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  1. Headline fail

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 2:33 pm, June 23rd, 2009 -  39 comments
    Categories: blogs, humour
    Tags: , ,

    This is a classic. Media are reporting that National MP Nick Smith has had an assault complaint lodged against him by a Nelson man. Right on cue, Farrar puts up a quick post to downplay the whole thing. His choice of headline? “Sounds like a beatup” That’s one epic headline fail šŸ™‚ [For what it’s […]

  2. NZ’s debt in perspective

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 3:00 pm, April 15th, 2009 -  8 comments
    Categories: budget 2009, economy, national/act government
    Tags: , , ,

    Remember when John Key used to say “New Zealand has a growth problem, not a debt problem”? He doesn’t say that anymore, which is a pity because we do have a growth problem, not a debt problem, but the Government is acting like we’ve got a debt problem that needs to be tackled first. Yes, […]

  3. What’s Labour got up its sleeve?

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 4:09 am, April 1st, 2009 -  20 comments
    Categories: corruption, Parliament
    Tags:

    When you were perusing yesterday’s HansardĀ  (don’t lie, you were) did you notice this question from Pete Hodgson to Richard Worth amongst the questions about his India shenanigans? Hon Pete Hodgson: Does the Minister still receive any form of income from Simpson Grierson; if not, when did he last receive any income from Simpson Grierson? […]

  4. A sheep in wolves’ clothing

    Written By:  John A -  Date published: 11:33 pm, March 22nd, 2009 -  16 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark when senior journalists like Fran O’Sullivan feel that they have to provide public relations advice to National’s errantĀ  Ministers. It isn’t as though there aren’t enough PR people already in the Beehive to reinforce whatever John Key said about “phone-throwers or “temper tantrums”Ā  at Cabinet last Monday. […]

  5. Out of her depth

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 11:03 am, March 20th, 2009 -  41 comments
    Categories: national/act government, spin
    Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Paula Bennett’s performance on Morning Report today didn’t just bring home how completely out of her depth she is as a Minister, it also exposed the limits of National’s strategy of government-by-PR. If you haven’t heard the interview yet, download it now. You won’t be disappointed. What’s clearly happened here is Bennett was sent into […]

  6. National’s blitzkrieg

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 3:15 pm, March 16th, 2009 -  43 comments
    Categories: national/act government
    Tags:

    The government’s first hundred days are up and they’ve decided that this signals the start to a multi-pronged political offensive. They are now moving rapidly to make a slew of legislative and policy changes that were either not announced or mentioned only briefly before the election. The Herald has noticed too, writing: “the Key Government […]

  7. A bunch of clowns

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 3:29 pm, March 15th, 2009 -  17 comments
    Categories: same old national
    Tags:

    Poor old Nick Smith. Not only is he stuck peddling long-disproved lies about ACC but now it seems he can’t even get a simple procedure like sacking Ross Wilson right. According to the Sunday Star Times Smith hadn’t managed to properly sack Wilson by midday Friday and may not even have managed it so far: […]

  8. Softening up

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 2:22 pm, March 5th, 2009 -  26 comments
    Categories: ACC, economy, spin
    Tags:

    A few points on the ACC issue and one on Kiwirail. Nick Smith says that, with assets of $10 and liabilities of $21 billion, if ACC were an insurance company it would have gone under years ago. But it’s not an insurance company. Because its costs can be met by the sovereign revenue raising power […]

  9. Time for a truce in sentencing bidding war

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 12:02 pm, January 12th, 2009 -  10 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    An interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald: THE NSW Opposition has pledged to end the “law and order auction” in a dramatic break with the tradition of promising to increase punishments and fill jails that has characterised every state election campaign since 1988. The Coalition’s justice spokesman, Greg Smith, who entered Parliament in 2007 […]

  10. Merry Christmas from National

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 3:17 pm, December 17th, 2008 -  28 comments
    Categories: ACC, national/act government, privatisation
    Tags: ,

    National’s decides to hit workers in the pocket: ACC Minister Nick Smith yesterday said levies would increase from $1.40 to $1.70 for every $100 earned from next April. The employer and self-employed levy would rise from $1.26 to $1.31. Recommendations by officials to increase motor vehicles levies and lift registration fees by $50 would not […]

  11. Spinbusting: the anchor-story

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 12:27 pm, December 4th, 2008 -  52 comments
    Categories: ACC, Media, national/act government, spin
    Tags:

    There’s a lot of talk about the ACC budget deficit and National’s use of the issue to create an environment in which their privatisation scheme can roll with the minimum political fall-out. Any doubt I had that this was their plan evaporated this morning when I heard Nick Smith on RNZ moving the story along […]

  12. Laying the foundations

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 4:33 pm, December 3rd, 2008 -  46 comments
    Categories: ACC, national/act government, privatisation
    Tags:

    Let’s not fool ourselves that what we’ve seen from National over the last 24 hours on to the shortfall in the ACC non-earners account hasn’t been carefully managed in a way to lay the foundation for their arguments in favour of privatising the scheme. I won’t go into a lot of detail around their motives, […]

  13. Cabinet announced

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 3:35 pm, November 17th, 2008 -  112 comments
    Categories: national/act government
    Tags:

    National’s cabinet has been announced. No major surprises, though Maurice Williamson has been dumped outside cabinet and unpopular newcomer Steven Joyce has taken Transport. Lockwood Smith is speaker. More detail and analysis later, but for now the full list is over the break. THE CABINET Portfolios Other responsibilities 1 John Key Prime Minister Minister of […]

  14. What will National’s cabinet look like?

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 10:55 am, November 11th, 2008 -  58 comments
    Categories: national
    Tags:

    Will it be the same tired old faces, the fresh noobs or a mixture of both? Will it be an all National cabinet or will Peter “marginal seat” Dunne secure himself a place at the grown-ups table? Here’s a few off the top of my head: Bill English – Deputy leader and Finance Obvious really […]

  15. Kiwis waking up to Nats’ secret agenda

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 10:29 am, August 26th, 2008 -  96 comments
    Categories: election 2008, national, slippery
    Tags:

    According to the TV3 poll last night,Ā 46% of voters believe National has a secret agenda. And why wouldn’t they? We’ve had Bill English talking about a secret agenda to ‘sort out’ Working for Families and sell Kiwibank while being recorded, on the same recordings, we’ve had Lockwood Smith talking about the need to adopt popular […]

  16. Wait, what’s working?

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 6:26 am, August 13th, 2008 -  18 comments
    Categories: bill english, john key, national, privatisation, slippery, spin
    Tags:

    ENGLISH: So we’re sitting here saying the punters are keen to keep it. They’re facing a recession. The last thing we want is to spend the whole election campaign with families of four on TV saying ‘Mr Key’s taking money off us’. You can’t do that. So later on we’re gonna have to have a […]

  17. 3 more points on the secret agenda tapes

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 1:25 pm, August 11th, 2008 -  61 comments
    Categories: national, privatisation, slippery
    Tags: ,

    1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the public. Therefore, the only way to expose a secret agenda with definite proof is by recording that evidence when the target does not know they are being recorded. The Police can’t just […]

  18. Key losing his mojo

    Written By:  Tillerman -  Date published: 4:25 pm, October 29th, 2007 -  51 comments
    Categories: john key, labour
    Tags: ,

    Pol science lecturer and commentator Jon Johansson has given a lucid and scholarly account of the inexorable decline of John Key and National’s prospects. In a speech to the NZ First conference at the weekend. Johansson told delegates that after a promising beginning, Key has started to “unevenly walk the new generation walk…” An excerpt: […]

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