Where to next for the National Party? Ben Thomas reviews the post-election wreckage. The National Party is undertaking a review of its campaign. Presumably this will not be to determine the cause of its historic defeat. The cause is well known. The cause screams out from the pages of The New York Times, The Economist, … Read more
With just days to go before voting closes, political discourse has taken a bizarre turn, writes Ben Thomas. If this year’s election campaign trail could be likened to a breezy summer getaway with your best friends (and in my judgment as a political expert, I believe it can be) then this week we reached the … Read more
A humiliating hour in Ponsonby doesn’t mean National is imploding, just that it’s losing. National voters turned off by the show of disunity might want to consider the alternative, writes Ben Thomas. There’s a persistent myth that the “ordinary people” travellers to North Korea meet during tightly controlled trips into Pyongyang’s underground commuter train or … Read more
All it took was a laser focus on gettable centre-right voters, writes Ben Thomas. Act has previously called itself the “party of the individual” and, since 2011 with only a single MP, that has been quite literally true. Luckily for its long-time – and long suffering – supporters, this year that individual is the rising … Read more
The Māori Party’s time in government with National proves the impact of minor parties isn’t always measurable by the number of bills they pass or the amount of funding they secure, but also its impact on the political tone, argues Ben Thomas. After Tuesday’s lacklustre leader’s debate, one question hung in the air: where were … Read more
Despite the cartoonish ‘Crusher’ label, the National leader has always been a policy wonk. Right now, she’s doing her best to present a palatable idea of a government in waiting, writes Ben Thomas. It may be hard to fathom but, approximately 17,000 months into 2020, National has not yet officially launched its election campaign. After … Read more
From shambolic interviews to dismal polling, it’s hard to see how the NZ First leader can save his party ahead of the next month’s election, writes Ben Thomas. In boxing, there’s a saying that “power is the last thing to go”. After speed, coordination and stamina are long gone, the oldest fighter still knows how … Read more
The Green School balls-up is another brutal political lesson for a party leader who already knows just how ruthless this coalition government can get, writes Ben Thomas. Students at the Taranaki Green School are going to have to plant a lot more crystals to absorb all the bad vibes coming off Greens co-leader James Shaw’s … Read more
With the shine starting to come off the government’s Covid response, the opposition must abandon baseless speculation for a laser focus on failure and accountability, argues Ben Thomas. The fresh outbreak of Covid-19 in Auckland last week was a shock to the public. But it should have been manna from heaven for political parties campaigning … Read more
Beyond the direct and practical implications, more significant for the eventual outcome is the effect on the electorate’s psyche, writes Ben Thomas. It’s tempting to reach for easy metaphors with the re-emergence of Covid-19 just weeks before the election: a horror villain rising from the dead; a restless spirit summoned to again haunt the dreams … Read more
The latest round of economic data won’t carry Judith Collins and the National Party into the promised land, and she’ll need to come up with something else to save her chances, writes political commentator Ben Thomas. The government has delivered an economic miracle! How else to describe today’s labour market statistics for the June quarter … Read more
Tonight’s Newshub-Reid Research poll has Labour on 60.9%, with National tumbling to a new low of 25.5%. But a giant Labour Party, governing alone, could be a nightmare of its own, argues Ben Thomas A poll is not an ironclad predictor of the future, but a snapshot in time. Newshub’s Reid Research snapshot was taken … Read more
Do not mistake tough for malevolent. The new National leader can take on whatever role is required of her politically and play it to perfection, writes Ben Thomas. The National Party faces the fight of its life. And so it has chosen as its new leader the toughest fighter in New Zealand politics. Collins’ rise … Read more
The leak, we discovered last night, was the work of a first-term MP and a veteran National Party operator. What does it mean for the pair, and for the party, asks Ben Thomas. The latest whodunit in New Zealand politics was solved last night in a flurry of releases, as National’s Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker … Read more
Who will lead the National Party into the next election? It wasn’t the “mind blowing” poll, delivering a massive 27 point swing towards Labour, leaving National at just over 30%, that landed the body blow. It was the final, excruciating instant when Bridges, asked about his post-lockdown haircut, admitted he had had a trim but … Read more
