slippery

Categories under slippery

  • No categories

Planet Key receding from reality at light speed

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, October 3rd, 2012 - 37 comments

Law enforcement on Planet Key must be a strange business: “Mr Key says he called in the police on the teapot tapes because he wanted to find out if there had been an offence. He argues Dotcom is different, because his Government has already admitted what it did was unlawful.” So, what do the Planet Key Police do they do when they catch a crim? Tag him and let him go?

Update: Breaking news – we all expected this didn’t we – Key was briefed on the Dotcom case in February.

Implausible deniability

Written By: - Date published: 10:11 pm, September 26th, 2012 - 16 comments

There’s a lot of it about in right-wing parties at the moment. For John Key, John Banks and David Cameron it appears to be becoming the strategy of choice. It’s not working very well for any of them.

ImperatorFish: Next Week’s Q&A

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, September 19th, 2012 - 7 comments

Shane: …he revealed a meat cleaver from beneath his suit jacket and charged into the front row of the audience yelling “die, you meddlesome crones!” Had he not tripped and fallen over there could have been a bloodbath. Isn’t that a serious incident?
John: That may be the view of some people. But I’ve sought an assurance from Gerry, and he has told me he did nothing wrong. If a minister tells me, “This is my position, and this is what I’ve done,” I accept their word in good faith, unless it’s proven otherwise.

Banks/Key – water on a stone

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, September 18th, 2012 - 61 comments

Get ready for a week of farce in the House. The Opposition will be peppering Key and Banks on the numerous holes in their position. Key will play dumb. But the Opposition has to plug away with persistent, forensic questions. One of them will crack in time.

Another broken promise from our con-man PM

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 pm, May 11th, 2012 - 68 comments

Key looked the Pike River families in the eye and promised to get their mens bodies out. It was a promise he never should have made. But he did to make people like him. He wouldn’t even talk about it today. Coward. And what of his promise to make things right for Christchurch? Or his promise of an aggressive recovery? Or his promise to help the underclass? Or that brighter future?

Slippery does a flip-flop

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, May 3rd, 2012 - 28 comments

Slippery old Key said on Monday and Tuesday that he had to apply a legal test to whether John Banks should stay on as a minister. The Cabinet manual demands the highest ethical standards. Now, Key’s flip-flopped: ethics are required – but only after one becomes a minister. Which would be worrying if true. Pansy Wong won’t be the only one to note Key’s standards a slipping.

Failed to achieve

Written By: - Date published: 6:33 am, April 26th, 2012 - 17 comments

Tax increases on working people: GST hike, replaced Labour’s cuts with cuts for the rich, put tax on your employer Kiwisaver contributions, cut WfF tax credits. Record emigration to Australia: 53,237 last year, 1000+ per week.

The real questions

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 pm, March 21st, 2012 - 83 comments

Why did Key express confidence in Smith after reading the 2nd letter that is the supposed reason for him going? Why did he really resign, what are they trying to distract us from? How did it happen that the woman who Smith resigned over also is the person who got the largest ACC leak in history? What deal did Smith get to stay in Parliament avoiding a risky by-election?

PM’s office cuts Radio Dead

Written By: - Date published: 6:16 pm, February 9th, 2012 - 52 comments

An internal memo in the PM’s office after they received the Electoral Commission’s advice on the Radio Live’s PM Hour broadcast says: “So the Electoral Commission has replied, and basically said they can’t make a judgment on a radio show without seeing a transcript. But they have been pretty clear about putting the responsibility on the broadcaster, which is useful.” Key’s office knew they were skating close to the wind but were happy to cut Radio Live loose. Lesson here for media.

Famous liars

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, October 11th, 2011 - 10 comments

No wonder politicians get such a bad rep.

Food in Schools?

Written By: - Date published: 6:32 am, September 28th, 2011 - 33 comments

John Key promised to put Food in poorer Schools across New Zealand to help children to learn. What has he done about it? One cheap, but very well-publicised stunt. Will we see any substance? Or is this another promise like not raising GST, wages catching Australia, or capping not cutting the civil service?

A politician makes promises; a leader keeps them

Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, September 7th, 2011 - 25 comments

“Just keep to your promises. I was at some of the family meetings where you promised off camera to parents who were in tears that you would do your utmost to try to get the men out. Money was not a problem. Those same parents have gone home and cradled their kids that are crying. Do what you say and just pull your finger out and do it.”

100% Key

Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, May 17th, 2011 - 10 comments

The Sword of Damocles Budget

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 pm, May 16th, 2011 - 40 comments

John Key is fond of saying “there is a constituency for every dollar you spend”. So, having borrowed to the hilt for tax cuts for the rich, which he refuses to reverse, how can Key cut enough to satisfy the credit ratings agencies without pissing off too many voters? He can’t, but he’s gonna say he can and leave the hard choices to his successor.

An excellent question

Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, May 7th, 2011 - 28 comments

“We see you on TV a lot. What else do you do?” – schoolkid to John Key at yet another photo-op.

In other news, Key was lying when he said he doesn’t have any choice over his DPS entourage. Helen Clark dismissed her DPS cover for at least 73 days when on private holidays. Key spent $30K of our money taking the DPS to Hawaii.

