Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/24/2008
I missed an update Colin Espiner did on the vote yesterday. It is worth repeating in full: Labour and NZ First voted against the privileges committee motion to censure, but every other party in Parliament - including independents Philip Field and Gordon Copeland - voted in favour, so the motion passed comfortably. This was a relief, as it meant Labour [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/18/2008
Colin Espiner sums things up nicely: So not only is John Key responsible for the global meltdown of the world’s finance markets, the man is a would-be murderer who, if he’d had the chance, would have sent 60 young Kiwis to their deaths in the war in Iraq. OK, I’m exaggerating Labour’s position slightly. But not [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/10/2008
Both Audrey Young and Colin Espiner blogged yesterday on Winston Peters. I’ll start with Audrey: It has become a lot clearer now as to why the Labour spin machine has been in overdrive for months over Owen Glenn’s character - and it has been awful. Note how Audrey says Labour has been denigrating Glenn, their largest donor, [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/02/2008
Colin Espiner also has some good insights: I am going to criticise the Prime Minister for something else, however. Her decision yesterday to launch into the Serious Fraud Office and claim the agency tipped off the National Party about its pending inquiry into donations to the New Zealand First Party was extraordinary. I don’t think a [...]
The Visible Hand (Free subscription) | 10/06/2008
A raging debate is going on over at Colin Espiner’s blog on National’s new law and order policy. Given that people are making lots of arguments on both sides, I thought it might be worthwhile laying out an analytical framework for how an Economist might view the justice system. I’m not going to go [...]
TUMEKE! (Free subscription) | yesterday
Who said that? Colin Espiner said it National has this morning bowed to those beating the law and order drum, releasing a parole policy so punitive it makes the United States look like a bastion of liberalism by comparison… The implications of National’s new policy are considerable. At a stroke, National is essentially disestablishing nearly a hundred years of restorative justice and...
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/23/2008
I’ll start with Colin Espiner: On the privileges committee report, I think the committee did an excellent job. It cut through all the Peters verbiage and red herrings and bluster. It simply didn’t believe him and rightly found him guilty of misleading Parliament. It recommended his censure. That is an extremely serious step, and any minister of [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/15/2008
Colin Espiner writes in The Press: In an early sign the campaign could focus on personal attacks, Cullen lost no time in attacking Key, appearing to blame him for the worldwide collapse of his former bank, Merrill Lynch. “Given his background and the fact that Merrill Lynch has just gone belly up, I would have thought New [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/16/2008
This Tremain cartoon, taken from Homepaddock, sums it all up. The TVNZ midday news saw political reporter Jessica Mutch try to explain what the Peters/Henry story now was, and you could see the palpable disbelief. Colin Espiner blogs a line he stole from brother Guyon: My dear brother Guyon has pinched a few lines off me over the [...]
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 09/11/2008
... Or just read the NZPA story on how he gave three different explanations during the one session. Colin Espiner blogs : The difference between his testimony before the committee and that of Owen Glenn was stark. Glenn relied on facts - emails, phone logs, sworn statements from witnesses. He went through his evidence carefully and methodically. He answered questions directly, without...
Kiwiblog (Free subscription) | 08/28/2008
... NZ First insiders insisted yesterday there was no prospect of him standing aside voluntarily. Colin Espiner in the Press : His position appears virtually untenable after the SFO yesterday started an investigation into claims that donations allegedly solicited by Peters from Sir Robert Jones and Vela family interests did not reach New Zealand First. I expect it will be announced before...