PR consultant Ben Thomas has been spending time in te rohe pōtae o Te Urewera. Here he reports back from Te Uru Taumatua, the Nāi Tūhoe tribal authority, on how the iwi is utilising resources, and its community networks, to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. I was lucky enough to spend the months between September … Read more
Some criticisms of the National Party leader have been way over the top, but there’s no doubt he badly misjudged the nation’s mood on Monday, writes Ben Thomas. Among the many distant memories of life before lockdown is the belief that the National Party’s superior social media game would sink the government in 2020. Designed … Read more
When a politician apparently can’t get a fair hearing in the media, how do you get the truth out? Political commentator Ben Thomas braves the wobbly audio to watch Winston Peters’ efforts to clear up questions around the NZ First Foundation donations scandal by doing a Facebook live. Private sector media companies have plenty to … Read more
The New Zealand arts community is reported to be furious with the government about its treatment. Isn’t it always, writes Ben Thomas. In his story on the mooted changes to RNZ’s music delivery, Toby Manhire yesterday noted that “it’s fair to say that the arts and culture community in New Zealand is on the whole … Read more
A protest against the felling of non-native trees on one of Auckland’s maunga has erupted this week. Ben Thomas says they’re behaving like brats and ignoring the rights of iwi. Letting go can be hard, even if it’s for the best. This is not to say that a few dozen angry residents of Mt Albert, … Read more
This government once boasted it’d be the ‘most open and transparent’ in New Zealand history. The case of Julie Anne Genter’s letter shows just how badly they’ve failed on that front, argues Ben Thomas. Countless hours of film nerd blood, sweat and effort have been devoted to the mysterious briefcase which hitmen John Travolta and … Read more
Paula Bennett’s refusal to go head-to-head with Chloe Swarbrick on the cannabis referendum suggests that the National Party is yet to come to terms with what it means to be in opposition, writes Ben Thomas Schitt’s Creek is a Canadian comedy series about the wealthy Rose family, who lose their privilege, and are forced to … Read more
A new book on facts, misinformation and communication could have the effect, intended or not, of rehabilitating public relations for the non-establishment left, writes journalist-turned-political-staffer-turned-PR-guy Ben Thomas. An essential stop on the carefully orchestrated tourist trips to North Korea is the imposing Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. It curates Kim Il-sung’s almost singlehanded defeat of … Read more
In presenting himself with a new, softer image, the National leader’s conference speech sought to move beyond relitigating the fights of the past, writes Ben Thomas Simon Bridges is keen to avoid the mistakes of the past. The video warming up his speech to the National Party conference today showed a montage of his life, … Read more
The jungle drums are beating for a change at the top of the National Party. But, predicts Ben Thomas, a former advisor to a National minister, it’s not Bill English who should be worried. It’s probably fair to say most readers of plucky Auckland-based internet start-up The Spinoff have no idea how conservative the National … Read more
A brute force barrage of questions on a new and under-staffed coalition is not uniquely awful, argues Ben Thomas, but nor is it defensible. Is there such a thing as a stupid question? What about 6000 of them? Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva noted on Friday that the National opposition had lodged 6254 written questions for government … Read more
Ben Thomas watched the Stuff Leader Debate and, unlike The Spinoff’s editor, calls an emphatic win for English. If the ghost of any of Canterbury’s rugby greats had appeared to Jacinda Ardern as she prepared for tonight’s debate it would have reminded her, “You can’t win without the ball”. Yet the Labour leader found herself … Read more
The Winston Peters superannuation affair has put National’s ‘no surprises’ rules for government ministries and departments in the spotlight. Good, says Ben Thomas: everyone should know just how rotten the policy has become. We can only imagine how the National Party would have reacted if it was Helen Clark’s office. A crisis meeting would be held … Read more
Dismayed by the press gallery’s failure to interrogate the prime minister’s epistemological framework in the Todd Barclay scandal? Undismay yourself: New Zealand’s leading craft beer enthusiast and philosopher king Ben Thomas is here. Bill English is known as one of parliament’s deep thinkers. Never has this been more on display than Saturday, on Newshub’s The … Read more