Budget 2017: After a year of taking heavy shots from the opposition, National responded with a 1-2 of their own with today’s budget announcements, writes Ben Thomas. Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. Steven Joyce, bomaye. Translated from Lingala to internet English, that basically means “Steve Joyce, slay!”. The catchcry was popularised by fans … Read more
Labour candidate Rohan Lord announced yesterday that he was withdrawing from the East Coast Bays race, blaming his low placing on the party list and the barrier to progress which is being a white middle-class man. So much for party loyalty, writes Ben Thomas. Rohan has pulled out of East Coast Bays. That’s bad news … Read more
From Don Brash to Helen Clark to the latest media spiel, the ‘debate’ is one of the great bogeymen of NZ politics. And it needs to get in the sea, writes Ben Thomas. It’s probably a little too cute to observe that the foreshore and seabed “debate” in New Zealand is built almost entirely on … Read more
Just like his spaghetti pizza, Bill English has served up another mostly predictable – but also a little surprising – cabinet reshuffle, writes Ben Thomas. One of the more surprising elements of today’s announcement was that the Prime Minister resisted the temptation to use the media attention on the event to campaign. He failed to … Read more
Pushing the retirement age to 67 by 2040 reshapes the debate in election year. The boomers will be happy, but what about the rest of us? Ben Thomas writes It didn’t seem likely during the prime minister’s Monday morning interview circuit, after two studio interviews ended in mocking laughter from media hosts, but Bill English … Read more
Ben Thomas clasps his silver ticket and braves the Washington throngs to watch the inauguration, those watching it, and the squirrels. Complete with data analysis via Grindr. “This is the least attractive group of Americans I have ever seen,” my DC-based friend David said with a furrowed brow. We were standing on the Washington Mall, … Read more
Just how great was the incoming president’s Make American Great Again concert? Let’s cross to Ben Thomas in Washington DC, and pray for him. The early reviews are in on Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial and have not been kind. As someone who was there, let me tell … Read more
‘He understands middle New Zealand in a way that is unparalleled.’ Political commentator Ben Thomas looks back at John Key’s prime ministerial career. It’s easy to forget, after eight years leading a stable centrist government as the most popular Prime Minister in New Zealand history, that John Key’s political career has been built on surprises. … Read more
The government is trumpeting the fact that the Auditor-General’s report into the Saudi sheep fiasco did not find its mastermind guilty of criminal corruption. Good for McCully, says Ben Thomas – now let’s look at what the report did say about New Zealand’s most bizarre ovine scheme. “A government can do anything they want”, said … Read more
Ben Thomas studies and salutes the newly minted coat of arms for the mighty former governor-general. Of New Zealand’s 21 governors-general, the recently departed Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah “Jerry” Mateparae, GNZM, QSO, KStJ was the most assuredly One of Us. What highlights can we remember of the governor-general who retired in August this year? Alas, … Read more
Former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis claims New Zealanders are sleepwalking through an all-out assault on their democratic rights. Ben Thomas thinks Gavin Ellis should chill out a bit. “The country in which we live is not quite as free as we like to think,” warns former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis, who ditched the … Read more
Opinion: Publishing the names of thousands of people who have dealt with Mossack Fonseca irrespective of wrongdoing is reckless, unfair, and worthy of Kafka’s The Trial, argues Ben Thomas. The internet loves lists. “The 28 Most Unfortunate Names In Sport”; “23 Friends Quotes That Never Stop Being Funny”, “17 Delicious Salads You Should Pack For … Read more
Morgan Godfery’s collection of new progressive thinking is weighed down by a lot of old left ideas, writes Ben Thomas, from the other side of the political divide. The tagline of BWB Texts is “short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers”, although a more appropriate description of its latest anthology, The Interregnum: … Read more