Posts Tagged ‘john key’
Key not competent to lead New Zealand
Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, February 7th, 2008 - 76 comments
The Sunday Star-Times had an article titled ‘Who Is John Key?’. It’s remarkable that we’re still asking this question a year after Key became National’s leader. Even more remarkable is this long article on his history provides no answers. Who is John Key as a politician, what does he stand for, what is his vision […]
Spot the difference
Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, February 5th, 2008 - 30 comments
I’ve just had a chance to read Key’s speech properly. Call me a nit-picker but I don’t reckon it was a “state of the nation” speech at all. Of 4788 words, 3185 were on youth issues – and of these, 2012 words were about youth crime and focussed almost exclusively on a subset of “1000 […]
Who’ll run John’s boot camps?
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, January 30th, 2008 - 70 comments
The Army has said it doesn’t want to run National’s boot camps – they prefer to train people who actually want to be there. So the question now is who do they plan to get to do it? They’re not saying much at the moment, but Key’s new policy does leave the door open for […]
The Herald still campaigning for National
Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, January 22nd, 2008 - 99 comments
Yesterday The Herald reported that: Demographia, an international survey business run by Hugh Pavletich of Christchurch and Wendell Cox of the United States, today issued its fourth annual report, showing New Zealand has slipped drastically on an international scale. Now quite aside from the shoddy methodology of the study to which the PM has already […]
An expert opinion
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, January 17th, 2008 - 41 comments
A reader just sent in this scan from the letters section of Today’s Herald.
Key and crabs
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, January 16th, 2008 - 52 comments
Now I know many of us are still in holiday mode for awhile longer but did it strike anyone else as a little odd to see Mr Key speak out against someone earning their living (presumably) – wanting crab pots banned at his exclusive beach resort? “Mr Key said residents approached him late last month […]
With all the charm of Slough
Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, January 15th, 2008 - 62 comments
Paul from The Fundy Post has done a rather humorous review of John Key’s holiday home in Success Court, Omaha Beach, as featured in the Herald on Sunday. Suffice to say he’s not impressed: It is difficult to know where to begin. Here is a house (described somewhat disingenuously by the Herald as a “bach”) […]
John Key hearts Canada
Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, December 21st, 2007 - 4 comments
Move over Australia, John Key has a new heart-felt love: Canada. On his recent ‘heartland’ tour to discover what country folk thought, Key said he wanted to hear to the concerns of locals, and let them know who John Key was. Never mind the only ones he could find on his 25 minute stop in […]
NZ leads the world on climate change in Bali
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, December 14th, 2007 - 28 comments
Here’s a clip that aired last night on TV3. It shows NZ leading the world in our response to climate change in Bali. To quote the reporter, New Zealand is “…putting words into action… [announcing] ambitious plans to go carbon neutral”. National on the other hand has no credibility on climate change. They don’t have […]
John Key DVD – Director’s cut
Written By: - Date published: 5:45 pm, December 13th, 2007 - 17 comments
John Key is the epitome of “style over substance” and his DVD showed us just how desperately he wants to be everything to everyone. This Production Shed.TV user-submitted video explores the man behind the mask.
Key pledges to sack prison and parole staff
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, December 10th, 2007 - 53 comments
I’ve just listened to John Key’s interview on Radio Dunedin last week: powered by ODEO “I also think we need to get a lot of the bureaucracy and red tape out of the way. I don’t know if you noticed but on Tuesday a story came out saying that the core bureaucrats in Wellington [WRONG] […]
John’s dead seal
Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, December 7th, 2007 - 128 comments
Um, why does John Key have a picture of a dead seal on his flickr page?
Ever wonder why people call John Key “slippery”?
Written By: - Date published: 7:37 pm, December 6th, 2007 - 77 comments
Here he is being interviewed by Paul Henry on Breakfast earlier today. Key tries to slip out of answering a direct question not once, not twice, but SIX times. Notice that Key tries his pre-rehearsed “precious” line twice to start with. When it’s rejected, the slipperiness really begins in earnest. PRESENTER: Um, alright and very […]
Personal responsibility
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, December 6th, 2007 - 35 comments
It seems John Key’s lack of judgment isn’t restricted to matters of policy. Twice in the last few days he’s made nasty digs at senior Labour MPs’ personal lives – something National has previously been very sensitive about – and when challenged his response has been to try and duck responsibility. It began on Tuesday […]
A bird in the hand is worth two in the provinces
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, December 3rd, 2007 - 18 comments
Fran O’Sullivan is not known as a critic of our pollies from the right. So imagine my surprise when catching up on my weekend reading I spotted these somewhat acerbic comments. On Thursday night, the man who wants to be our next prime minister was nowhere to be seen. he was off touring New Zealand […]
Key DVD canned over Clocks fiasco
Written By: - Date published: 2:46 pm, December 3rd, 2007 - 95 comments
Just spotted on Scoop: A scheduled gathering of the media in Auckland this afternoon to meet National Party leader John Key to view his DVD ‘Ambitious for New Zealand’ has been cancelled reportedly owing to copyright concerns. Meanwhile, hectic preparations are underway to give a makeover to the DVD for National leader John Key to […]
Clocking up the royalties
Written By: - Date published: 5:32 pm, November 29th, 2007 - 190 comments
John Key’s new DVD doesn’t tell us much about what National would do in Government, but as we’ve noted before, his choice of Coldplay’s “Clocks” as the theme tune is more revealing than he may have intended. Here are some of the lyrics: Lights go out and I can’t be saved Tides that I tried […]
Will the real John Key please stand up?
