Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
So, who is Simon Lusk?
Scratch this one down to idle curiosity: I’m seeing Simon Lusk‘s name bandied about in Parliament, in the media and on the interwebs. He’s a fairly low-key chap, apparently, who works as some sort of campaign manager/political careers advisor/ninja for various ‘players’ (or wannabe players) on the right of politics in New Zealand. A blogger […]
Questions about the teapot investigation
So, it’s been announced the cameraman who recorded the pre-election ‘cup of tea’ between John Key and John Banks in November last year won’t be prosecuted. Stuff.co.nz reported: Police will not lay charges over the “teapot tape” saga and say freelance cameraman Bradley Ambrose has received a warning. Assistant Police Commissioner Malcolm Burgess held a […]
Bryan Gould’s must-read on the changing face of John Key
Wow. I’m still catching up on things that popped up while I was away and largely offline this week. Read this analysis from the nothing-if-not-polarising Bryan Gould in the NZ Herald: Tougher approach hints this term is Key’s last … What is now clear is that the goal of the first term was simply to […]
Simon Power is putting it all behind him. Whaaat?
This caught my eye in today’s NZ Herald piece Govt turns its back on terror law about the woeful state (sarcasm) of our country’s botched me-too Terrorism Suppression Act. [Former justice minister] Mr Power, now a banker, said yesterday he could not recall why he allowed the review of the act to be dropped. He […]
Heads must roll: Minister for Marmite
While I was away I heard the Marmite crisis predicted last year has actually bitten — hard. I didn’t know Nick Smith was the Minister responsible for Marmite, but, well, yeah, I can see he really had to go. Accountability. On a serious note, Smith’s cronyism has added more weight to those suggesting an image […]
A dark, cynical, political thrill
I saw this film ‘The Ides of March’ with a pal on Friday night and it was brilliant. Dark, sinister, awful, and brilliant. What is it about politics that provokes acts of treachery and intrigue? Why does it so often descend into the arena of personal destruction? Plutarch records the intrigue surrounding Brutus’ assassination of […]
Fixation
NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd quotes Hilary Clinton posing a really good question about an aspect of conservative ‘moral’ fixation… Hillary Clinton has fought for women’s rights around the world. But who would have dreamed that she would have to fight for them at home? “Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me,” […]
Applying Banksy to election advertising
This, [allegedly] from brilliant UK street artist Banksy, made me think. The sentiment (“any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, rearrange and reuse.” … “They have rearranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked […]
Ghastly Santorum’s JFK “throw up” line very un-presidential
The Washington Post’s E.J Dionne shares his opinion… Santorum: Weird extremism, or shrewd politics? By E.J. Dionne Jr. Just when you thought that Rick Santorum had gone as far toward social-issue right as he possibly could, he takes several steps farther off the edge. His statement that John F. Kennedy’s historic 1960 speech on religious […]
Privatisation goes into panic mode
For those interested, here’s Michael Coote’s very worthwhile article touching on the political management of the National government’s intended privatisation of State Owned Enterprises … Read it at National Business Review: Privatisation goes into panic mode – P
Politicians will say ANYTHING
Spotted this tonight … The sight of Mitt Romney trying to out-Conservative the religious right’s darling Rick Santorum is breathtaking. Poll-driven fruitcakes. It’s like that here in NZ (and everywhere I guess) when people throw up clichés and then pillory and demonize their ‘opponents’ — rather than argue or debate issues with them. Here’s a clip […]
Fattening the lawyers
Fran O’Sullivan, writing in the NZ Herald today about the controversial Crafar farms sales process has this exactly right, in my opinion: The door is open to Shanghai Pengxin to change aspects of its original application. The OIO said yesterday this often happens during the application process as “applicants refine their applications and agree to […]
Three faces of Eve … er, John Banks
One-point-one percent blogger Cactus Kate has written a well-worth reading column for the National Business Review website with the engaging title Who is John Banks? (I’m not kidding.) I agree with this part (below) and have said something similar for years: Three sides to Banks I believe there are at least three sides to John […]