Sickening

Written By: - Date published: 11:21 am, February 21st, 2011 - 74 comments

Key has blamed a soldier being killed in Afghanistan for the limo affair. This is just an attempt by Key to protect himself from criticism by hiding behind a soldier’s death. This is just sickening. The very worst kind of politics from a man who can’t take responsibility for his actions and is happy to take advantage of others’ tragedy.

Good company?

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, February 18th, 2011 - 21 comments

Our PM in the company of his peers?

Naff off Key

Written By: - Date published: 12:48 pm, December 13th, 2010 - 51 comments

So John Key predicts an unhappy New Year for Phil Goff who is at risk of being rolled…  Because the ShonKey DonKey knows so much about the Labour Party and the extra-secret hidden leadership battles that are certain to be going on, according to his own imagination.

Get on with running the country John, and get us out of a double-dip recession before you start speculating on things you know nothing about.

Key: up to Labour to stop us rorting

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, November 17th, 2010 - 25 comments

With Pansy Wong in hiding on John Key’s orders, rort-buster Pete Hodgson laid the blame her corruption and all the other rorts squarely on Key yesterday. In question after question, Key couldn’t make a serious defence of his record. Then, he made an extraordinary admission: his ministers will keep on rorting – it’s up to Labour to catch them.

Slippery old Ryall

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 pm, August 12th, 2010 - 26 comments

Tony Ryall’s been running significant health-cuts under the radar for a while now.

But with the heat going on down south he’s breaking out the “spot check” story to show he’s in touch.

He’s a slippery old bugger…

Party Central another Key fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, July 13th, 2010 - 45 comments

Joh Keys Party Central

“Major festival events linked to the 2011 Rugby World Cup could be shifted to Wellington because of Auckland’s party central fiasco, Government sources say.” – Tracy Watkins
Wait, “Auckland’s party central fiasco”? It was John Key who came up with the term, and forced the councils into the Queens Wharf site. But the media are happy to let him wriggle out of responsbility again.

A day of flip-flops

Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, March 31st, 2010 - 3 comments

You can say this much for the Key Government – they’re idiots but half the time they’re also cowards. If an issue generates too much public disquiet they’ll flip-flop. It’s easy when they don’t have a real plan or real principles.

Nats all at sea on whaling

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 14 comments

In Kaikoura, John Key said commercial whaling “might be acceptable if it was acceptable to others”. You gotta love the leadership there. But you’ve also got to question what kind of two-faced game the Nats are playing because in the House, Murray McCully said precisely the opposite – that the Government opposes commercial whaling.

Wage gap is the John Key credibility gap

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, March 13th, 2010 - 46 comments

There’s a nickname for John Key that’s picking up currency from both Left and Right around the blogosphere: ‘smile and wave’. The one thing Key can be depended on is to turn up grinning in some cheesy photo op. All his promises fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, 276,000 Kiwis are jobless, the wage gap with Australia keeps widening, and so does Key’s credibility gap.

Aussie wages outstripping NZ

Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, March 9th, 2010 - 19 comments

In NZ, the average FTE wage rose 2.86% after inflation – $891 to $934 – over the past year. In Aussie, it was 3.6% above inflation – $1159 to $1226. When will John Key admit that he sold us a lie? When will the media call on him to resign if no progress is made on the one substantial promise of a ‘brighter future’ at he made?

Key too busy doing nothing

Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, February 17th, 2010 - 5 comments

Tongue in cheek, George notes: When asked in Parliament why he hadn’t paid closer attention to his share portfolio, Key replied: “small technical issue, I’ve been busy running the country”. That statement must come close to misleading Parliament.

Key’s magic money-pot

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 10th, 2010 - 25 comments

John Key has indicated that the Government will lift the GST rate to 15% and remove depreciation from investment houses. According to the Tax Working Group, that’ll raise $3.6 billion. That revenue will then be spent on compensation and tax cuts. First, he has promised compensation for the GST increase to beneficiaries, people on working […]

The ‘whaling plan’

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, January 14th, 2010 - 47 comments

Govt drafts deal to end whaling in Antarctica – Herald Key plan to end Southern Ocean whaling – Stuff That sounds like a real break-through, I thought. What could this deal/plan be? I watched the full press conference here: “New Zealand has been working very hard to try and find [please, people, the phrase is […]

The slippery standards of Mr Key

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, November 3rd, 2009 - 21 comments

Yesterday, John Key cleverly tried to reframe his ministers’ failure to obey his standards on use of perks: “You don’t want 120 Members of Parliament who have the financial independence to be able to make the financial decisions that I make. “It wouldn’t be the House of Representatives, we need people from all walks of […]

Snake oil

Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, August 25th, 2009 - 18 comments

I’m surprised that the Maori Party have rolled over so easily on the issue of Maori seats on the Auckland council. I will be even more surprised if the Maori people follow suit. Because they have every right to be angry. Remember what Key said of the Hikoi? The hikoi was sparked over the dumping […]

A sign of things to come

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, June 10th, 2009 - 41 comments