spin

Categories under spin

No, he meant “infrastructure”, he really, really did

Written By: - Date published: 3:47 pm, March 7th, 2008 - 27 comments

AYB’s confidence in English as a frontman for National may already have taken a knock as the second half of the dynamic duo has successfully managed his own John Key moment within hours of taking over the reins. When asked on NewstalkZB today whether National would borrow money to pay for tax cuts English managed […]

Tail-spin

Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, February 23rd, 2008 - 73 comments

While National is trying to pretend John Key’s quote that “we would love to see wages drop” is a non-issue, behind the scenes they’re floundering. We’ve all heard the multiple and conflicting denials (“I can’t recall”, “I never said it”, “I was misquoted”, “I was talking about Australian wages”), and now thanks to a lazy […]

“The literal truth”

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, February 16th, 2008 - 49 comments

Fran O’Sullivan’s continuing her ongoing philosophical project of interrogating the notion of truth in her latest repetition of Kiwiblog talking points Herald column. In it she picks up on the Owen Glenn interview and from a few disparate facts weaves a story of intrigue and mystery. Or rather provides us with an insight into the […]

Key conjures up cuts

Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, February 12th, 2008 - 10 comments

John Key tells us that he would cut ‘wasteful government spending’ to pay for upper-bracket tax cuts bigger than Labour’s cuts. But do the facts match the rhetoric? Remember National’s wastewatch website? It listed $900 million in ‘waste’ since 1999 only 0.2% of government spending, which won’t pay for many tax cuts. And most of […]

Key speech: strategic blunder?

Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, January 29th, 2008 - 113 comments

So this is John Key’s ambition: throwing troubled teens in boot camp, beating up on beneficiaries and criminalising our children. I’ve only had a quick read through the speech in my lunch break so it’s possible I’ve got this wrong, but I get the distinct impression that Key has made a major strategic error here. […]

Spinning the spin.

Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, January 20th, 2008 - 279 comments

Ruth Laugeson has an article in the Sunday Star Times about the increased numbers of communications staff employed by ministries. Entitled “Spinning govt yarn costs $47m”, the article is in many ways a lovely piece of spin in its own right. The basis of the article is that the number of spindoctors employed by the […]

Ever wonder why people call John Key “slippery”?

Written By: - Date published: 7:37 pm, December 6th, 2007 - 77 comments

Here he is being interviewed by Paul Henry on Breakfast earlier today. Key tries to slip out of answering a direct question not once, not twice, but SIX times. Notice that Key tries his pre-rehearsed “precious” line twice to start with. When it’s rejected, the slipperiness really begins in earnest. PRESENTER: Um, alright and very […]

National’s spin doesn’t stack up

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, December 4th, 2007 - 103 comments

National’s attempt to spin its way out of John Key’s DVD debacle doesn’t stack up. Here’s the official line: National’s campaign manager Jo de Joux blamed the production company. “Obviously, National relied on the expertise of the production company that put together the video and its soundtrack,” Ms de Joux said. “We’ll take all available […]

History repeats, part II

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, November 13th, 2007 - 13 comments

There’s a famous line from Joyce’s Ulysses in which the main protagonist Stephen Dedalus states “history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake” and when I opened the Herald this morning I suddenly understood what that can mean: Now look at this one from a little ways back: Spot the difference. It […]