Invisibill

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, November 26th, 2017 - 50 comments
Categories: bill english, Judith Collins, national, Nikki Kaye, paula bennett, Politics, same old national - Tags:

The media is starting to ask where’s Bill and noting that the pretenders to his throne are starting to act up and trying to get noticed.

From Jo Moir at Stuff:

Parliament was in recess this week so it’s perfectly normal to only see the Government ministers about the precinct but this is the time for the Opposition to shine. So where exactly is their leader?

Recess weeks in the press gallery are a welcome relief from the chaos of the House sitting but when it comes to finding stories, one can be left scraping the barrel.

That’s why Opposition MPs are a political journalist’s best friend in recess – they desperately want the air time and they know the media are just as desperate for a story to run.

Some have taken to Opposition like a duck to water with the likes of Nikki Kaye and Judith Collins barking at everything passing by them.

Steven Joyce has been strolling around Parliament buildings doing a terrible job of hiding the fact he’s quite enjoying going up against Finance Minister Grant Robertson.

But where’s Bill?

According to his office it’s been business as usual for the most part – he had some family time overseas at the start of the week but has been well and truly back since Tuesday.

If this is business as usual for the Opposition leader then he should be very worried about the ambitious MPs on his front bench.

And it is clear who the pretenders to the throne are. Again from Jo Moir:

At the moment there’s at least three of his front bench gunning for his job and their ambitions have been in full display in the House where they’re almost openly rehearsing for the role.

Question Time has been all but taken over by shadow leader of the House Simon Bridges, Kaye and Collins – with a bit of Joyce from the old guard reminding people he’s not short of a jibe or two.

Deputy leader Paula Bennett, who was being groomed by former Prime Minister John Key and English to take over running the ship, has all but disappeared.

English had better watch his back. The sounds of knives being sharpened can be heard within the confines if Parliament. Any mistakes by him or a further decline in National’s polling and he will be a goner.

50 comments on “Invisibill ”

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  1. The decrypter 1
    26 November 2017 at 9:10 am

    Good question, just where is he? Is he watching rugby with james? –No he is not. More than likely he is in hiding under a troll bridge james has vacated, Why? he is fearful of “THE BLONDE BIMBO BRIGADE”.

    • Andre 1.1
      26 November 2017 at 9:31 am

      Surely you can decrypt some better insults that aren’t belittlingly misogynistic. No?

    • James 1.2
      26 November 2017 at 12:30 pm

      It’s obvious that you have an unhealthy obsession with me decryptor.

      So many of your post mention me by name.

      It would be classed as bullying if you weren’t so useless at it.

      Ps. Is is acceptable to refer to people as bimbos? Is that acceptable on this blog now ? Are we allowed to labour mos bimbos if we don’t like them or what they are doing ?

      • Matthew Whitehead 1.2.1
        26 November 2017 at 1:56 pm

        It’s pretty unacceptable, sure. It’s the gendered insult equivalent for implying women are stupid to calling black people thugs, IMO.

        If you want to attack Kaye or Collins, there are much better and more relevant criticisms than calling them blonde bimbos, which is mainly an appearance- and gender-based insult. For Collins, there is the entire world of cruelty-related adjectives, you could even compliment her toughness while disagreeing with her approach.

        Kaye might have legitimate grounds for criticism on lack of experience if she’s thinking of making a play for a more senior position, but I think it’s reasonable to be careful about what insults you use against women.

        For the Labour ministers, there are absolutely relevant right-wing criticisms of them that rely on their policy approach, their relative experience, their career backgrounds, or whatever, while still being totally fair and not-at-all sexist.

        I think we can be creative and criticise women in power that we disagree with without resorting to dumb ad-hominem attacks that are interwoven inextricably with sexism. We should take women more seriously when we disagree with them, not less.

        • James 1.2.1.1
          26 November 2017 at 3:41 pm

          Fantastic comment matthew.

          Sadly there are some people who are happy to Be misogynistic when it suits them – normally when talking about national people on this blog. I assume that they are like this in real life also when their wives or daughters annoy them.

          I’ve commented on this before. It’s never acceptable and in fact sometimes it’s down right disgusting and it’s good to see people being called out on it.

          • Matthew Whitehead 1.2.1.1.1
            26 November 2017 at 3:58 pm

            Yes, I agree it’s unacceptable to be misogynist when criticising female nats. It’s inevitable that men commenting on politics will sometimes do this reflexively if we don’t think through our comments very carefully, because especially for straight men, we don’t have the same experiences dealing with hetoronormative misogyny that women and queer people do. (being bisexual, gay, or trans absolutely teaches you a lot about misogyny, even if you’re a man, although naturally not as much as being a woman)

            Nats will also find it easier to tease apart those times authors or left-wing commenters have engaged in systemic misogyny without having sufficiently unpacked it, however there is a lack of expertise in feminist politics on the Nats’ supporters’ bench. I hope you and other will consider rectifying that, given that there is still a liberal wing to the party, and it needs feminists, queer rights advocates, Māori advocates, and people generally against racism and discrimination with experience in the academic and political implications of those positions to stay healthy, a task which is harder for right-wing social liberals than for left-wing social liberals, because of the longstanding association between conservative and right-wing politics. (and also, it would please me no end to reach a broad consensus that politics should trend significantly liberal of centre in New Zealand)

            I try to be consistent and call out these problems when I see them. I’m also active on other fronts, such as calling out people for insulting Gerry Brownlee for being fat, when there are far more odious things about him, even from a right-wing perspective, than his weight.

