the praiseworthy and the pitiful

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National brings its B game to social media

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, December 20th, 2017 - 52 comments

A couple of recent examples suggests that National’s social media game is well below standard. And Judith Collins is no longer the Parliamentary Queen of twitter.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves.

Written By: Bill - Date published: 7:01 am, December 18th, 2017 - 131 comments

The “Adapting to Climate Change in NZ” report.

The Herald is obsessed with the latest Colmar Brunton poll

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:17 am, December 17th, 2017 - 47 comments

The Herald’s weekend political comment includes detailed analysis of the Colmar Brunton poll, now a week old, but ignored the details of the mini budget.

Doofus of the week – Jami Lee-Ross

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:30 am, December 16th, 2017 - 69 comments

Jami Lee-Ross wins the award this week for trying to hold up the passage of a law designed to make sure kids get enough to eat just so he could eat his lunch and then throwing the most amazing of temper tantrums when he did not get his way.

The Herald thinks Jacinda Ardern is a Marxist

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:38 am, December 13th, 2017 - 204 comments

The Herald has equated Jacinda Ardern’s desire to temper the worst excesses of capitalism with the full embrace of marxist communism.

Shaking the Tree

Written By: Bill - Date published: 11:35 am, December 11th, 2017 - 69 comments

When an apple tree is shaken, pips can fall to the ground and germinate. And then things grow back more or less as before.

Doofus of the week

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:09 pm, December 9th, 2017 - 40 comments

Bill English claims the award for doofus of the week with his incredible statement that the country being 72,000 houses short is not a crisis and Labour should just deal with it anyway.

Twyford reverses National’s flawed methamphetamine housing policy

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 6:29 am, December 9th, 2017 - 71 comments

Phil Twyford has shown this new Government has a brain as well as a heart by halting National’s ridiculous state house methamphetamine policy where the presence of minuscule traces would result in eviction even though there was no proof the tenant was responsible and he has apologised to Robert Erueti for the harm caused.

National Standards causes decline in educational levels

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:13 am, December 7th, 2017 - 30 comments

The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study results suggests that National Standards has been a failure.

Guest Post: Monbiot, Attenborough and Soper on environmental collapse

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:14 am, December 6th, 2017 - 44 comments

Guest post by Ed about the intellectual rigour of George Monbiot and David Attenborough and the rater strange response of Barry Soper.

Deranged Golriz Syndrome

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:36 am, December 3rd, 2017 - 102 comments

David Farrar has continued his crusade against Golriz Ghahraman with a claim of 15 instances where she has by implication deceived us.

Tenancy Stuff.

Written By: Bill - Date published: 8:44 am, December 2nd, 2017 - 45 comments

How’s about private tenants in New Zealand were warm, dry and secure? Too big an ask?

The chaos of the Trump White House

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:32 am, December 1st, 2017 - 22 comments

From tweeting fake anti muslim videos to supporting the Senate race of an alleged child molester who was banned from a mall because he was so creepy to acting to remove his Secretary of State for thinking that he is a moron to passing a bill that will help the rich and hurt the poor while denying this is the case the Donald Trump White House is a chaotic place.

Key and Mass Surveillance: Was this the reason for the Golriz distraction?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:42 pm, November 29th, 2017 - 100 comments

David Fisher has written an in-depth article for the Herald that suggests that John Key’s promise, three years ago, that the Government had cancelled the Speargun project which would have allowed for the mass surveillance of New Zealanders was not actually correct.

Joyce’s multi billion dollar budget hole

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:13 pm, November 29th, 2017 - 29 comments

It appears that Steven Joyce was right about there being a multi billion dollar hole in the Government’s finances. But not in the way claimed.

Up the spout, round the bend and down the tubes.

Written By: Bill - Date published: 11:43 am, November 28th, 2017 - 34 comments

It’s no longer really working out (kicking the AGW can down the road), but we seem to be hooked into a peculiar form of madness even as everything appears to be coming apart at the seams. It’s beyond me…

Right loses its shit after former criminal lawyer discovered to have acted for bad people

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:40 am, November 28th, 2017 - 86 comments

Elements on the internet have claimed that Green MP Golriz Ghahraman must be a genocide supporter because she once acted as a defence lawyer in a war crimes tribunal.

Why New Zealand should support the Tongan League team and forget about the Americas Cup

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:49 am, November 28th, 2017 - 101 comments

The Tongan national league team has invigorated Auckland in a way I have not previously seen basically for nothing. Meanwhile Team New Zealand and the Americas Cup are demanding hundreds of millions of dollars for economic benefits that the recipients should be paying for.

National spams the Beehive

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:48 am, November 27th, 2017 - 90 comments

National has been clogging Parliament’s written question system by asking questions that even David Farrar thinks seem silly and are over the top.

Doofus of the week – Nick Smith

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:58 pm, November 25th, 2017 - 60 comments

No competition in this one, Nick Smith for showing that despite the 27 long years he has spent in Parliament he still has no idea how our electoral system works and for claiming there is an electoral convention that simply does not exist.

Friggit!

Written By: Bill - Date published: 8:01 pm, November 23rd, 2017 - 155 comments

Frigate. Send one. Now.

National on the Manus Island crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:14 am, November 22nd, 2017 - 82 comments

Gerry Brownlee has surfaced on Radio New Zealand to criticise Labour’s handling of the Manus Island refugee issue. But he seems to have forgotten that the proposal offered by Labour is the proposal originally offered by National.

Labour accelerates action on Pike River re-entry

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:31 am, November 21st, 2017 - 182 comments

National is trying to spin that Labour has adopted its position on re-entry of the Pike River mine. But the Pike River families are having nothing of this.

Mugabe hangs on

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:50 am, November 20th, 2017 - 16 comments

Despite expectations to the contrary Robert Mugabe has refused to resign as leader of Zimbabwe.

The Rugby League World Cup

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:35 am, November 20th, 2017 - 27 comments

Something slightly different. Congratulations to the Tongan and Fijian Rugby League teams for playing out of their skins beating the Kiwi league team and for having the most passionate fans.

Heather Du Plessis-Allan wants New Zealand to be more radical

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:50 am, November 19th, 2017 - 57 comments

Heather Du Plessis-Allan has shown herself to be a radical progressive in her latest Herald column.

The UK Social media political arms race

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:56 am, November 19th, 2017 - 8 comments

Robert Peston in the Spectator has analysed the social media performance of the two big parties in the United Kingdom and has concluded that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour had a significant advantage over Theresa May’s conservatives.

Ardern’s Manus Island offer

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:36 am, November 18th, 2017 - 298 comments

The Australian Government has this week been attempting to undermine Jacinda Ardern’s humanitarian request that the refugees on Nauru Island should be treated humanely.

United has no future

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:56 am, November 14th, 2017 - 54 comments

United Future has announced that it will be wound up.

TVNZ pays Chief Executive a bonus after massive plunge in profits

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:39 am, November 14th, 2017 - 40 comments

TVNZ’s board has decided to respond to a massive plunge in profitability by paying it chief executive a bigger salary package and a large bonus.

Can Ben Mack please make his mind up

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:35 am, November 12th, 2017 - 84 comments

Herald lifestyle columnist has published two recent opinion pieces, the first wondering if Jacinda Ardern will be able to address the many and varied problems the country faces and the second suggesting that the Government is under the control of the extreme right. Can he please make up his mind.