Who will Bill English attack next?

38 comments on “Who will Bill English attack next? ”

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1. esoteric pineapples 1

   9 March 2017 at 8:31 am

   Bill English has always insulted other political parties. He’s said some particularly unpleasant things about the Greens.
   • Antoine 1.1

     9 March 2017 at 1:08 pm

     Despite the outrage, it’s not actually that unusual for opposing political parties to criticise each other.

     A.
     • Matthew Whitehead 1.1.1

       10 March 2017 at 6:40 pm

       It is however very unusual for the government not to be quite careful about implying criticism of their support partners, and National is literally the only party advocating raising the super age.
     • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.2

       10 March 2017 at 7:35 pm

       “outrage”

       It looks a lot more like observation than outrage. Personally, I’m overjoyed that Bill English cannot control his antisocial sadistic tendencies.

       Trash will out.
2. Robert Guyton 2

   9 March 2017 at 8:47 am

   National’s strategy of attacking as a matter of course, rather than in response to anything in particular, is a chosen method for belittling, pun intended, anyone and everyone on the “other” team. The Left doesn’t do it in the way the Right does, and always seems bemused by the strategy. Bill English has long indulged in gratuitous attacks, on and off “field”. It’s as natural as breathing to him and his mates, Key, Joyce et al.
   • Draco T Bastard 2.1

     9 March 2017 at 10:24 am

     +1

     It’s pretty much part of the mindset of National to belittle everyone else to make themselves feel better about themselves.
     • Robert Guyton 2.1.1

       9 March 2017 at 10:34 am

       I notice it most when National supporting farmers talk about environmentalists. Hard core disdain.
     • The decrypter 2.1.2

       9 March 2017 at 10:54 am

       True DTB, Also a big part of the mind set of many of my fellow kiwi voters I’m afraid, -especially males. Have friends who are vocally green leaning but will turn on a dime, and slam tables, at some outrageous sounding druggie statement, unemployed rabble etc. And that outburst can occur on their way to the voting booth. Very fragile indeed. Tories feed this line constantly. “Bash em bro “.
     • srylands 2.1.3

       9 March 2017 at 3:19 pm

       Says someone who belittles anyone who disagrees with him
       • Draco T Bastard 2.1.3.1

         9 March 2017 at 3:28 pm

         No I don’t.

         I call idiots like you morons when your logic fails and the facts prove you wrong.

         It’s got nothing to do with people disagreeing with me but people disagreeing with reality. Such people are delusional idiots.
         • Red 2.1.3.1.1

           9 March 2017 at 6:23 pm

           So says DTB a faithful cultist of a discredited 19th century ideology by a some whacked out German and his champaign socialist keeper
           • WILD KATIPO 2.1.3.1.1.1

             10 March 2017 at 12:02 am

             Lovely mouthful there, old chap,… had a few champaigns yourself , have we then matey?
           • Draco T Bastard 2.1.3.1.1.2

             10 March 2017 at 2:33 pm

             I’m no cultist.

             You are though as you continue to follow the failed ideology of capitalism.
     • WILD KATIPO 2.1.4

       10 March 2017 at 12:09 am

       WE can see the true viciousness of English as opposed to Key … we can also see the real ideologue behind the current National party in one ‘ Double Dipper from Dipton ‘…

       Key would appear in retrospect to have been the temporary hired gun to carry out and schmooze the populace – but it was always English the ideologue behind the scenes pulling the strings.

       English must be politically destroyed.

       And that CAN occur this coming general election. It happened once before with the unpopular lying neo liberal schmuck and it can / will happen again.

       Just give English enough rope and he will do the job himself and save us the bother.
3. Wensleydale 3

   9 March 2017 at 9:03 am

   He’s reasonably careful about who he pours scorn upon though, for the most part. Young people, the unemployed, opposition parties and those who routinely vote for them, beneficiaries, environmentalists… basically no one who votes for National.

