Key: tired & bereft of ideas

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, December 22nd, 2011 - 56 comments
Categories: john key - Tags:

Shearer’s never going to be a Churchill but his address in reply was well-delivered, passionate, issues focused. What a contrast to Key. All he could serve up were the same old lame jokes. Where was the plan for the next 1,000 days? Where was the plan for 200,000 kids in poverty? Where was leadership from the PM? Key’s forgotten all that. He’s pure beltway politics now.

56 comments on “Key: tired & bereft of ideas ”

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  1. Enough is Enough 1
    22 December 2011 at 10:35 am

    Forgive me for using the same comment twise but it is relevant to both posts.

    Don’t be fooled people. National has an evil plan that was put together about the time English was rolled from the leadership but articulated when Key became leader.

    The plan was always swallow the dead rats in the first term and be Labour Lite (“i.e do nothing”), get a second term and then unleash the hellish hard right policies before we blink.

    Next year the welfare state will be gutted. Ruth Richardson will look like Santa Clause after next years budget. Our infrstructure will be sold to the Chinese…we can’t stop them with the FTA. And to top it all off the unions will get bashed, ECA II is coming to a workplace near you soon.

    When growth stalls we can expect more cut to public services and to stimulate the economy the rich will more than likely get another tax cut.

    This is not a do nothing government. They have a detailed plan and will do a hell of a lot in the next 12 months…all of it terrible.

  2. monty 2
    22 December 2011 at 10:56 am

    Wow EIE -I hope you’re right. Time they got stuck in!

    • mac1 2.1
      22 December 2011 at 11:00 am

      Aspirational to be one of the 1%, eh, Monty?

      • Populuxe1 2.1.1
        22 December 2011 at 3:07 pm

        When did “aspirational” come to mean “greedy self-centred arriviste nouveau riche parvenu”? That seems to be the way Key uses it.

    • Matthew Hooton 2.2
      25 December 2011 at 4:01 pm

      Monty – EIE is going to be pleasantly surprised (if in fact EIE really means what s/he says, which is doubtful). There will be no second term agenda, “hellish right wing” or otherwise.

      • Colonial Viper 2.2.1
        25 December 2011 at 4:32 pm

        There better be some kind of agenda, even if it is centrist; hard to have a plan for the country without one.

  3. monty 3
    22 December 2011 at 11:08 am

    Nah Mac more like 0.1%

    • mac1 3.1
      22 December 2011 at 11:25 am

      Hmmm, yep Faith, and Hope for sure. I too hope, Monty, that when your faith in yourself is justified, you will remember Charity is the greatest of these three virtues.

      Some think that the old saying goes, “Charity stays at home.” God knows there are too many in our society who need charity when a hope of a decent job and wage should be enough to aspire to.

  4. ghostwhowalksnz 4
    22 December 2011 at 11:12 am

    Look at this one
    Gisborne Napier Rail line cant cope with demand

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6170794/At-risk-rail-line-can-t-cope-with-demand
    Ravensdown, which had more than halved its use of the line in recent years, indicated it was interested in moving 2000 tonnes of fertiliser a week from Napier to Gisborne by rail. At present it moves about 600 tonnes on the line each week.
    “We literally haven’t got the equipment or the crews on that line to do that

    gee fancy that , this government has let Kiwirail run down so much they dont have ‘crews’.
    And they were planning to ‘mothball’ the line, which would be the end as it would require too much work to bring back

    • insider 4.1
      22 December 2011 at 11:47 am

      “Closure of the line would mean one or two more trucks on the road each day.”

      That should tell you just how marginal this line is. And note the decline started in 2004.

    • Sweetd 4.2
      22 December 2011 at 11:50 am

      Further down you read the kicker line

      “Freight users choose to use road for its flexibility and competitive price.”

      • Draco T Bastard 4.2.1
        22 December 2011 at 11:57 am

        The problem, of course, is that it’s actually more expensive it’s just that the extra costs are hidden within taxes – most notably, the taxes on cars.

        • insider 4.2.1.1
          22 December 2011 at 12:11 pm

          So you are saying the cost are ‘hidden’ by direct taxes on the mode of transport being chosen….?

          • Draco T Bastard 4.2.1.1.1
            22 December 2011 at 1:06 pm

            Nope, I’m saying that the extra costs are mostly hidden in direct taxes on other modes of transport. In other words, there’s a subsidy going on from the general populace to business. Without that subsidy it’s unlikely that trucking would be cheaper than rail.

