Joe Ascroft Economist New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Despite pockets of success for ratepayers around the country, the signal from local body elections is clear: the centre-right need to become more organised and offer clear ratepayer-friendly alternatives. Phil Goff resoundingly beat John Tamihere (176,000 votes to 80,000
Information This “leaked document” is fictional. Last night a mysterious package wrapped in recyclable brown paper and tied with hemp string was dropped at The BFD HQ. As I picked it up I swear I could hear the sound of a squeaky bicycle wheel receding into the distance. Inside the
New and smaller parties have to fight hard to raise their profiles with the public. The mainstream media are the gatekeepers, and as we have seen during the local body elections, media can and do choose to only cover the two or three candidates that they think are the main
Yesterday Alison Collins, Chief Science Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment, penned a doom-spruiking op-ed for the Dompost. Our ‘Chief Science Advisor’ begins her piece, which is headlined “Oceans are like the planet’s heart, and they’re ailing”, with a fairy-tale (no, I’m not
Warning You won’t want to take this medicine I recommend taking a spoonful of sugar…( a tablespoon). Newsroom ran an interesting piece yesterday, ahead of NZ First’s conference, about the succession planning for NZ First. Contained within the article was an interesting couple of sentences about the possibility
Goff is a spendthrift of ratepayer money paying a surfeit of council employees over >$100k and ignoring excessive spending by council-controlled organisations. It was only when the whistle was blown that he showed any interest in curtailing them. Auckland Transport gaily blew $780,000 on three Papakura pedestrian
Warning Harsh truths ahead. Time to put on your rose-tinted glasses, plug your ears and sing la,la,la,la Simon Bridges, after a week of talking tough, folded faster than a deck chair sat on by a fat lass. Trevor Mallard has out-foxed the Clown Prince of
Today’s Face of the day Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki was fooled by a photoshop. Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki has posted a fake image on her Twitter account showing NZ First MP Shane Jones proudly showing off a picture of a Muslim woman riddled with bullet holes. “What
Living in the Western Bay of Plenty we received the 150-word election blurbs in the local media for both Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Now that the results are out it seemed a useful time to review the promises/statements of the successful candidates.
https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/10/poor-lester-shoved-down-the-memory-hole/ https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/10/random-impertinent-question-answer/ https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/10/the-bfd-transcript-part-2-delayed-sex-assault-allegation-report-kiwibuild-reset-justin-lester-slight-more/
I have always thought that Ron Mark was as sound as a pound – the Defence Minister has common sense and he’s not an entitled git. A rarity, not just in politics but also in the modern age – more on entitled gits coming up later in the show! And using
Wellington satirist Stewart Mann Information Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this guest post are solely the views of the author and do not reflect the views of the editor or any other member of The BFD team. In the illustrious pantheon of Wellington’s past and present
Advice Satire The BFD source on the inside has just sent us the draft of Ardern’s next speech. I say to you today, my fellow Kiwis, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in my
Danny Bright The turnout for local body elections continues to diminish election after election, and it seems we’re powerless to stop the downward spiral, which has been gathering momentum for more than thirty years. Nowhere is it more important or significant than in the country’s largest city. The
