Posts Tagged ‘that nice man mr key’

Nice Mr Key (and useless Mr Carter)

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, November 22nd, 2015 - 21 comments

Quick notes on some pieces in The Herald this morning, featuring Audrey Young’s almost epiphany on Nice Mr Key.

How’s that change coming? – Emigration

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 am, April 7th, 2010 - 16 comments

That Nice Mr Key promised that, through the power of tax cuts, he would stop so many Kiwi emigrating to Australia. Well, we had tax cuts so what happened to the number of Kiwis heading over the ditch? Must have dried up, right? Sorry kids, after a recession-induced lull, emigration is climbing as Kiwis seek greener pastures in the red country. Just one more promise Key couldn’t keep.

Guyon tires of Key’s empty grin

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, February 17th, 2010 - 32 comments

Guyon Espiner isn’t exactly what you would call a critic of John Key’s government, so when he has a blog post titled “John Key’s sloppiness as costly as it is charming” you know things are bad.

John Key, centrist

Written By: - Date published: 3:49 pm, July 24th, 2009 - 23 comments

IrishBill commented last night that “John Key the centrist” is a narrative we’re not hearing much from the commentariat any more. I thought this was strange given that was the brand they were all so dutifully selling us in the leadup to the election campaign. John Armstrong couldn’t get enough of it. I wondered what […]

Where would you get that idea?

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, March 22nd, 2009 - 19 comments

John Armstrong March 21 2009 – “So the National Government is variously inching, shifting, drifting, veering or lurching to the right, depending on where you stand on the political spectrum. Surprise, surprise… John Key may have portrayed himself as a moderate pragmatist in Opposition – indeed he is still doing exactly that as Prime Minister […]

Redistributing the wealth

Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, March 20th, 2009 - 104 comments

In a speech to the International Fiscal Association Conference today, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said the Government’s goal over the next 18 months is to start moving towards a top personal tax rate of 30%. This would be a whopping 9% cut from the current top tax rate, almost exclusively going to the rich, and […]

Espiner on National’s use of the crisis

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 pm, March 16th, 2009 - 29 comments

Sadly, I couldn’t find Colin Espiner’s excellent piece in The Press today online. It’s good. Colin’s thoughtful observations derail the government’s PR spin about That Nice Man Mr Key and his commonsense centrist approach. He wonders whether the National government is taking advantage of the economic crisis to push through hard-right reforms Kiwis didn’t vote […]

Espiner nails it

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, March 11th, 2009 - 15 comments

In his blog today Colin Espiner points out how National has quickly moved a lot further to the right than they portrayed themselves as pre-election: After following the script for the First 100 Days to the letter, National is now branching out into things that, um, weren’t in the script. Labour Lite? Not any more. […]

Flashback from way back

Written By: - Date published: 3:16 pm, February 23rd, 2009 - 23 comments

Anyone else read Audrey Young’s interview of Bill English in the New Zealand Herald and get a massive feeling of deja vu? Here’s a typical outtake: Rather than the Treasury working out where to cut spending, he wants the departments to change the way they think. “We will get them doing it. They are going […]

Control group

Written By: - Date published: 5:04 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 38 comments

I’ve got to admit there are days I wonder whether the National Party really have swung leftward. I mean I know they are a party of spin and I know they have enacted some nasty rightwing legislation but when I see them putting the minimum wage up, dancing with drag queens and hobnobbing with iwi […]