            • insider 4.2.1.1.1.1
              22 December 2011 at 1:13 pm

              Well the recent review of road funding said trucks were paying more than their share and it was light diesels that were being subsidised – ie Remuera tractors.

              ANd isn’t it exactly the same re the ongoing losses for rail freight and passengers, which are funded by indirect and direct taxes and levies on every tax or ratepaying NZer?

              • Draco T Bastard …
                22 December 2011 at 2:21 pm

                I’ve only seen two reports. One done by the NZ government department responsible for the roads which said that trucks didn’t pay anywhere near enough to cover the damage that they did and one commissioned by the trucking lobby that said that they paid more. My reading of the trucking lobby’s one was that the methodology sucked and was thus wrong. Now, if you’ve got a more recent peer reviewed report – link it. Else I’ll just keep believing the report released by the NZTA.

                • ghostwhowalksnz …
                  22 December 2011 at 3:27 pm

                  Insider , who seems to have similar views to RTF CEO Tony Friedlander ,is referring to this report, one of the ‘independent’ but not unbiased outsider reviews bought in by this government ( no members from the AA I notice)

                  http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/road-user-charges/docs/ruc-final-report.pdf

                  They want to reduce the very heavy trucks substantially by altering the formula for pavement wear, and as to maintain the same revenue lighter trucks and diesel SUVs would pay more.

                  They seem to have selective research to confirm their view, and help out the very heavy trucks.

                  The SUVs will have to pay more just so the government can collect the same money, rob the poor to pay the rich.

                  AS for the train line, 2000t a week is 50 trucks so I dont know where the ‘one or two truckloads a day’ comes from. Those 50 trucks a week is fertiliser only and with the new users as well easily another 50 trucks a week.

            • Tarmack54 4.2.1.1.1.2
              25 December 2011 at 9:52 am

              Can’t wait to read your list of hidden subsidies for trucking industry. But in this particular case, bulk is better on rail if delivery isn’t reliant on timeframe

      • mik e 4.2.2
        22 December 2011 at 7:42 pm

        communist trucking Being subsidized by the tax payer and private motorists

    • Kevin Welsh 4.3
      22 December 2011 at 12:21 pm

      At a public meeting earlier this year in Napier that was attended by KiwiRail, Ravensdown, Hatuma Lime, PanPac, MPs, Councillors and the public, KiwiRail gave the impression that they were not interested in keeping the line open no matter what. They were turning work away from the likes of Ravensdown and Hatuma and would not put a loading spur on the line so PanPac could move logs by rail (PanPac is built next to the main line).

      Both Ravensdown and Hatuma both stated that their preferred method of transport is rail as it is CHEAPER than moving by truck. All KiwiRail coul come up with in reply was that they didn’t have the staff or capacity to move more than what they were presently doing.

      There is now a massive amount of logging coming on-stream in the Gisborne area and instead of two or three trains a day going to the port and being lined up next to the ships to be loaded, there are up to 300 truck movements through Gisborne a day with double and triple handling to get the logs onto ships.

      This is a big issue in Hawkes Bay and the biggest problem has been KiwiRail actively discouraging companies from using them for freight.

      • Roy 4.3.1
        22 December 2011 at 3:45 pm

        I think the average motorist would rather that logs were moved by rail rather than by truck, too. I know I would.

      • Colonial Viper 4.3.2
        22 December 2011 at 4:09 pm

        This is a big issue in Hawkes Bay and the biggest problem has been KiwiRail actively discouraging companies from using them for freight.

        Have KiwiRail slowly strangle itself until it becomes “unviable” and is shut down and sold for scrap.

        • lostinsuburbia 4.3.2.1
          22 December 2011 at 7:01 pm

          The running down of rail has occurrd on other lines too. Lookat the North Auckland line, it’s “failure” to perform helps provide justification for the Puhoi to Wellsford RON.

          We should be investing heavily in these assets to future proof ourselves for an energy constrained future.

          It’s the same for the preservation of port land. It’s short sighted to want to build apartments etc on some waterfront areas, more space will be needed as more cargo and passenger berths will be needed (in part as more smaller ships will be needed – super container ships won’t be able to run or afford to visit little old NZ).

          • Colonial Viper 4.3.2.1.1
            22 December 2011 at 7:26 pm

            As DTB points out we are almost out of time to prepare for an “energy constrained future”. As a consolation prize, the rich pricks in their Mercedes 4WDs are going to be using them as sail boat anchors before long.