            It’s natural that there will be insults flying in both directions in a political debate, but we can at least demand they be related to the politics, qualifications, and experiences of our MPs.

    • CLEANGREEN 1.3
      26 November 2017 at 1:33 pm

      I reckon decrypter – “Invisibill” may be on tour looking for a Golf club villa near ‘Shokey John’ in Hawaii maybe?

    • Tracey 1.4
      26 November 2017 at 1:45 pm

      Really? If you cannot comment on women MPs without misogynist descriptors maybe consider a break from the blog for a while before you are forced to.

  2. marty mars 2
    26 November 2017 at 9:17 am

    Bill English supped with the devil and the devil won. Now he shuffles around the place in his dressing gown and sheepskin slippers asking anyone,’have you seen my jonny, I can’t find my jonny…’ sad parody of a leader now, a shadow of the man he was.

    Anyway on to the future – so quiet out there, too quiet. Counting – are you with us mate? You in or are you out? always counting…

  3. Keepcalmcarryon 3
    26 November 2017 at 9:30 am

    Perhaps he’s fallen down an invisible $11 billion hole?

  4. Grey Area 4
    26 November 2017 at 9:54 am

    I consider English to be a dead man walking and wonder if the fire has gone out already.

    The post-election plan for National may include:

    1. English to say he is going to stick around and lead the party to victory in 2020 (not that many believe a two-time loser would get that chance).

    2. That National position themselves as a strong, capable Opposition while every effort be made with the aid of a complicit media to undermine the government.

    3. That leadership contenders be given the chance to strut their stuff before the inevitable blood-letting after an appropriate period so that it doesn’t look like a knee-jerk reaction and then English can slope off.

    4. All and sundry to repeat the message that the new minority coalition government is illegitimate and what a travesty it was that the party with the most votes didn’t get the chance to form a government under a non-existent convention.

    • mary_a 4.1
      26 November 2017 at 2:23 pm

      (4) Grey Area … Agree with you.

      Re your third point …

      “3. That leadership contenders be given the chance to strut their stuff before the inevitable blood-letting after an appropriate period so that it doesn’t look like a knee-jerk reaction and then English can slope off.”

      That would be Bridges, Collins and Kaye, the heinous threesome feral canine pack doing the majority of the teeth baring, snarling and snapping at the moment in opposition. Circling their prey, laying down their odious scent for a leadership challenge in the near future, I’d say.

  5. Ed 5
    26 November 2017 at 11:03 am

    Jo Moir’s gushing description of the Nats candidates suggest her reports are not reliable.
    She is a puppet of the finance industry and her owners want a different leader of the main neoliberal party of New Zealand. Someone better to implement their policies.

  6. red-blooded 6
    26 November 2017 at 11:19 am

    The one I really want to see the back of is Steven Joyce. That man’s a lying arsehole. He knows that he’s lying and he doesn’t care – he enjoys it.

    Bill English was the anointed one, and when the tagline was “strong and stable” he seemed to fit the bill. “No need for change, we’ve been doing so well…” That’s not what they need now and there are others with more mongrel in them: sharper, wittier, more ruthless and younger. All those things count in opposition.

    Labour have recently had problems picking a good opposition leader because we’ve always wanted positive, inclusive leaders who are strongly grounded and accountable to party members. Andrew Little was a bloody good Party man (he drew together the various factions and settled them down, he created a more united party and a more coherent set of policies) but he never developed the media skills and gut instinct for grabbing a moment and making the most of it.

    Unfortunately, there are lots of Nats lined up who have what it takes to perform in opposition and who want the chance to lead. Let’s hope that the competition helps to open up factions and create rifts, and that it makes the party look unstable. It would be nice to turn that media narrative around. (I do think most media are giving the new government a fair chance, but they have years of negative messaging to work past.)

    • Adrian Thornton 6.1
      26 November 2017 at 12:36 pm

      “The one I really want to see the back of is Steven Joyce.” too right… although I wouldn’t let English off the hook quite so fast either, he showed himself to be just as close to the gutter as his pals Key, Joyce, Coleman, he seems quite at ease doubling down on all that bullshit that spewed and dribbled from Joyce’s seemingly forever open mouth.

      Where have are all the old school half decent conservatives gone?

  7. ThatcherForEver 7
    26 November 2017 at 11:57 am

    Parliament was in recess

    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/nonsense_story.html

    PS; how is the tree planting going or shall we move that to the Labour Bullshit policy list?

    • tracey 7.1
      26 November 2017 at 12:02 pm

      Yeah, imagine not being able to plant a billion trees in a month of being in office. Bastards! John Key could complete the cycleways to save the unemployed from the GFC in 9 years!

      http://www2.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11860912

      https://yournz.org/2017/11/23/a-billion-or-half-more-trees/

      http://www2.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11947415

    • dv 7.2
      26 November 2017 at 12:18 pm

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11947415
      Here is an interesting reply about the billion tree task.