Written By: - Date published: 6:20 pm, November 28th, 2007 - 50 comments
Linda Clark: “This is a gimmick, that’s all it is. if people don’t know John Key, well he needs to come to Parliament more, he needs to be more upfront on some of the policies, he needs to take on Helen Clark a bit more, then we’ll all know the real John Key”.
Armstrong reviews Key’s DVD (2 out of 5)
Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, November 28th, 2007 - 35 comments
Hold the popcorn. Citizen Kane this isn’t. It’s Citizen Key in a 13-minute epic saturated with more artificial sweetener than The Sound of Music and ET combined and which manages to make National’s leader look about as deep as one of The Stepford Wives. Read the full article.
John Key’s $50,000 anniversary present
Written By: - Date published: 4:33 pm, November 27th, 2007 - 132 comments
Just in case you don’t know, today is John Key’s first anniversary as National Party leader and his backers have given him the gift that keeps on giving & well over $50,000 worth of boring propaganda. Others including our good mates at blogblog have done the analysis of the spin behind this one so I […]
John Key and January 1
Written By: - Date published: 3:31 pm, November 27th, 2007 - 11 comments
John Key’s just admitted the election campaign has already begun, adding further weight to the argument that electoral law needs updating to reflect the increased length of modern campaigns. Here he is on Newstalk ZB today talking about his ‘heartland tour’ around New Zealand, where he’ll be dishing out thousands of flashy DVDs promoting himself […]
Ambition doesn’t cut it
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, November 27th, 2007 - 32 comments
Wow, so that’s John Key’s announcement: he’s ambitious. I know I said he’d be short on substance, but maybe that was giving him too much credit. I also couldn’t help noticing Key’s production crew used some footage from his ill-fated expedition to the Porirua Markets. For those who don’t think they can stomach the stage-managed […]
Key’s special announcement
Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, November 27th, 2007 - 37 comments
John Key has now been leader of the National Party for a year. But while his salesman’s smile and general novelty factor have pulled him through to date, talk around the gallery is that he’s gone off the boil a bit lately. His profile has dropped, his sensible nice guy image has taken a hit […]
Fozzie Bear: John Key’s secret fursona
Written By: - Date published: 6:19 am, November 21st, 2007 - 13 comments
From Boing Boing: Furries get no respect. Usually, when you hear about people who dress up like life-sized stuffed animals, it’s in the context of an unfriendly internet joke, a sex gag on Entourage, or an insult that ends with “yiff in hell.” But Brooklyn-based filmmaker Marianne Shaneen has spent more than two years following […]
Latest Cosmopolitician on shelves now
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 pm, November 13th, 2007 - 91 comments
Thanks to the reader who sent us the latest edition of Cosmopolitican, a nifty little publication that did the rounds just before the last election. This month’s edition has John Key as its coverboy, which sure makes a change from 2005 when old man Brash used to don the cover every other month. Strangely though, […]
Key losing his mojo
Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, October 29th, 2007 - 51 comments
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: […]
Hager’s response to Key
Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, October 18th, 2007 - 29 comments
I’ve just listened to the audio and it doesn’t sound like Nicky Hager’s too happy with Key’s claims made on RDU last week. At one point in that interview Key claims that Hager admits that the Brethren email may have been sent to the wrong address. Hager calls this a “complete invention” given his crystal […]
Key’s flip-flops for sale on TradeMe
Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, October 18th, 2007 - Comments Off on Key’s flip-flops for sale on TradeMe
The entry reads: These won’t be comfortable to wear or even be long-lasting but they do come with an interesting provenance. They are size 8. It has been claimed they were recovered from a rubbish bag collected from Parliament Buildings. Inquiries indicated that a practical jokester on National’s front bench carefully constructed them as a […]
No it doesn’t, John
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, October 10th, 2007 - 9 comments
Looks like another batch of the infamous John Key posters has gone up all over central Wellington overnight, this time tackling John on privatisation. My spies tell me Wayne Mapp was spotted this morning shaking his head and looking rather unimpressed. Hate to break it to you Wayne, but as one of John Key’s advisers […]
KiwiSaver: 200,000 enrolled
Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, October 9th, 2007 - 5 comments
From Stuff: Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said Inland Revenue reported 212,794 enrolments by October 5, a 64 percent increased since the end of August. Sounds like a pretty good start for me. Now Mr Key, would KiwiSaver be safe under National? Are you supporting KiwiSaver or not? Oh, that’s right, […]
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