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Politics

Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation

Categories under Politics

The big State Media Merger?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, February 8th, 2020 - 27 comments

Looks like there’s a ways to go before New Zealand gets an integrated state-backed broadcaster. But the Government’s recent proposal is a big step in the right direction.

Bernie by 6K.

Written By: - Date published: 4:54 pm, February 7th, 2020 - 35 comments

Iowa and beyond.

No mates Simon

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, February 7th, 2020 - 86 comments

The repercussions from Simon Bridges’ disastrous Waitangi performance continue to reverberate.  His suggestions that Māori seats and the Waitangi Tribunal should be done away with have resulted in the Māori Party indicating it is more likely to support Labour after the election.

Trump survives

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 7th, 2020 - 35 comments

Donald Trump has predictably been acquitted by the US Senate on the impeachment charges laid against him by the House of Representatives.

A Handy Clusterfuck?

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, February 5th, 2020 - 46 comments

A party that detests one of its Presidential nominees. A media establishment that’s largely a propaganda arm of that party. And games…stupid games.

The MPs go to Waitangi

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, February 5th, 2020 - 93 comments

Yesterday the political parties were welcomed onto the upper Marae at Waitangi.  Jacinda Ardern took the occasion to give a stock take of what the Government was doing to address Iwi concerns, Andrew Little gave his speech totally in te reo, and Simon Bridges chose to use the opportunity to politic.

The Big One’s Coming In.

Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, February 4th, 2020 - 70 comments

These past few years anyone might be forgiven for believing liberals have never heard of King Canute.  How else to explain their stupid resistance to inevitable change? And now…

Mike Moore

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, February 3rd, 2020 - 104 comments

It’s not often you find New Zealanders who give every single breath they have to the left and do it with resounding and even global success. Such a person was Mike Moore.

Bridges’ biggest gamble

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, February 2nd, 2020 - 103 comments

Simon Bridges has mimicked John Key and ruled out National working with NZ First after the election.  The difference is however that back then Key ruled out working with NZ First because NZ First was involved in a SFO investigation about the hiding of a $100,000 donation.  This time it is National.

How To Get There 02/02/20

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 2nd, 2020 - 19 comments

Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.  

Pay the money back Simon

Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, February 1st, 2020 - 33 comments

Simon Bridges has stated that National wants to pay the undeclared $100,000 donation back but even though nearly two years have passed since it was made it still remains unrepaid.

Is National the party of law and order?

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, January 30th, 2020 - 38 comments

Following the announcement by the Serious Fraud Office of charges relating to the donation of $100,000 to the National Party Simon Bridges claim of being exonerated appear to be optimistic.

SFO files charges in relation to National Party donations

Written By: - Date published: 3:37 pm, January 29th, 2020 - 55 comments

The SFO has confirmed that it has charged four persons with offences relating to the receipt of donations by the National Party.

The Government’s $12 billion infrastructure package

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, January 29th, 2020 - 96 comments

The details of the Government’s $12 billion infrastructure announcement have been released. 

Trump’s Middle East peace plan

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, January 29th, 2020 - 21 comments

This news shows how strange International Relations has become.  Donald Trump, currently on trial in the Senate for withholding approved funds from the Ukraine in an attempt to get the Ukranian authorities to dig up dirt on his possible opponent Joe Biden, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and […]

19th September: Talk Like a Pirate Day

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, January 28th, 2020 - 19 comments

Plus we get to choose our government again.

How low will Bridges go?

Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, January 28th, 2020 - 23 comments

Simon Bridges has wondered out loud if anti semitism stopped the Government from sending a senior representative to a Holocaust memorial in Israel.

The Fourth Estate struggling in the social media world

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 pm, January 27th, 2020 - 30 comments

Originally posted on Nick Kelly’s blog

Ahead of the 2020 General Election in New Zealand, Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that her party is committed to run a factual election and has signed up to a social media tool to help prove it. The 2020 NZ election will be an interesting case study of whether in the social media age there can be honest political debate free of misinformation and manipulation of facts.

Constructive Criticism and Team Work In Politics

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, January 26th, 2020 - 34 comments

Team play is more important than ever in politics.

How To Get There 26/01/20

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 26th, 2020 - 39 comments

Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.  

Labour is signing up to Facebook transparency tool

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, January 23rd, 2020 - 68 comments

Jacinda Ardern has announced that Labour will abide by Facebook Ad Library Report rules which allow voters to see where campaigning money is being spent on Facebook ads.   And that it will have its major policies independently costed.

The right is splintering on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, January 23rd, 2020 - 70 comments

The right appears to be splintering on climate change, with former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull describing Donald Trump as the world’s leading climate change denier.  And locally National MP Andrew Bayley has talked the profound effects of climate change on Antarctica’s ecosystems at the same time as Paula Bennett is attacking educational material designed to make children think about climate change.

Rally Against War on Iran and Iraq – Wellington noon Sat 25 Jan

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, January 22nd, 2020 - 21 comments

Join people from across the globe for this international day of action to show our opposition to any new US war on the people of Iran or Iraq. Our message is simple: * No war on Iran * No war on Iraq * Troops out. More information on Facebook  here.

Trump impeachment trial – gold for comedians.

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, January 22nd, 2020 - 63 comments

The hypocrisy of the defenders of Trump defenders in the US Senate is providing grist for comedians and satirists. Here are a few examples looking at Trump supporters in the US Senate.

The great political heist that wasn’t

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, January 21st, 2020 - 40 comments

National has hinted darkly that the theft of laptops from its headquarters was possibly motivated by political considerations even though it had been told of a similar burglary of a neighbouring office had also occurred recently.

Bridges will talk tough to the Philippines but not China

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, January 20th, 2020 - 18 comments

Simon Bridges is visiting the Philippines.  And unlike his recent trip to China this time he has decided to talk tough to the local leaders about human rights.

Trump’s not so bad

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, January 20th, 2020 - 65 comments

an occasional series.

Federated Farmers launches petition against its business model

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, January 19th, 2020 - 157 comments

Federated Farmers has started a petition against an educational resource that teaches about climate change and activism because it does not present their industry in a sufficiently positive way.

How To Get There 19/01/20

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 19th, 2020 - 28 comments

Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.  

National created more working groups than Labour

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 18th, 2020 - 31 comments

The Herald has reported that National in its first two years of Government created *more* working groups than Labour.

Why UK Labour lost? Part 9: What the party needs to do now.

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, January 17th, 2020 - 12 comments

Originally post on Nick Kelly’s blog

The broader context of this defeat is that over the last century, UK Labour has won 8 out of the last 28 general elections. Overall the Labour Party is not a successful electoral force in the UK. What makes the 2019 loss harder, is that the party lost sections of its historical base in the North of England and the Midlands.