      I ended up tree planting for ten months, and in that time personally planted about 250,000 pine trees – by hand – as well as about 1000 oak trees.
      With the right incentives and the right conditions, one person could comfortably plant 400,000 trees in a year.

      So you would need just 250 people planting that amount every year for a decade to reach a billion.

      • Draco T Bastard 7.2.1
        26 November 2017 at 12:34 pm

        Who will plant the trees seems to be the major challenge, given that Forest Owners Association president Peter Clark says that they are struggling to plant enough trees to just maintain current coverage due to a labour shortage.

        We have reasonably high unemployment and even higher under-employment and he’s saying that there’s a labour shortage?

        Perhaps he’s just not paying enough to entice people to plant trees. Isn’t that the ‘market’ solution? If you don’t have enough then pay more.

      • bwaghorn 7.2.2
        26 November 2017 at 1:53 pm

        yep i planted over 100,000 in six months about twenty years ago ,
        don’t know about the comfortable bit though , bloody hard yakka

      • AB 7.2.3
        26 November 2017 at 7:34 pm

        These would have been radiata pine which it seems grow like weeds even in crappy soil? Talking to people who have planted them, the technique is apparently really quick and rudimentary. And they go straight into the ground after the previous generation has been clear-felled.
        But we do NOT want the extra billion trees to be vast swathes of monoculture radiata destined for cutting down in 30 years. It needs to be permanent re-forestation with mixed natives. So the planting and husbandry may be more resource-intensive

        • BM 7.2.3.1
          26 November 2017 at 7:41 pm

          I agree, creating great swaths of monocultural ecosystems is a terrible idea.

          The whole thing stinks of payoff for Winston Peters financial backers.

  8. tracey 8
    26 November 2017 at 12:03 pm

    He was at a very public A and P show during the week. I cannot imagine the press didn’t know. They seem more than bored, they are chasing (creating) a scandal, whether one exists or not).

    • CLEANGREEN 8.1
      26 November 2017 at 1:42 pm

      Tracey;

      Was BSenglish scooping up horse-shit or something, as equal to his pay level like that?

      If so pity no-one had a picture eh!

  9. Draco T Bastard 9
    26 November 2017 at 12:20 pm

    Any mistakes by him or further declining in National’s polling and he will be a goner.

    I’m pretty sure that he inherited the position to be the fall guy. He may not have known that but the writing was on the wall before Key exited stage right. With that in mind no one else wanted the job and he’s failed leadership before so it would be really easy, once National were in opposition, to lay blame on him. And he must be about due to retire so have him resign from parliament and give him a nice sinecure organised in some place like London for the next few years. Out of sight, mind and matter for the home team under the new leader.

    • red-blooded 9.1
      26 November 2017 at 12:52 pm

      I don’t think we can make assumptions about when the politician is about due to retire when we have the Honourable Winston Peters sitting at the table….

      And who would give him a nice sinecure? Jacinda?

      I think he’ll stick around and slog it out, at least in the short to mid term. I’m not convinced he’ll still be there at the next election, but if things are looking good for the coalition and not so good for the Nats, it might be convenient not to sacrifice one of their leaders in waiting but to stick with boring Bill and blame it on him.

    • mary_a 9.2
      26 November 2017 at 6:19 pm

      DTB (9) … and a knighthood as well to go with it, so he doesn’t blab, do you think? NZ has a habit of knighting incompetents, crooks, slimeballs etc! Blinglish, like his predecessor, fits that bill quite nicely.

      • Draco T Bastard 9.2.1
        26 November 2017 at 7:19 pm

        … and a knighthood as well to go with it, so he doesn’t blab, do you think?

        Wouldn’t surprise if they did. Although, that would probably only happen after National got back in power.

        NZ has a habit of knighting incompetents, crooks, slimeballs etc! Blinglish, like his predecessor, fits that bill quite nicely.

        QFT

  10. Philg 10
    26 November 2017 at 1:04 pm

    Dead man walking is the very term used to describe Malcolm Turnbull in the Australian MSM at the moment, just saying.

  11. Otto Mann 11
    26 November 2017 at 2:45 pm

    “Some have taken to Opposition like a duck to water with the likes of Nikki Kaye and Judith Collins barking at everything passing by them.”

    Add Joyce to those two. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

  12. piper 12
    26 November 2017 at 4:04 pm

    Bill,is having time out time.Be back on Tuesday, as he leads his bleeting flock,bleeting as Parliament winds down for Christmas.Or our leader, has been away,due to a health scare,he shall be reviewing his position as our leader over
    the holiday period.

  13. piper 13
    26 November 2017 at 9:01 pm

    Twiced lost,so it has to be, John ,your on about,the blind man political was Jack Marshall,

  14. piper 14
    26 November 2017 at 9:40 pm

    Who among them,are dared,these three il knock them.

  15. Michelle 15
    27 November 2017 at 11:17 am

    invisibill or is it invisibull