Can the PM recover from last Monday’s ‘wait and see’ shambles, in the face of questions on tax cuts and abortion? Toby Manhire tunes in. You think your Monday morning is a struggle, but spare a thought for the prime minister, whose week begins with four broadcast interviews, pretty much back to back. Imagine trying … Read more
Gone By Lunchtime meets The Breakfast Club as leading NZ politics podcasters Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire splinter desperately into millennial solidarity. In the historic first ever Spinoff Gone By Lunchtime podcast since the arrival of LifeDirect as sponsor of the politics section, we discuss a range of important topical issues, before eventually … 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
Spoiler: he wants you to wait and see a lot. In a tweet mysteriously deleted over the weekend, Bill English announced, “We’re not here to shy away from the hard issues.” And that not shying away extended unmistakably across the weekend and Monday-morning interview flurry. He would most definitely be dealing directly with issues around … Read more
The National leader’s mana-enhancing approach was as impressive as the Labour leader’s ‘not kaupapa’ outburst was depressing, says Carrie Stoddart-Smith. Bewitched by a glass (or two) of smooth red merlot, intoxicated by the ambience of festoon lights nestled among the grapevines in the Hawkes Bay, I sputtered out to the universe (via Twitter) that I … Read more
The billions being poured into police and prisons would be better spent on demonstrably effective social policies, but the evidence suggests early interventions towards the most vulnerable children may not be in their best interests, writes criminologist Elizabeth Stanley. Prime minister Bill English attached himself to well-trodden law and order election politics earlier this month, … Read more
The prime minister spent his first Waitangi Day in office not at the treaty grounds, but at Bastion Point, where Simon Wilson watched him give two of the most surprising Waitangi speeches in living memory. Did you know Bill English used Waitangi Day to praise the great protest struggle of Bastion Point? He made two … Read more
Reports of the US president haranguing and hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull must have sent convulsions of excitement and/or tooth-pulling terror around the NZ PM’s office. Here’s how the English-Trump chat might go. Executive assistant to the President: Mr President, you are now with Prime Minister English. President Donald J Trump: You said … Read more
As Bill English sounds the horn for a September polling day, Toby Manhire take a deep breath and speculates on what to expect in the months to come. Plus: the key dates in the leadup to the election And they’re off. Bill English has announced that the election will fall on September 23, a date … Read more
A dual citizen of Iran and New Zealand argues that the PM’s response to the US visa ban falls far short, and explains why, whether the ban affects her or not, she’s personally boycotting Trump’s America. “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu … Read more
Radio host and political commentator Duncan Garner calls protestors at the Waitangi Marae “self-appointed meatheads” who “hijack the holiday for feeble grandstanding and cheap shots”. It’s just the latest attempt by Pākehā to ridicule and invalidate the Māori tradition of protest, says Madeleine de Young. Prime Minister Bill English’s decision not to attend the Waitangi … Read more
The US President’s executive order banning all immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries has drawn global condemnation. Now, more than ever, it’s time for New Zealand to step up and do what’s right for refugees, writes Murdoch Stephens. When President Donald Trump banned a tweet from a government department that mentioned carbon dioxide, hinting at … Read more
NZ’s new prime minister is a champion of evidence-based policy, the “social investment approach” and open government. So why is fellow data-evangelist Keith Ng warning of a data-democracy cargo cult? Bill English is the most data nerdy prime minister we have ever had. An ex-Treasury wonk and a champion of open data across government, he’s … Read more
For the final Christmas episode of On the Rag, the gang look at the highs and lows for women in 2016. It’s the last episode of On the Rag, a podcast for people who consider themselves feminists every day of the week and definitely understand the dictionary definition of the word. To toast the year that was – … Read more
In his first speech after getting the formal tick from his caucus, and ahead of a trip to Government House to be sworn in as prime minister, Bill English has proved his literary credentials by reading a line from a poem. Go poetry. Go English Lit Bill. Here we publish the poem in full. Prime … Read more
Superstar of breakfast radio, All Black captain and owner of a world-class duck face, John Key is one hell of a hard act to follow. But is the PM-designate really that boring? Toby Manhire crushes forever the Dull Bill English myth. Guyon Espiner: Are you excited? Rt Hon Bill English (most unexcited voice in history … Read more
This time next week John Key will be jetting to Hawaii, while a replacement measures the drapes on the Beehive ninth floor. But who are the likely contenders to succeed him? A thumbnail introduction, by Toby Manhire Amy Adams: Selwyn, 45 Pros: Unblemished by scandal, First on the alphabetical roll. New generation, signalling renewal. Cons: … Read more
The unemployment numbers came out today, showing a job market in its best state since the GFC hit eight years ago. While this is undeniably good for the National government, Duncan Greive argues they shouldn’t expect the good times to last – but suggests one weird trick which might help them do so. In The Rise … Read more
Bill English just delivered his eighth budget, and the opposition as ever had pre-cooked epithets to denounce it. Here’s how his budgets have been defined – heroically or hopelessly – by his enemies (and ACT) in the parliamentary budget debate since 2009. 2009 Labour leader Phil Goff said it was the Dishonest Budget Greens co-leader … Read more
The Spinoff asked a bunch of clever people to give us one sentence they’d like to see magically written into the finance minister’s Budget speech. These are the words they’d put in his mouth … “Inequality in New Zealand has increased dramatically in recent years, and we need to urgently address it, particularly in the … Read more
Opinion: National gets away with mixed messages over tax cuts because Labour has failed to grasp the nettle and frame tax as both a fairness and patriotism issue, argues Simon Louisson The left’s failure to frame the tax debate since the last election has put it firmly on track to spend three more years in … Read more
A pantheon of observers of New Zealand politics were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select champs and flops, ups and downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part One: The Champs. We asked our experts to rank the three best performing individuals in politics for 2015. Below, read the … Read more