Times have Changed

I found this old kiwiblog post, writing the latest “Offensive Content” page. I predicted on 25 July that the Government would not approve the Auckland Airport sale. When the actual Trade Minister comes out against it, you know it is doomed.  He would not speak against it without the PM’s approval.  The PM is sending a message to…

Helen was too busy to sell blood for milk

Am I the only person this morning who finds Helen’s denials this morning deeply ironic. Miss Clark, now head of the United Nations Development Programme, told Radio New Zealand the allegation was wrong. “I am absolutely incensed at the suggestion that some Defence Ministry personnel seem to have made to various diplomats that there was…

Helen’s No Dame

Helen Clark, Former PM

DPF blogs… The top honour of membership of the Order of New Zealand goes to Helen Clark. In some ways, it is no surprise, as former PMs David Lange, Mike Moore and Jim Bolger were also made ONZ, and Don McKinnon also is a member for holding high international office. So it was inevitable Clark…

PM as Minister

An observation from Bryan Spondre at Gotcha! today: It is interesting that Helen Clark chose to be associated with the arts by becoming Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage while John Key has taken on tourism. By becoming arts minister, Helen was making sure she kept a very vocal sector on side. There is no…

Cullen Gone

So Cullen’s off to run New Zealand Post. It’s disappointing, given the man’s attitude towards the country’s finances during his later years in change of the treasury, but a) he does have some skills and b) I can’t do anything about it so I’m not going to get too worked up about it. However, looking…

Helen Clark should be retired – not promoted

I have a real problem with someone who runs things like this… And we won’t even talk about the the fact that the reason Wellington got called Helengrad is that because anyone who dared to disagree with Labour was put on a blacklist. Not only would they not get board appointments – their firms would…

Overheard on Sunday Morning Radio

Chris Laidlaw was talking about the morning’s program yesterday, and it went something like this. “Media watch is going to discuss accusations of the media “leaning to the left”… then later we’re going to discuss whether or not Helen Clark was among the great New Zealand Prime Ministers.” It seemed a bit ironic at the…

Quote of the Day

First, while the leader of National essentially decides everything and the party trots along behind, Labour doesn’t work like that. The left – based in reality and truff. “It was not the policies that were the problem, it was a failure to communicate what those policies represent.” No, it wasn’t “failure to communicate” either. (Though…

Labour Won Debate?

I didn’t watch the debate last night. I think I was watching the US coverage while tinkering with the blog stats post for an hour or so before some household duties. Reading the left blogs today, it’s clear that Helen won. She threw away her long-time strategy of aggressively attacking Key and by doing so…