   His philosophy seems to be, “Well, if you’re not going to vote National anyway, fuck you.” Poor people are poor because they’re lazy and make bad choices. The unemployed are jobless because they’re all feckless junkies. Young people need to stop having a cry about the housing crisis (Crisis? Honestly, I think you’re being a little melodramatic young man!), and just knuckle down and save. You’re going to need to save, young people, because there’ll be no retirement for you! Your skeletal remains will be propped up behind the counter at Burger King, where you’ll have expired after a lifetime of grinding servitude for paltry return. Brighter future! Boo-ya!
   • Sorrwerdna 3.1

     9 March 2017 at 9:52 am

     so true Wensleydale -are you sure its not your philosophy…………
     “Poor people are poor because they’re lazy and make bad choices. The unemployed are jobless because they’re all feckless junkies. Young people need to stop having a cry about the housing crisis (Crisis? Honestly, I think you’re being a little melodramatic young man!), and just knuckle down and save. You’re going to need to save, young people, because there’ll be no retirement for you”
     • Wensleydale 3.1.1

       9 March 2017 at 11:27 am

       If it were my philosophy, I’d probably feel compelled to hurl myself into the crater of an active volcano.
4. fisiani 4

   9 March 2017 at 9:59 am

   i love the hyperbole in the post. It follows a pattern. 2 4 6 8 Panic and Exaggerate!
   Bill English has never written off Kiwi workers or said that they were too drugged to get a job. He has reported being told this by employers. You really must try harder. Stop crying wolf.
   • tc 4.1

     9 March 2017 at 10:13 am

     Yes dear
   • Robert Guyton 4.2

     9 March 2017 at 10:37 am

     ” He has reported being told this by employers”

     I smell weasel!
   • Draco T Bastard 4.3

     9 March 2017 at 10:38 am

     That would be you projecting your own personality upon others again.
   • Tiger Mountain 4.4

     9 March 2017 at 1:57 pm

     yes fizzyanus he has said those things; and a number of workers that are already subject to random workplace drug testing do not like what he inferred as he tried to justify high immigration levels

     several sets of data over a number of years show the opposite to Blinglish’s anecdotes
   • mac1 4.5

     9 March 2017 at 3:28 pm

     He was reported as saying this, BUT English was using the word of Kiwi employers as evidence for his own assertions.

     There is a difference between saying that employers have told me that NZ workers have a problem with drug usage, and saying that NZ workers have a drug problem and part of my evidence is what employers tell me.

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/national/health/89971602/Drug-use-common-addiction-real-Prime-Minister-Bill-English-says

     In the above article, English is quoted, and shown saying it as well in the third paragraph below.
     “Drug use is common in New Zealand and addiction is a real problem, Prime Minister Bill English says.

     Employers complaining about Kiwis not passing drug tests was one example of drug prevalence, English said.

     “This is one way we know there is widespread, or there is a reasonable amount of, drug use among young people, apparently,”
   • WILD KATIPO 4.6

     10 March 2017 at 12:22 am

     ‘WHICH ‘ ….. set of employers’ exactly ?

     Those drawn from the ranks of the NZ Institute?

     And if so,… we can safely relegate THAT particular biased employers union lobbyist group as having vested interests in insuring that the puerile and all too obviously engineered response of the Double Dipper serve THEIR interests – and NOT the interests of their fellow New Zealanders.

     Thus,… what do you call anyone working against the best interests of their own countrymen and women , fisiani ?…

     I think we all know the answer to that, don’t we now, my wee Laddie…
5. keepcalmcarryon 5

   9 March 2017 at 10:03 am

   Go easy on Bill eh fisiani, he’s a man of principle as the media tells us. To be admired.
   He’s just telling it like it is.
   He holds firm to his small government agenda and is a true champion of private enterprise and not using the public purse.
   Unless of course hes double dipping in the public trough to pay for his own accomodation.
   • WILD KATIPO 5.1

     10 March 2017 at 12:23 am

     Lovely.

