Why did Mark Osborne get to tell Northland it was going to get ten new bridges that it might want, but doesn't appear to need? And why am I paying for him getting to do so?
Read MoreNational Party
Curiouser and Curiouser
Jami-Lee Ross appears to be a quite exceptional candidate for the National Party. He does things in relation to money given to him that none of his colleagues do - albeit only in relation to one particular donation.
Read MoreThe problem with our economy is too many tea breaks?
The labour reforms this week reveal a government that has given up on any hope for a competitive economy and is willing to engage in class warfare on behalf of its 'Judith Collins wing'
Read MoreThe Key to a 4th term
An emphatic win for National raises a whole series of questions, especially for a left-wing struggling to understand middle New Zealand... and then there's Dotcom
Read MoreTax cuts tangles
Tax has caused problems for both major parties at the sharp end of the election campaign, but the difference is that one party is using it to dominate the conversation with less than two weeks to go
Read MoreIf this was Labour we'd be calling it a mess
National's campaign strategy is starting to look shakey, and it's as much to do with the economy and discipline as Dirty Politics
Read MoreAccording to its TV ad, National has fixed the economy
#Team Key is channeling #Team New Zealand in their TV ads. Space age boats, elite performers surging out ahead in an 8-1 lead - what could possibly go wrong?
Read MoreIn defence of Kiwiblog
Not all blogs are the same. Not all bloggers are bad. David Farrar hasn't done anything wrong.
Read MoreA crazy day in dirty ol' NZ politics
Dirty Politics could have the unintended consequence of harming all New Zealand politicians... and the Prime Minister's terrible stand-up
Read MoreLabour sticks to its knitting and wins
Labour’s campaign launch was a hit yesterday for one reason; Labour does best when it talks about making ordinary people better off.
Read MoreWhy red-zoning provincial New Zealand will never be an option
New Zealand makes no economic sense in a global market place.
Read More‘Vote Positive’ means sound positive too
Labour’s new election slogan is a challenge for the party to focus exclusively ‘on the positive things that matter to Kiwi families’, as the PR promises.
That means rejecting the rhetoric that has New Zealand going to hell in a hand basket, and avoiding negative distractions that make Labour look like the party of dead trees, slow trucks and extinct birds
Read MorePlenty of ironies in latest polls
The latest polls show that Colin Craig, Winston Peters and perhaps even the Maori Party have something in common... the need for Labour to do better
Read MoreNational's self-serving hypocrisy on election year pamphleteering
Over the weekend an 8-page taxpayer-funded advertisement for the National party arrived in our letterbox (I've tweeted a picture). Page after page laid out in National's party colours and font, bursting with photos of the PM, and of MPs Hekia Parata and Chris Finlayson. Also someone called 'Paul Foster-Bell' is prominently pictured in it, but goodness only knows who he is.
Read MoreA taxonomy of scandal
A scandal can be distinguished from a controversy. Immigration policy became controversial in the 90s, the foreshore and seabed in the 2000s. Even though there were bungles, and offensive views and policies were aired, the underlying issue was always sharp disagreement over core values and policies.
In a scandal, the underlying issue is wrong-doing.
Read MoreAre we approaching a political tipping point?
On their own, the odd golf game, visa waiver or dinner doesn't shake public confidence in a government. Until something happens that pulls the threads together and puts them in a new light... Enter Maurice Williamson...
Read MoreNational’s muddled message on economy could help Labour
How the left could still win
I wrote a column in the National Business Review this weekend, and it’s driving right-wingers there nuts.
The left missed a chance to score today
The announcement of the election date was an opportunity for the left to define the campaign. It can’t afford any more missed opportunities.
Read MoreOne of these things actually isn't quite like the other
David Cunliffe's Trust and the Dinner at Antoine's were not the same. I wish they were, but they just aren't.
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