Search Results

  1. Happy Birthday National

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 10:43 am, May 14th, 2008 -  54 comments
    Categories: history, national
    Tags: ,

    Today is the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the National Party. So, it’s an opportune moment to reflect on the founding principles of the National Party and ask that age old question ‘why are they called National anyway?’ The political background to the founding of the National party is the conflict between the three […]

  2. Corporate responsibility

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 4:07 pm, May 1st, 2008 -  5 comments
    Categories: articles, youtube
    Tags: , , ,

    Anyone remember the Pinto? Arguably not Ford’s finest hour. When in 1968 it became apparent that the Pinto’s defective fuel tank could result in the car catching fire when hit from behind, Ford executives reached for their calculators. Some quick sums (from a leaked memo) showed that the costs of fixing the Pinto were around […]

  3. Ralston sez: leave poor Johnny alone

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 5:45 pm, April 20th, 2008 -  61 comments
    Categories: blogs, election 2008, john key, Media, slippery
    Tags: , , , ,

    In the Herald today, Bill Ralston sticks up for poor John Key who has been the subject of personal political attacks recently. Like Key, Ralston wonders what is “the cost of the Government using countless bureaucrats to endlessly scour records in an attempt to discover inconsistencies in any utterance [Key has] made”. Ralston needs to […]

  4. Join the smackathon

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 8:34 am, April 15th, 2008 -  56 comments
    Categories: activism, child discipline
    Tags: ,

    Just what you may have been waiting for: www.righttosmack.co.nz While we want the government to interfere with people’s private activities to some small degree; (outlawing homosexuality, stopping abortions, abolishing civil unions, abolishing legalised prostitution, etc.) – we will not tolerate being told we cannot use force and violence as part of loving correction and discipline! […]

  5. If I were Labour’s campaign strategist

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 2:49 pm, April 4th, 2008 -  18 comments
    Categories: election 2008, labour
    Tags: ,

    Part three of the ‘If I were [Party X]’s campaign strategist’ series brings us to Labour. The strategy for a major party is very different from that of a smaller party. Rather than trying to grab attention public attention and target niche concerns, a major party needs a broad-based platform that will appeal to most […]

  6. National retreads deny climate change

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 8:30 am, April 2nd, 2008 -  36 comments
    Categories: climate change, same old national
    Tags: ,

    Lockwood Smith gave us student debt. Maurice Williamson gave us traffic jams. Now they want to give us global warming. Just days after Al Gore launched his $300m worldwide climate change campaign National retreads Maurice Williamson and Lockwood Smith are refusing to answer questions about whether or not they even believe climate change is happening. […]

  7. Al Gore’s new climate change campaign

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 11:44 am, April 1st, 2008 -  2 comments
    Categories: activism, climate change, Environment, International
    Tags: , , ,

    Al Gore has just launched a $300 million, bipartisan campaign to try to push climate change higher on the nation’s political agenda. The website is www.wecansolveit.org – you can see the debut ad, “Anthem,” here. The campaign plans to bring together “unlikely bedfellows” of differing political stripes and use shows like American Idol to promote […]

  8. An embarrassing effort

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 10:18 pm, March 27th, 2008 -  36 comments
    Categories: Media, workers' rights
    Tags: ,

    Ever since the Herald lost its rag over the EFA I’ve come to expect little more than half-truths and inaccuracies from its editorials, but today’s effort was particularly disappointing. Business NZ press release in one hand and a keyboard in the other, the Herald had itself all wound up over suggestions that proposed minimum entitlements to meal […]

  9. John’s quick act sets up another flip

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 1:24 pm, March 21st, 2008 -  19 comments
    Categories: act, election 2008, john key
    Tags: , ,

    Two days ago we ran a piece called ‘If I were ACT’s campaign strategist‘ which suggested ‘ACT needs to lay claim to the true right, without going so extreme that National has to disown them, by articulating a series of classic right-wing policies including: tax cuts, spending cuts, asset sales, and deregulation’. I didn’t realise […]

  10. If I were ACT’s campaign strategist

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 2:28 pm, March 19th, 2008 -  28 comments
    Categories: act, election 2008
    Tags: ,

    What strategy should the parties pursue ahead of the election? This series of posts will attempt to answer that question, party by party, starting with ACT. ACT must gain support from hard-right voters who are dissatisfied with John Key’s wishy-washy centrism. They’ve made a good start of it by getting back Roger Douglas, the Dalai Lama of big […]

