Does being prime minister compel a person to lie? Of course, says Danyl McLauchlan, and thus far in this campaign it’s the more convincing liar with all the momentum. There’s a moment in Monday night’s NewsHub leaders debate I’ve been thinking about all day. It’s right at the beginning when the debate moderator and NewsHub’s … Read more
Everyone is talking about which party leader ‘won’ the first round of major leaders’ debate, but nobody is asking which debate ‘won’. Until now. Unlike every other audience trend in traditional media, the numbers actually increased on 2014 when the 1 News Leaders Debate aired last week. Drop your e-readers, stop the Snapchats and put down … Read more
Bill English and Jacinda Ardern met this evening in their second big campaign set-piece, this time with Patrick Gower moderating. How did they fare? Ben Thomas: The drag race is on Jacinda Ardern’s second debate and probably her whole campaign could be summed up by her response to Bill English rattling off statistics about impressive … Read more
Tonight on Three at 8.30pm, Jacinda Ardern and Bill English meet again, in the first leaders’ debate since the other day. It’s a feature-length 90 minutes tonight, so here’s something to keep your energy up. We strongly advise using apple juice. Take a sip when you hear/see: Gower guffaws “Paddy” “The fact of the matter” … Read more
TV3 has a new poll out tonight. Simon Wilson unpicks what it will mean for the different parties if that poll reinforces the trend to Labour revealed in TVNZ’s poll three days ago. Warning: this story contains some outrageously unprovable assumptions. Here’s an interesting proposition about the election outcome, based largely on one big assumption: … Read more
Jacinda Ardern met a cute dog today and also faced up to questions about the environment. She did not say what some people might expect. The Green Party announced a plan today to help some farmers move out of dairying and assist others to operate more sustainably. The Greens’ plan would be funded by a … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: didn’t we all do well? Morning has broken on the day after the first TV leaders debate. Bill English, Jacinda Ardern and Mike Hosking give their reflections on how they think the debate went. … Read more
Tonight on TVNZ1 at 7pm, Jacinda Ardern and Bill English will go head-to-head in the first leader’s debate of the 2017 election. To make the viewing experience all the more exciting, we’ve assembled the mother of all drinking games. We strongly advise using non-alcoholic beverages. Take a sip when you hear/see: “Let me finish” “With … Read more
The SpinoffLab™ puts the Labour Party’s ad starring Jacinda Ardern through its captioning machine. View the first National Party ad, explained, here; the National Party teal-runners ad, explained, here; the first Labour Party ad, explained, here; and the first Green Party ad, explained, here. The leadership switcheroo meant plenty of things for the Labour Party, and among them … Read more
Political scandals are popping up everywhere but what the people really want is cold, hard stats. So Madeleine Chapman went along to the Labour and National campaign launches and crunched only the most important numbers. Campaign launches. How important are they in an election? This is a genuine question because, until recently, I’d never been to … Read more
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern visited Māngere and Ōtara on Saturday. Simon Wilson went along to see how big the wind is really blowing. What a storm in a shopping centre. Labour MP Aupito William Sio, who’s the big man in Māngere politics, introduced Jacinda Ardern in the Māngere Town Centre on Saturday morning. He said they’d had the Jacinda … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has outsourced Labour’s decision on a capital gains tax to a working group. But why? It’s time we stopped treating tax working groups as the magical solution to problems in the tax system, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw. Melchett: Field Marshal Haig has formulated a brilliant new tactical plan. Blackadder: Ah. Would this brilliant plan involve us … Read more
Danyl McLauchlan writes an epic and extraordinary essay drawing threads from the past and present of political history and discourse and various books that, he says, ‘might be peripherally relevant to the 2017 General Election but to be honest probably won’t be’. This story first ran in the leadup to the 2017 election ‘Because you … Read more
Lost in last week’s debate about light rail to the airport was another proposal: a Northwest Light Rail line. Harriet Gale from Greater Auckland explains. Just over a week ago Jacinda Ardern announced Labour’s new Auckland transport policy. All the talk was about light rail to the airport, but there were many other components, and … Read more
