My Mate Gets The Truth

I'm delighted to learn that my old friend Cameron Slater (he and and I are best mates: just ask Bomber Bradbury if you don't believe me) has been appointed as editor of The TruthinessTruth.

It's not quite as prestigious as being made chief editor of The New Zealand Herald, but it's a first step.

Speculation Grows About Speculation About Labour

There is growing speculation about the likelihood of further speculation about the leadership of the Labour Party.

Speculation has been growing for some time that a move to speculate on a move to oust David Shearer may be coming soon.

The Big Storm: My Story

10:34 am

Just heard the news, and it's all bad. This could really be the big one. Have now picked the kids up from school and daycare, and we're trying to decide what to do. Do we stay and ride out the storm, or do we flee inland?

Calm The F**k Down

There is much angst and waiting, because the latest Roy Morgan poll is really bad for Labour.

The Roy Morgan poll before that one was really good for Labour.

How To Fix The Lobbying Bill

On reflection, there's a relatively simple way to fix the Lobbying Disclosure Bill (see my last post).

Most of us agree that lobbying should be more transparent, but we also all agree that the lobbyists we are most concerned about are those on the other side of the political divide.

A Good Argument For Euthanasia

David Farrar sets out a summary of some of the criticisms of the Lobbying Disclosure Bill in submissions to the Government Administration select committee.

A Crisis

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently, but I've been in the throes of a personal crisis.

Discovering that I agree with Bob McCoskrie on something has forced me to pause and take stock of my life.

Discipline

Labour MP Shane Jones appeared on TVNZ's Q&A show over the weekend to debate with Gareth Hughes over plans for a Ross Sea marine reserve.

Hacker Accesses PM's Brain

Security experts were being rushed to the ninth floor of the Beehive this morning, after a malicious hacker accessed the Prime Minister's brain.

Experts began to suspect a breach of security, after large amounts of data stored in John Key's brain disappeared.

A Diabolically Clever Plan

David#1:  Great news, David! I have irrefutable evidence that John Key's been lying to the nation over what he knew about Kim Dotcom!

David#2: That is indeed great news, David. Tell me more.

A Day In The Life Of Paula Bennett

8:54 am

So John Tamihere wants to stand against me in Waitakere. Well good luck to him, I say, because the people of Waitakere adore me. I'm constantly astonished whenever I go walking about in Henderson at the number of people who honk their car horns, shake their fists, or start yelling at me. It's nice to know they're so vocal in their support.

Another Explanation

There is another theory to explain the pattern of behaviour by politicians and government officials referred to in my previous post.

We're lobbying other countries for a seat on the Security Council. Now we can say to all those countries in South America, Africa and the Middle East: "Vote for New Zealand. We're not so different, you and us."

Something Rotten

When Bronwyn Pullar blew the whistle on ACC's massive privacy breaches, she was outed. We don't know who, but it was most likely someone within ACC who fed her name to the media. Or someone in the Minister's office.

How Could This Happen?

With An Apology To Tennyson

 1.
Half a league, half a league,
 Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
 Rode the thirty-four.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the thirty-four.

Another Day In The Life Of The Sensible Blogger

(Read my earlier post about the Sensible Blogger here)

10:04 am 

Oh dear! I see that the Prime Minister has gone crazy with an axe and has put thirty people in hospital. I don't approve of such things, but he is under a lot of pressure. The current political environment is toxic, and the opposition parties have a lot to answer for.

Memory Loss

Questions need to be raised about the capacity of our Prime Minister, after yet another inexplicable memory lapse from our nation's leader.

John Key has been under pressure for weeks over what he knew about Kim Dotcom and the illegal GCSB monitoring of Mr Dotcom.

Transcript of Labour Leader's Speech to Caucus Members

Thanks, team, for joining me here. It's been a good spell for us. John Key's in serious trouble, and we haven't had an own goal from one of our MPs for at least 24 hours. Wait... Trevor, are you tweeting again? Trevor! Put it away!

Anyway, we're still having a devil of a time connecting with the voters. We're struggling to get our faces in front of the public. Part of the problem is that whenever the media want a quote from the opposition they go to Winston or Russel instead of us.

Challenging The Orthodoxy

I happily confess to knowing little about monetary policy, but I'm sure most people would agree that our dollar is overvalued. It's great if you're in the market for a new car or TV, but not so good if you're an exporter.

The other problem with our dollar is its volatility. It's high now, but the bottom could easily drop out of it tomorrow.

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees, But The Money Fairy Will Provide

Politicians and commentators have attacked Green Party leader Russel Norman's plan to print more money.

Norman said on TVNZ's Q&A Show that the Reserve Bank should print more money to take pressure off the high New Zealand dollar.

National's Front Bench Report Card

Since the right are trying to distract us all from the Dotcom clusterf**k by running Labour down, let's play the same game.

Matthew Hooton has ranked Labour's front bench, and not surprisingly he gives almost every one of them a savaging. Admittedly, there may be the odd kernel of truth in some of his comments.

Labour Blamed For Robot Army Attack

Questions were again raised about the leadership of David Shearer today, after a giant robot army descended from the skies and laid waste to most of the North Island.

As the horde of killer machines spread fire and death in all directions, there was no news from the Labour Party leader about how he would deal with the crisis.

An Idea

Nanaia Mahuta's ill-advised tweet about enemies from within has prompted me to consider a new rule for Labour Party MPs and members of the party's leadership team.

People Argue Over A Cow

Controversy has erupted, after scientists at the Crown Research Institute AgResearch bred a cow that produces high protein milk that may be hypo-allergenic.

Scientists are hopeful that the development will lead eventually to the production of milk that can be consumed by many of the children currently allergic to cow’s milk. OH THE CHILDREN! NOT THE CHILDREN!

So It's Possible

It's entirely possible that police will find evidence of criminal offending by GCSB staff and will proceed to charge the individuals concerned.

Just Like That Other Time

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman has complained to police over the allegedly illegal recording of a private conversation.

John Key has called the complaint a political stunt. He obviously has a very short memory.

Waitakere To Get Waitakere Man?

Claire Trevett reports that John Tamihere has rejoined the Labour Party and wants to stand for Waitakere.

I don't rate his chances, assuming Carmel Sepuloni decides to stand again. She came within a few votes of taking the seat off Paula Bennett, despite Labour doing badly across the country.