            • lostinsuburbia 4.3.2.1.1.1
              22 December 2011 at 10:27 pm

              We can all take overseas holidays to all the offshore rigs the Nats want to get built.

      • Tarmack54 4.3.3
        25 December 2011 at 9:55 am

        Are you suggesting Rail doesn’t double/triple handle? In this respect, trucks are more efficient.

        • Colonial Viper 4.3.3.1
          25 December 2011 at 12:00 pm

          ‘efficiency’ – in terms of kJ expended per tonne of freight moved, rail will come in ahead of road.

          Especially if you consider the embedded energy involved with maintaining the underlying infrastructure and vehicles.

  5. Tom Gould 5
    22 December 2011 at 11:16 am

    It took his personal glee club, formerly known as the Parliamentary Press Gallery, no time at all to fall back into ‘Key publicity department’ mode. Lovely TV shots of Key handing out prezzies to poor kids, and cracking jokes with ordinary folks. What a great guy he must be? And he’s doing a great job, too. Just ask him. And he is so funny, such a natural comedian, off the cuff, without notes according to Trevett. And Gerry dropped the best, and most cutting interjection, something like ‘you’ve already done that’, but is was devistatingly effective, she suggests. And what do you know, the economy is now officially booming, and we suddenly need thousands of extra workers, and we all made a bundle off the RWC, and house prices are too high because of planning laws, and kids are getting bashed because of bureaucrats, and $300 million on consultants was good value. Mind, the grovelling indolent craven MSM have already called the 2014 election, a guaranteed the third term, it seems.

  6. tsmithfield 6
    22 December 2011 at 12:13 pm

    “Shearer’s never going to be a Churchill…”

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    • Colonial Viper 6.1
      22 December 2011 at 12:20 pm

      I hope he isn’t as well, because Churchill was given the chance to shine as a PM due to a big fucking global war.

      • tsmithfield 6.1.1
        22 December 2011 at 12:25 pm

        Well, he might. Except, as Key correctly identified yesterday, the war is likely to be within his own party.

        • McFlock 6.1.1.1
          22 December 2011 at 1:24 pm

          Oh, well, if we’re going to draw parallels between NZ political parties and aspects of late 1930s Europe, then of course there is always the obvious comparison between two political parties led by politicians who were charismatic on the surface but had deep personality flaws, were supported by the financial elite of their respective nations, and tended to lead their team by rewarding toadying rather than ability or innovation.
            

      • Populuxe1 6.1.2
        22 December 2011 at 3:18 pm

        Aside from the fact Churchill was also incredibly racist (as in his dealings over India), a galloping imperialist, and had a nasty tendency to use civilians and British troops as bait (the Lusitania comes to mind). I suspect he was the man for the job during the war, but a horrific liability in peacetime.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 6.1.2.1
          22 December 2011 at 3:34 pm

          Churchills mistake, other than being like Hitler and thinking he knew better than his Generals, was to bring the Labour party into government so the people could see Atlee, Bevan etc at work.

          The last charismatic PM and great public speaker in NZ was Lange.

    • Draco T Bastard 6.2
      22 December 2011 at 1:08 pm

      All I can say is Thank god for that.

    • lostinsuburbia 6.3
      22 December 2011 at 7:06 pm

      Maybe, but I can also picture Key as Neville Chamberlin, this time waving some free trade treaty claiming “prosperity in our time”. Fast forward a couple of years and we find ourselves screwed.

      We need a leader to tell the free traders to go get stuffed (as crass as that is)

      • Colonial Viper 6.3.1
        22 December 2011 at 7:23 pm

        Don’t worry about decorum mate, after all we’re dealing with a bunch of rich a-holes who would bring back child labour and indentured servitude if they could.

        • lostinsuburbia 6.3.1.1
          22 December 2011 at 7:26 pm

          Yep, they want to party like it’s 1899.

          • Colonial Viper 6.3.1.1.1
            22 December 2011 at 7:31 pm

            More like 1799 I suspect. By 1899 ideas like the 40 hour working week and the abolition of child labour and slavery were far too popular.

            • lostinsuburbia 6.3.1.1.1.1
              22 December 2011 at 10:31 pm

              True, but it’s difficult to find jobs for children at open cast coal mines.

              But your right, the mindset for the last 20 years is that capitalism won, but the past few years and upcoming decade are going to pour cold water on that idea – albeit that those at the bottom will yet again suffer the most.

