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A Key Government Unlike the John One
NZ

A Key Government Unlike the John One

First, let me explain the headline of the article. This is a key government in the sense that it is key, indeed holds the keys, to implementing policies that will unlock the country from the straitjacket the previous government has put it in. We elected a government to advance this

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Let’s Get This Maori Thing Straight
NZ

Let’s Get This Maori Thing Straight

The election has been had. The coalition agreement is in place. For those of us on the right there is much to like; for those on the left it is a different story. Many of their expensive ideological policies have quite rightly gone. These include the racist policies brought in

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Tova Writes With Her Left Hand Only

Tova Writes With Her Left Hand Only

Tova O’Brien is supposedly employed as Stuff’s Chief Political Correspondent. If her tea-making abilities are on a par with her writing abilities I would have grave reservations about hiring her to dispense the said liquid. If she were so employed it’s probably not too much of a

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Willie Needs His Gob Smacked
NZ

Willie Needs His Gob Smacked

Willie Jackson, once again, has made the mistake of opening his mouth. Willie is something of an arsonist in the sense that his comments are designed to be inflammatory and have an incendiary feel about them. He aims to light a fire under the topic he is speaking on. Willie’

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Media Have Their Ta-Tas in a Tangle

Media Have Their Ta-Tas in a Tangle

It’s Friday afternoon and I have just watched a video of Winston Peters leaving the Cordis Hotel following another day of negotiations. One could be excused for thinking there was a kindergarten or early childhood centre nearby as there were some people standing around holding microphones who, when they

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Minor Birds Tweet From the Twigs
NZ

Minor Birds Tweet From the Twigs

If ever we needed an example of people too full of their own importance it’s what’s now playing out in the Employment Court. I refer to the case where Siouxsie Wiles of Covid fame is suing her employer, the University of Auckland, for failing to protect her from

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The Left Are in a Buggers Muddle
NZ

The Left Are in a Buggers Muddle

Labour, Greens and the Maori Party all need to shut their traps, cease their maniacal rhetoric and crawl back into their respective caves to work out what they stand for. If they keep standing for what they espoused before the election they will find themselves sitting on the Opposition benches

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people on beach during daytime
NZ

The Left Were Voted to Their Rightful Home

Does anyone remember the song Welcome Home by a duo called Peters and Lee from 1973? The chorus of the song is particularly applicable to the situation the Labour Party finds itself in, Opposition. The words are: Welcome home, welcome Come on in, and close the door You’ve been

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Should MMP and Maori Seats Go?

Should MMP and Maori Seats Go?

A controversial headline, perhaps, but designed to spark debate. I will attempt to justify it with some facts, both positive and negative; however, the negatives outweigh the positives by some margin. The 2023 election is of course a true result of an election run under the MMP system, but I

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Is Govt Owned Media a Good Thing?

Is Govt Owned Media a Good Thing?

Without the necessary analysis of government ownership of media, the answer is probably ‘yes and no’. There are pros and cons. How they play out very much depends on the guidelines put in place by the government of the day. Other questions come into play. Should there be a level

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Mike Munro Writes ‘Didn’t They Do Well?’

Mike Munro Writes ‘Didn’t They Do Well?’

Well, not in those exact words. What he did say in the headline to his opinion piece in the Weekend Herald was “Full credit to the Labour team – they deserve it”. A more appropriate headline might have been ‘No credit to the Labour team – they didn’t deserve it’. They

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Labour were Never Going to Win
NZ

Labour were Never Going to Win

Three words beginning with the letter M – mindset, media and Maori – combined to ensure the demise of the Labour Government. These three entities, representing the political apparatus required for Labour to win an election, all let them down. In those three words Labour should have had the winning of the

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Getting the Country Back on Track
NZ

Getting the Country Back on Track

‘Getting the country back on track’ was the National Party’s election slogan: a good one, bearing in mind the perilous economic situation we find ourselves in. Achieving it means some slash and burn is required. This will include promises made prior to the election. The Public Service will be

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sea waves crashing on rocks

The (De)Parting of the Red Sea

The election result has almost biblical connotations, such was the magnitude of the defeat. As one who believes religion and politics should be kept at arm’s length, I hesitate to draw any similarities. But politically speaking we have had the parting of the Red Sea of many of the

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a group of birds on the ground

Luxon the Cat Among the Media Pigeons

This is starting to look delicious. Christopher Luxon has upset the precious little darlings in the media. Their knickers are in a humongous twist. They are immediately realising that their friends are no longer there. They are highly irritated that rather than being able to set and dictate the narrative,

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tilt-shift photography of person in brown jacket

Where Is Good Journalism to Be Found? (Apart From the BFD)

Memo to Jenna Lynch, Amelia Wade, Jessica Mutch McKay, Tova O’Brien, Maiki Sherman, Simon Wilson, Luke Malpass et al: If the election result told us one thing it is that you are irrelevant. The vast majority of the country took no notice of what you had to say. Your

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