The advent of Jacindamania has prompted hopeful comparisons between Ardern and other photogenic, likeable liberal leaders, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau and France’s Emmanuel Macron. If that turns out to be true, the NZ left is going to be sorely disappointed, argues Branko Marcetic. It’s a good time to be the centre-left. The seemingly dreary Andrew … Read more
What will National do if the wheels start to come off its campaign? How will Jacindamania cope with Labour policies that are not progressive? And what about those head-to-head leader debates? Simon Wilson looks at potential turmoil to come. 1. Jacinda Ardern will have to explain Labour’s immigration policy Did everyone forget Labour’s record on immigration? … Read more
The Real Pod team are back together to discuss the shambles that is Mark Richardson, mermaid costumes, and getting drunk with Hilary Barry. PLEASE NOTE: OUR GRAPHIC DESIGNER IS TOO GOOD FOR US AND THAT IS NOT THE REAL MARK RICHARDSON After many weeks apart, host Jane Yee is joined by Duncan Greive and Alex … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture. PLEASE NOTE: OUR GRAPHIC DESIGNER IS TOO GOOD FOR US AND THAT IS NOT THE REAL JACINDA ARDERN This month the gang is back together to tackle the past month-ish in New Zealand media, news and … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s first week as Labour leader has brought a flood of admiring comparisons to Helen Clark. But Miriama Aoake argues that the comparison is false, largely because Ardern has proven more engaged with the concerns of Māori than the far more cynical Clark. Jacinda Ardern last week became the Labour Party’s fifth leader since Helen … Read more
Two hours after Labour launched its flagship transport policy in the central city, National launched its own 30 kilometres south. Duncan Greive was there to watch. National unveiled its rail transport policy under a slate grey sky at a train station in Papakura, doing their best impression of obliviousness to the nation’s incipient Jacinda-mania. Bill English … Read more
The Jacindatrain arrived in Auckland yesterday, bringing with it the news that Labour has a radically different transport policy from National. Simon Wilson was there to sample the excitement. “Come and have a beer with me,” said Jacinda Ardern at the end of her election rally at Karanga Plaza in the Wynyard Quarter. She never … Read more
Labour has jettisoned its leader and overhauled its campaign – but National, too, is having to rethink its approach, writes Toby Manhire Look, it’s not as though it was Obama 2008. Labour’s new mantra, “Let’s do this”, sounded less stadium and more working bee. But there was no mistaking the buoyant mood at the launch … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Did you know that Labour leader Jacinda Ardern’s partner, broadcaster Clarke Gayford, really, REALLY likes fishing? Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. This content, like all television coverage we do at … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s elevation to Labour leader has created a wave of unfamiliar enthusiasm on the political left. Now, writes Morgan Godfery, it’s time for policies that are just as game-changing. John Key, remember him? The bloke people reckoned they’d like to have a beer with, even though he minced down catwalks and might tug your … Read more
It took less than a day for Jacinda Ardern to be asked about how she might combine being the leader of a political party and a mum at some point in the future, a question unlikely to be asked of a 37 year old man stepping into the same role. Dr. Jenny Condie, list candidate … Read more
Against a new challenger, Bill English will need to lift his game, while Winston Peters as PM becomes a real proposition, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. The dramatic elevation of Jacinda Ardern to the leadership of the Labour Party instantly raises the question of whether she is ready to be prime minister in just … Read more
The Spinoff Parents has taken positions before on serious matters around parenting. Today we are taking another position. After careful discussion with a diverse group of parents, our position is that Mark Richardson is being a massive tool and he needs to put himself in the bin and then be thrown into the sea. Here, … Read more
The Spinoff presents a roundup of Jacinda Ardern’s DJ appearances, plus the set list from her much-name-dropped appearance at the 2014 Laneway Festival, with our track-by-track commentary. Not only is Jacinda Ardern the new leader of the Labour Party (which, according to my social media feeds is going great – she’s already the next prime minister), every … Read more
Human Rights Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue has some strong words for those asking about Jacinda Ardern’s intentions with her womb. As many women will have predicted, it was only a matter of time before media coverage of Jacinda Ardern’s rise to leader of the labour party was overtaken by discussion about her womb and whether she … Read more