  7. randal 7
    22 December 2011 at 7:44 pm

    the country is ruled by accountants and their lawfirms.
    they are smallminded, anal and as the caption says bereft of any ideas.
    oh they might get drunk at a free lunch somewhere and start spouting ideas like innovation and creativity but when they see it they run like scared rats back into their tower blocks so they kid themselves that they have risen above it all.
    so we are in the grip of dunces and doolally dullards.
    and kweewee is one of them.

    • Populuxe1 7.1
      22 December 2011 at 7:48 pm

      You forgot HR Departments – leading cause of corporate blandness, lack of innovation and diversity, and probably responsible for a hell of a lot of unnecessary unemployment because the best people for the job don’t always tick all the little boxes.

      • tc 7.1.1
        23 December 2011 at 8:08 pm

        No the best people aren’t either in the club or possess the right stuff. That stuff being an adoration of the corporate culture a can do attitude that makes it happen regardless of any constraints and willing to suck up to the powers that be.

        Hr departments just ensure it all looks as if it’s actually a talent contest when it rarely ever is, jobs for the boys and girls mostly…..higher you go the more that applies otherwise someone with genuine talent and ability may just show up the lazy self serving incumbents, can’t have that now.

  8. Tanz 8
    24 December 2011 at 10:46 pm

    Anti Keywise.

  9. johnm 9
    25 December 2011 at 5:56 pm

    He’s resting on his laurels, he’s won the election as National’s so neeece Show Pony, that’s what they wanted a man who’d appeal to the better orf kiwi’s conceit and vanity and desire not to be besmirched by unsavoury realities like 200,000 kids in poverty, a man who’ll continue to bolster their advantages: no capital gains tax on houses priced out of the range for starting kiwi families because of the greed of using them to make Capital gain and of course tax cuts for the well orf kiwis and privileges for employers with minimal labour rights. He can show how tired and bereft of ideas he is who cares?!

  10. Wild.Colonial.Boy 10
    26 December 2011 at 9:15 am

    More highlights from UK conservative blogs ..

    http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thinktankcentral/centre-for-social-justice/

    “Centre for Social Justice” .. ?

    Nice tactic – appropriating common political phrases for party political objectives.

    Very post-modern.

    *That* phrase seems to have lost currency as a New Medievalism looms.

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      26 December 2011 at 11:44 am

      Yeah this is a tactic honed to perfection by the Right Wing in the US. The capture of the English language to confuse ordinary punters. The Centre for American Progress, the Heritage Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations etc.

      • damntheproles 10.1.1
        26 December 2011 at 2:12 pm

        fecking nutbars

        [3 comments so far, all of them useless. Try and contribute something useful here or you’re gone. Ho ho ho. — r0b]

      • Populuxe1 10.1.2
        26 December 2011 at 7:10 pm

        It’s not Right or Left, it’s simply about control. Control the expression of the idea and you control the idea itself. Orwell’s Doublespeak by any other name. The language is deliberately warped by those who want to control to make it nearly impossible to express a dissenting opinion. The Nazis did it in with the German, Stalin did it to Russian, political correctness despite it’s benign intentions, sometimes slides dangerously close, and Key did it when he tried to make “aspirational” mean “self-entitled”. Thatcher did it when she said “there is no such thing as society”.

  11. Wild Colonial Boy 11
    26 December 2011 at 9:32 am

    Interesting profile of Boris ..

    After Eton, Oxford and the Bullingdon Club, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson failed to obtain the first class degree which his contemporary, David Cameron, gained at the same University.  Lasting only a week as a management consultant, he went on to be sacked by the Times for falsifying a quote.  Surviving the revelation of a phone conversation revealing a plot by a friend to assault a journalist, he was appointed as a Daily Telegraph columnist and Editor of the Spectator. Reneging on a undertaking to its proprietor not to stand for Parliament, he was elected as the Conservative MP for Henley. Following accusations of having lied to Michael Howard, the Party’s then leader, he was sacked from its front bench.  Failing to be appointed to its Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron, he was backed by his old Oxford colleague to be the Party’s candidate for the Mayoralty of London after a prominent search for another candidate. Johnson then won the election, gathering in doing so the largest personal mandate of any politician in British history.

    http://www.conservativeintelligence.com/profiles-2/

  12. Populuxe1 12
    26 December 2011 at 7:13 pm

    Let us not forget that Boris also wrote a fairly mediocre book praising the achievements of the Roman state, while completely failing to acknowledge that this largely depended on an unlimited supply of slaves and constant border expansion. Even so, at the least the Tories in the UK are slightly more cultured than our lot.