What first comes to mind when you think about M&M’s? No doubt it is the sweet-tasting coloured chocolate pebbles in a packet. These M&M’s stand for Mars and Murrie. Mars refers to Forrest E Mars Snr, the founder of Mars, and Murrie refers to
From the moment the new government was sworn in, the news media have been floundering, They have been thrashing around, having taken the bait laid for them by none other than their long-standing nemesis, Winston Peters. Winston, playing a part equivalent to the artful dodger (a crafty person behaving in
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
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
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
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’
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
‘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
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