  11. What the hell is the sub-prime crisis?

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 10:46 am, March 19th, 2008 -  49 comments
    Categories: economy, housing, International
    Tags: , ,

    The sub-prime crisis is at the heart of the world’s current economic problems. It all boils down to financiers playing fast and loose with the rules of how money works, and the US government not keeping an eye on them. Essentially, they created a whole new class of interest-bearing pieces of paper that were supposedly […]

  12. Free Speech Coalition TV spot

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 10:18 am, March 10th, 2008 -  12 comments
    Categories: dpf, election funding
    Tags: ,

    A trusted source tells us that following their most recent failed EFA protest, Cameron Slater (Whaleoil) and National Party blogger David Farrar might be considering buying TV time as part of their civil disobedience campaign. The production company has evidently worked hard to stay true to the Free Speech Coalition’s messages – the ad’s content […]

  13. Some questions

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 9:51 pm, March 5th, 2008 -  57 comments
    Categories: john key, Media, rumour
    Tags: , ,

    Today in Parliament Bill English made a very interesting comment which, if true, raises some very concerning questions about either his own honesty or the editorial integrity of APN, publishers of the New Zealand Herald. Referring to a quip from Michael Cullen about John Key’s statement that ‘we would love to see wages drop‘, English […]

  14. Hitting a nerve

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 6:53 pm, March 5th, 2008 -  22 comments
    Categories: election 2008, john key, slippery
    Tags: , , , , , ,

    In this afternoon’s debate Gerry Brownlee tried to have the word “slippery” ruled unparliamentary in relation to John Key. Proof, if any were needed, that Cullen had hit a nerve perhaps? Also interesting to see John Key leading off General Debate in the House – the Nats have done this before when Key’s been in […]

  15. Did Key try to get ‘wage drop’ journalist sacked?

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 5:56 pm, March 4th, 2008 -  53 comments
    Categories: john key, Media, workers' rights
    Tags: , ,

    Michael Cullen made an interesting remark in the House today in response to a question on John Key’s statement that he “would love to see wages drop“. Here’s what Cullen said: I think they would be appalled to learn that the Leader of the Opposition proposed that New Zealand wages should drop, then tried to […]

  16. Peas in a pod: Family Fist, National, DPF

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 4:10 pm, February 26th, 2008 -  55 comments
    Categories: child discipline, dpf
    Tags: ,

    National Party blogger David Farrar points to a criticism of the repeal of s59 by Sacha Coburn (“a Christchurch businesswoman, lawyer and mother”): The Government should read this column and be afraid… The whole column is worth a read. And Sacha Coburn will not be an exception – there will be many more like her […]

  17. National’s history of rewriting history

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 3:29 pm, February 26th, 2008 -  16 comments
    Categories: flip-flop, national, same old national
    Tags: , ,

    You think they’d learn. Wikiscanner reports that someone in Parliament has been busy – busy expunging potentially embarassing facts about a variety of MPs. This one’s about Allan Peachey. You might remember Allan from such debacles as the Peachey/Rich bulk funding controversy and also the little number above that he’d evidently rather history forgot – […]

  18. “The literal truth”

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 10:49 am, February 16th, 2008 -  49 comments
    Categories: Media, spin
    Tags: ,

    Fran O’Sullivan’s continuing her ongoing philosophical project of interrogating the notion of truth in her latest repetition of Kiwiblog talking points Herald column. In it she picks up on the Owen Glenn interview and from a few disparate facts weaves a story of intrigue and mystery. Or rather provides us with an insight into the […]

  19. Curia-ser and Curia-ser

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 9:01 pm, February 12th, 2008 -  61 comments
    Categories: dpf
    Tags:

    You’ll probably know about the rumour around the traps that blogger David Farrar is running his polling company Curia out of National Party HQ. This information first came up when Newzblog blogger James Sleep posted on a conversation he had with a young Nat in which the lad in question told him that he worked […]

  20. Policy

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 6:51 pm, January 25th, 2008 -  372 comments
    Categories:
    Tags:

    Rules Banning Moderation Privacy Explicit or implied consent on privacy Logins Rules We encourage robust debate and we’re tolerant of dissenting views. But this site run for reasonably rational debate between dissenting viewpoints and we intend to keep it operating that way. What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or […]

  21. They just don’t learn

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 1:38 pm, January 22nd, 2008 -  109 comments
    Categories: dpf, election funding, national
    Tags: , ,

