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Todd Muller is no Jacinda Ardern

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, May 23rd, 2020 - 151 comments

Is Todd Muller the solution to National’s inability to deal with Jacinda Ardern?

Nat Vote: And the Loser Is ….

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, May 22nd, 2020 - 197 comments

The Nation holds its breath as the dullest political leadership race in a generation snores to a close. Who will win by losing? Who will lose by winning? Who cares?

UPDATE: It’s Mullertime!

UPDATE: Bennett dumped!

Work ideas

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, May 22nd, 2020 - 28 comments

Jacinda Ardern has floated the idea of a four day working week and Grant Robertson wants to change the future of work.  Maybe they should get on and do it.

Who wants to lead the National Party?

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, May 21st, 2020 - 93 comments

Tomorrow the National Party caucus meet to decide on a leadership challenge mounted by Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye.  Both parties obviously think they have the numbers.  Which MPs are misleading them?

Dead man walking

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 20th, 2020 - 106 comments

The media is reporting there will be a vote of no confidence in Simon Bridges’ leadership at next week’s National caucus meeting.

Mark Richardson for National leader!

Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, May 19th, 2020 - 27 comments

Michelle Boag thinks that Mark Richardson should be the next National leader after Simon Bridges.  Here at the Standard we wish to endorse this proposal.

Pollwatch for Newshub/Reid Research poll, 18th May 2020

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 19th, 2020 - 53 comments

The latest Newshub/Reid Research poll is a bloodbath for National- but who are the likely victims? Pollwatch is back, this time with a model for electorate winners and losers to add onto the party vote stats.

What does National do in Epsom?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 19th, 2020 - 33 comments

Last night’s Reid Research Newshub poll result will be reverberating through National’s caucus.  And raises the question, do they gift Epsom to ACT and maybe get a right wing MP or do they preserve every seat they can for themselves.

Newshub Poll Shock!

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, May 18th, 2020 - 158 comments

The May 2020 Newshub/Reid Research poll is astonishing. You’ve have, quite literally, never seen anything like it.

“Is there even a point in having the Greens anymore?”

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, May 17th, 2020 - 104 comments

Yes lefties, there is, and it’s not rocket science.

What the Greens did

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 15th, 2020 - 39 comments

A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.

Jacinda is not like Muldoon

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, May 13th, 2020 - 97 comments

National has decided to play politics with Covid 19 and is opposing the Government’s attempt to pass legislation to secure level 2 arrangements. And has made the extraordinary claim that Jacinda Ardern is just like Rob Muldoon but with slogans.

Bloomfield and the empire strikes back

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 12th, 2020 - 41 comments

Dr Ashley Bloomfield has responded to allegations by Simon Bridges that the government has suspended the Official Information Act and the Emergency Response Committee has made multiple requests for information from the Ministry that it is waiting for by advising publicly there are no outstanding requests for information.

Parker gives Bridges a lesson in constitutional law

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, May 9th, 2020 - 175 comments

In a Facebook Live event David Parker has schooled Simon Bridges on basic principles of constitutional law. And it appears that Bridges demand that legally privileged advice be handed over is heading to the Privileges Committee.

UK Labour – the leaked report

Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, May 7th, 2020 - 27 comments

In July 2019 BBC current affairs show Panorama did a report on antisemitism in Labour. Ironically many of the whistleblowers from this Panorama documentary were the people named in this leaked Labour report as having frustrated antisemitism investigations. Were it not for COVID-19, we can be sure the BBC would ensure this was properly reported on to ensure a balanced and factual news service had been provided. Or maybe not?

Bridges pulls a stunt

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, May 7th, 2020 - 93 comments

Simon Bridges threw two stunts yesterday, firstly threatening to try and summons senior Public Servants to publicise confidential legal advice and then by attacking Dr Ashley Blomfield for not answering emails quickly enough despite the existence of a pandemic which the country appears to be handling pretty well.

The Green Party’s proposal on essential workers’ pay

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, May 6th, 2020 - 45 comments

Low-wage essential workers are getting New Zealand through this crisis and continue to do so. They went to work when the rest of us were told to stay away – and people would be horrified to hear many of them barely earn enough to live on.

Roger Douglas attacks economic privilege and inequality

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, May 5th, 2020 - 261 comments

Roger Douglas has reverted to his socialist roots by going back on his pro market mantra and criticising the economic privilege and inequality that he helped create.

UMR’s bombshell poll result

Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, May 1st, 2020 - 142 comments

A leaked UMR poll result puts National on 29%.

His work here is not yet done

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 1st, 2020 - 71 comments

Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.

Leak, leak, leak, leak …

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, April 28th, 2020 - 19 comments

Tova O’Brien has reported multiple leaks of a Nick Smith email which was highly critical of Simon Bridges.

The class politics of the Covid-19 pandemic response

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, April 28th, 2020 - 59 comments

National economics spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has advanced a plan to address the Covid 19 pandemic which includes union bashing and privatisation.

Green Party: COVID-19 recovery and investment in people and nature

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, April 27th, 2020 - 16 comments

Most of the funding will go directly to employing people – the tools needed for wetland restoration such as spades and seedlings are far cheaper than big excavators and asphalt.

Guest post – Bridges is done, who can save National?

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, April 24th, 2020 - 115 comments

Guest post from former Labour Staffer Clint Smith on the similarities between National’s current predicament and what happened to Labour in 2011 and 2014.

“The government will never do that”

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, April 23rd, 2020 - 56 comments

Say it out loud: Degrowth.

Who will be National’s leader?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 22nd, 2020 - 65 comments

Will Simon survive? Or will Paula and Mark team up against him? Or will Judith somehow manage to persuade the caucus that she is the only chance they have of retaining their seats?

Stay tuned …

Winston’s Worries

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, April 21st, 2020 - 30 comments

The Deputy PM has had a bad start to the week. His privacy court case has failed and now the SFO have said the outcome of their investigation into NZ First funding will be out before the election. Has Winston Peters finally run out of puff?

BBQ time for National

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, April 21st, 2020 - 88 comments

If the current dip in National’s polling continues then a number of their electorate MPs face the loss of their seats and an increasing battle for a shrinking number of list seat positions.

When Bridges’ social media goes wrong

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, April 21st, 2020 - 77 comments

Simon Bridges’s Facebook post criticising the extension of lockdown level 4 has been met with overwhelming opposition, including from people who are clearly National Party supporters.

New electorate boundaries

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, April 20th, 2020 - 37 comments

I missed it, but we got the new electorate boundaries on Friday. Now electorate boundaries simply don’t matter as much as they used to because of MMP. These days mostly the only people who notice them are electorate MPs, political parties that are too close to the 5% list party boundary, and of course sock-puppet parties like Act and their National party hand. Plus of course political blog sites.

Covid-19 decision day

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, April 20th, 2020 - 172 comments

Decision day for the Covid-19 lockdown and my personal view is that although the country has done well it is not quite in a position to ease the lockdown.