     Ne’er a truer word be spoken.
6. SpaceMonkey 6

   9 March 2017 at 12:25 pm

   He just doesn’t have the gravitas, wit (like Lange) or popularity (like Key) to be able to pull it off. He just comes across as a nasty dickhead.
   • tc 6.1

     9 March 2017 at 2:44 pm

     A nasty dogwhistling dickhead, its calculated to shore up the redneck vote.
     • james 6.1.1

       9 March 2017 at 3:46 pm

       Thats really funny – just how much of the almost 1/2 of the voting population who vote National are actually rednecks?
       • WILD KATIPO 6.1.1.1

         10 March 2017 at 12:45 am

         1/2 ?…

         Hmmm… back to the 5th form for you , me old son…

         You seem to have a problem with stats…

         And perhaps it is, that its less a case of rednecks,… and more a case of people being herded to think of their own survival as a direct result of destructive neo liberal policy /ideology that by its very nature- rely’s on dividing people , demonizing a group and utilizing a privatized media to whip up fear and distrust in the average voter against that group.

         Such as a unionized workforce that campaigns for fair and equitable wages and conditions…

         So just what do we call people who work against the best interests of their fellow country men and women , James?

         I think you , like fisaini … know full well the answer to that.

         Interesting that the death penalty for treason was abolished in 1989… a few years after the 4th Labour govt and the Roger Douglas years of Treason.

         ——————————————————————————————————————-

         ‘ The National Party returned to power in 1960, but this time there was dissent within the ranks on the matter. The Minister of Justice Hon JR Hanan was a strong abolitionist as was the Secretary for Justice Dr DL Robson. In 1961, Parliament held a free vote on an amendment to the Crimes Act abolishing the death penalty. With the support of ten government members – including future Prime Minister Robert Muldoon – the amendment was carried 41 to 30. Capital punishment was retained for treason until the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act in 1989.’

         Capital punishment in New Zealand – The death penalty | NZHistory …
         https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-death-penalty
         • james 6.1.1.1.1

           10 March 2017 at 8:50 am

           Wild Katipo.

           I said “almost 1/2 of the voting population” – I can see how that was easily mis-read but I was meaning the population that voted.

           National received 47% of the votes in the 2014 general election. That sunshine, is almost 1/2.

           The rest of your ranting wasn’t with reading.
           • WILD KATIPO 6.1.1.1.1.1

             10 March 2017 at 8:29 pm

             ‘ That sunshine, is almost 1/2. ‘

             Almost.

             47%

             Almost.

             Which makes your hopeful exaggerations just that – exaggerations.
7. AB 7

   9 March 2017 at 1:07 pm

   If you are going to justify in your mind the levels of inequality that are have been re-emerging since 1980 (with the destruction of the brief post-war consensus), then you have to believe some frankly loony things about humanity. (Though a few years in Treasury and a smidgeon of puritanical religion do make that a bit easier)
8. Herodotus 8

   9 March 2017 at 3:09 pm

   Has anyone else out there thought that by bringing retirement back into the political agenda was a conscious one by national, by lighting the fuse and watch the fireworks.
   I say this that National has delivered a nothing change, but now all other parties are now brought into what they would do, by proposing more radical changes such as bringing forward the increase in the age of qualification or attacking what qualification immigrants need to meet, as Nats sit back and watch opposition parties potentially self destruct.
   • rod 8.1

     9 March 2017 at 5:11 pm

     I take it you are a National voter then.
   • Red 8.2

     9 March 2017 at 5:25 pm

     A Good point Herodotus with some merit, Labour will get tired in knots over this, labour current response people don’t want it hence change of mind but now open to charges of populism and not standing behind what is right Also makes me laugh a bit when they fall back on the Cullen fund as the way to go re investing in the share market, the rich mans ponzi pool, the pinnacle of capitalism, the hypocrisy and contradictions are so bad it’s laughable
   • NZJester 8.3

     9 March 2017 at 9:58 pm

     They brought the house in on themselves with that one. It puts a spotlight on their shortsightedness of stopping contributions towards a measure put in by Labour to shore up the retirement fund.
     National are always about the now and selling off New Zealand a piece at a time for a big kickback once they leave office and screw the country as they will be sitting pretty.
9. Michael who failed Civics 9

   10 March 2017 at 12:40 pm

   Labour’s strategists must be hoping English has lost the plot. So must Crusher Collins and her backers. If he has, both cabals will get what they want without having to persuade anyone that they have solutions to the country’s political problems.

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