    I see the Free Speech Coalition hasn’t learned anything from the ramshackle PR fiasco that was their launch and have posted up another billboard in Invercargill today, this time featuring Robert Mugabe and criticising the government’s ‘silencing’ of Mayor Shadbolt, who is ironically one of the least silent people in the country at the moment. […]

  22. Spinning the spin.

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 2:11 pm, January 20th, 2008 -  279 comments
    Categories: Media, spin
    Tags: , , ,

    Ruth Laugeson has an article in the Sunday Star Times about the increased numbers of communications staff employed by ministries. Entitled “Spinning govt yarn costs $47m”, the article is in many ways a lovely piece of spin in its own right. The basis of the article is that the number of spindoctors employed by the […]

  23. A New Year’s wish

    Written By:  Z K Muggletonspofin -  Date published: 7:23 am, December 26th, 2007 -  35 comments
    Categories: articles
    Tags:

    As a kid growing up in the countryside I recall being startled by the realisation that there were people in the world who had never seen a farm animal of any description. How one-dimensional and narrow their view of the world must be, I thought. Another aspect of life in rural New Zealand, which I […]

  24. The Hutch

    Written By:  Z K Muggletonspofin -  Date published: 9:59 pm, December 23rd, 2007 -  35 comments
    Categories: Media
    Tags:

    One morning last week I stumbled upon TV3’s early morning Sunrise programme. It’s a bright and cheery little show providing an easier alternative to Paul Henry’s more acerbic version on TV One. The breezy presenters occasionally host a couple of people called the ‘All-Stars’ and on this particular morning one of the guests was Mike […]

  25. John Doerr on “Greentech”

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 2:37 pm, December 17th, 2007 -  21 comments
    Categories: climate change
    Tags:

    Another video from TED: “I don’t think we’re going to make it,” John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world […]

  26. Two drunk backbenchers

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 12:57 pm, December 14th, 2007 -  48 comments
    Categories: national
    Tags:

    A mate of mine had a rather interesting run-in last night with a couple of drunken Tory backbenchers. Here’s what happened: Last night I was at the Malthouse in Courtenay Place having a few beers with some mates when who should walk into the bar but a couple of National Party backbenchers. We struck up […]

  27. National reopens Selwyn race

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 11:53 am, December 14th, 2007 -  2 comments
    Categories: national
    Tags:

    Local Nats don’t want David Carter as their candidate for Selwyn. Looks like the threats, intimidation and bullying tactics used to get him the candidacy have backfired for him. Carter (himself a three time loser to Labour’s Ruth Dyson in Banks Peninsula) has a history of bagging other candidates within his party. He said of […]

  28. ODT on the Electoral Finance Bill

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 7:39 pm, December 12th, 2007 -  81 comments
    Categories: election funding
    Tags:

    Here’s an article from the ODT. It’s by Simon Cunliffe, “a senior Otago Daily Times journalist”. I’m loathe to reprint it in full but the ODT doesn’t provide full online access to articles. Perhaps the best I can do is to encourage you to subscribe to their digital edition if you enjoy the read. Electoral […]

  29. National filibustering EFB

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 12:54 pm, December 6th, 2007 -  42 comments
    Categories: election funding, national
    Tags: ,

    So it’s official: National is filibustering the Electoral Finance Bill. This really is childish, and it’s directly at odds with what Bill English was telling the public on Morning Report on Tuesday. These were his exact words: “How long the debate takes will be largely up to the government. We don’t intend to filibuster…” It’s […]

  30. National HQ deleting YouTube comments?

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 10:25 am, November 28th, 2007 -  42 comments
    Categories: national
    Tags:

    Just received this from a “concerned reader”: Just wanted to know whether or not you have also been blocked by NZNats? This morning they have deleted all comments with a hint of an opposing view, with the exception of the ‘TaneStandard’ comment. It offends me that the National Party would post a video which endeavours […]

  31. Lawson not bonkers

    Written By:  Sam Cash -  Date published: 8:26 pm, November 15th, 2007 -  10 comments
    Categories: climate change
    Tags:

    Esteemed Tory Brit-econ-pop-enviro-guru Nigel Lawson, Lord of Blaby, dad of Nigella, is not bonkers. Lord Blaby (Ed: shurely not? Wot? It is true?), who is visiting New Zealand, allegedly to attend a Business Roundtable party, told TVNZ’s Breakfast that the world could adjust to global warming because people don’t find Singapore too hot to do […]

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.