zealanders and democracy in refusing to talk about the GCSB Bill and saying New Zealanders care more about snapper quotas. Campbell Live discovers some Kiwis are well informed and have views on the GCSB Bill.

This is/is not democracy

Written By: karol - Date published: 1:05 pm, August 12th, 2013 - 106 comments

The Nats’ PR-managed conference stifled democratic debate & bright ideas, and diverted from significant issues. Armstrong attempts to talk it up, while exposing Key’s win-at-all-costs ruthlessness. Meanwhile: speakers announced for democratic meeting to Kill the GCSB Bill [Updated – Hagar also speaking]. [Update: Gordon Campbell – ‘Nanny National‘]

“The problem gambler”: Key & SkyCity

Written By: karol - Date published: 12:05 pm, August 8th, 2013 - 10 comments

Brand Key – CEO of NZ Inc, speculator, gambler, spinmeister – epitomises the “neoliberal revolution”. Gambling & other consumerist addictions are blamed on the individual. A court case against SkyCity shows the contradictory links between gambling, smoking, corporate influence & “insatiable consumerism.”

World smells 100% pure bullshit

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:40 am, August 7th, 2013 - 223 comments

We’re living a lie in New Zealand. We tell ourselves and we tell the world that we’re this amazingly environmentally conscious and sustainable country when, in fact, we’ve turned most of it into a giant farm, most of the rivers are unsafe to swim due to the farm run-off, and it would be worse, we just haven’t had the time. The Fonterra scandal may be the final straw for the 100% Pure slogan.