Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Oh Patrick Gower!
Well worth watching … 50 seconds of … well, of … Patrick Gower. You know, the [allegedly] ‘deceitful bastard’ ACT leader-on-the-skids Don Brash wouldn’t talk to — three times. Good on him. From TV3’s Firstline (full clip). Look how he cracks up Rachel Smalley … who sometimes indulges in a wee bit of humour […]
Is NZ’s international reputation as a democracy taking a pasting?
I started to reply to a comment by Craig, who suggested that if Bradley Ambrose is successful in his call for the High Court to declare the ‘cup of tea’ conversation “not a private communication” that that (in Craig’s view) would be “a sad day for privacy in this country” Oh yes? I thought. What […]
Winston Peters Kelston speech
I heard comeback kid Winston Peters complaining today that his ‘clear as daylight’ Kelston speech hasn’t been adequately reported in the media. Here’s a copy of the speech notes that I had at the event (with my scribbled notes on the last few pages). I filed reports from the venue on what I saw as […]
Bradley Ambrose takes the initiative
This is a smart move. His lawyer says Ambrose has been slandered and vilified by some in the National Party operating in election mode. They’ve treated him as if he had no reputation to defend. With loose language about Ambrose’s actions being ‘illegal’ and ‘unethical’ being relentlessly squirted at him … by increasingly desperate-sounding National […]
‘public interest’ vs ‘the issues that matter’
Reflecting on John Key’s clearly-scripted talking point before he ‘stormed out’ of a media conference yesterday, it seems to me the National Party spin doctors (and lawyers?) will be emphatic that their man Key NOT under any circumstances admit to any ‘public interest’ in the cup of tea tapes. Thus, the apparent attempt to smother […]
Teflon John Key under pressure over tape
Politics is all about responding to emergencies — and I don’t mean a container ship grounding itself on a reef. From the NZ Herald’s John Armstrong today: John Key insists there is nothing on the secret tape of his “cup of tea” conversation with John Banks to cause him the slightest bother. If so, why […]
A shot across the news media’s bows re cup of tea tape
UPDATE: In an extraordinary display of service beyond the (routine) call of duty, I’m told the police actually rang individual news outlets last night (14/11/11) to emphasize this release/gag threat (above). Even going so far as saying “Have you read paragraph three? About the two years in jail?” Wow, what great service the police give […]
Banks: Doing the basics very well
Experience counts. I appeared to briefly flabbergast John Banks on Friday when I asked him for a lift from the radio station to the venue for the now infamous ‘cup of tea’. Cheeky? You might say that, but it made sense: He’d just, at 2:00 pm, finished a session (along with ‘official’ National Party Epsom […]
Thin-skinned media critic Cameron Slater spits dummy
Oops, I did it again. I briefly engaged in a Twitter conversation with ‘Whale Oil’ right wing attack blogger Cameron Slater, provoked by his stream of increasingly hysterical and accusatory rants against the Herald on Sunday about the bugged cup of tea … Starting about 9.40 this morning the National Party’s [avowedly] unguided missile, lap […]
Mystery object was a bug!
So. it transpires that the ‘cup of tea’ stunt was bugged, and the Herald on Sunday‘s intrepid David Fisher has the recording (kudos, David). How could that happen? And was it deliberate? Dunno. But simple almost always beats complicated … Here’s my shot as we were being shepherded out like geese by Wayne (right) and […]
Security footage of a burglary?
Authorities have released an image from security camera footage of one of the [alleged] perpetrators of an electoral ‘dirty-deal’ sealed in Auckland yesterday. Anyone with knowledge of the incident, carried out in front of about 40 journalists* and cameramen, should um … well, they should, er … gee … well, what can they do? * […]
Being the medium
Sorry, I’ve been a bit busy to post. Over the weekend, on Saturday I covered the Mana Party campaign launch at Otara — an upbeat, good-humoured event which spouted talk of revolution and smashing/overthrowing the system. Invigorating rap songs and anthems bookended passionate speeches from this country’s radical literati — living treasures of the left-wing […]
Just the sort of endorsement a political journalist doesn’t need
Cameron Slater already knows I think he’s a blinkered, partisan, irrationally aggressive National Party mouthpiece/toady/apologist/rottweiler. He knows because I told him. I guess it’s possible he may also have a bad side?* But it intrigued me this morning to see Cameron’s (cough) selective re-tweets of a couple of political journos’ “reviews” of the Goff/Key press.co.nz […]
Winston Peters – comeback kid? Again?
I said this about Winston Peters in A voice in the wilderness? Or reclaiming the Grey Power mantle? in April: This man has come back from the dead before. (Just sayin’.) Don’t underestimate his political instincts and populism. Since then, Peters has continued to cause a ‘disturbance in the Force’ and ruffled a few feathers […]
