Three years after she was so dramatically unveiled as leader of Kim Dotcom’s Internet Party, Laila Harré has returned to Labour. In a frank and revealing interview, she tells Toby Manhire what went down in 2014, and why she’s decided to throw her lot back in with the party she first joined 36 years ago. … Read more
What are Labour and the Greens going to throw at National this year? Anger? “You make me very angry with your stupid policies Mr Blinglish” isn’t going to work, especially if it’s bitter or righteous or out-of-control anger. Instead, how about shame, suggests Simon Wilson in the final part of his week-long look at Labour … Read more
Politicians John A. Lee and Norman Kirk used lessons drawn from their experience of poverty to create affordable housing, while John Key – despite famously being born in state housing – has overseen its demise. Oliver Chan argues that it’s time to restore the house that Jack built. This is the story of three politicians: … Read more
What on earth can the left learn from Donald Trump? Quite a lot, as it happens, or so Simon Wilson argues in part five of his week-long analysis of Labour in 2017. The big lesson from Trump is not that progressive policies must now be abandoned. Their effective advocacy is more important than ever – … Read more
If the National Party gets its policy of “social investment” right it could stay in power for another generation. So what will Labour and the Greens do about it? Here’s part four of Simon Wilson’s analysis of Labour in 2017. At the National Party’s Northern Regional Conference in May last year, Bill English started his … Read more
Is identity politics destroying the Labour Party or is that just the catchcry of a bunch of old white guys trying to get their own way again? Is Labour really a broad church party? Here’s the third part of Simon Wilson’s analysis of Labour in 2017. Identity politics Shortly before Christmas a senior member of … Read more
If Andrew Little hopes to lead the centre-left to victory in the election later this year, he’s got a lot of work to do. In the second of a six-part series, Simon Wilson sets out the task. Everyone who’s thinking of voting for any of the parties on the centre-left this year faces a central … Read more
Does Andrew Little stand a chance of leading a centre-left government into Christmas 2017? Ahead of Labour’s caucus retreat this weekend, Simon Wilson considers their task in taking on a new prime minister who is a much more formidable figure than many seem to think Bill English went to the Joseph Parker fight on December … Read more
Should David Shearer’s South Sudan appointment be confirmed, a byelection is likely in Mt Albert, signalling the departure of the last ex-Labour leader and leaving the question hanging: did the party err in knifing him? “Former leaders” are a mixed blessing for a political party – they can be weathered, wise old owls, or they … Read more
A conversation on the byelection result, politics and Asian communities, and whether Michael Wood’s big win points to a Labour resurgence, with two longtime Mt Roskill residents who happen also to be Tze Ming Mok’s parents Tze Ming Mok was born and raised in Mt Roskill by immigrant parents from Malaysia and Singapore. Her parents, … Read more
Talk of a resurgent Mana Party, unshackled from Dotcom and buoyed by a Māori Party pact, has prompted suggestions of a new order in Māori politics. Morgan Godfery explains why he’s just not buying it Ika Table Talk: From 7.30pm on Wednesday November 29, Ika Seafood Bar and Grill and the Spinoff present a discussion … Read more
The Labour Party conference concluded with a fire-in-belly speech from Andrew Little. Toby Manhire went along to watch. While one nation in the continent of North America sucks up all the political oxygen on Earth, feeding a giant ball of pulsating fire, there is something reassuring about New Zealand Labour Party delegates gathering together on … Read more
As the polarising former Labour leader announces his parliamentary retirement, Toby Manhire recounts the most vivid Cunliffe memories – from poetry to beach pics to cats So farewell then, David Cunliffe. The New Lynn MP and former leader of the Labour Party announced this morning he won’t be standing in next year’s election. What memories … Read more
David Cunliffe has announced he is leaving politics. He was once the Rising Man; in October 2007, in the age before Key, Helen Clark promoted him as health minister. Steve Braunias profiled him for the Sunday Star-Times. You could tell at once what was going to happen when an old couple approached newly promoted cabinet … Read more
Last week Metro editor-at-large Simon Wilson hosted a Spinoff debate at Auckland’s Ika Seafood Restaurant about the future of the Labour Party. But does the party have a future at all? He’s not convinced. The Unitary Plan debate in Auckland opened another faultline in the progressive movement, just in case you didn’t have enough to … Read more
Morgan Godfery pays tribute to his friend, the impassioned and inspirational workers’ advocate Helen Kelly. Helen Kelly, the mighty trade union leader, the irrepressible campaigner, the bane of dodgy bosses everywhere, was my comrade and hero. She is dead at 52. Even when you know death is coming, when cancer invades the body’s cells and … Read more
There is good reason for reforming the student loan system, but the proposal to wipe debt for those who work in the regions doesn’t hold water, argues Eric Crampton. It’s hard to think of any problem solved by Labour’s proposed student loan policy that wouldn’t have better solutions. And I don’t think it is because … Read more
Labour says the Unitary Plan won’t provide affordable housing. Our mild-mannered economist Shamubeel Eaqub says that ignores the basics of supply and demand. People are getting worried the new Unitary Plan won’t provide enough affordable housing. Modelling done for the Independent Hearings Panel that authored the plan appears to show only 15% of the 247,000 new … 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
Going off like a frog in a sock, the third edition of the Spinoff politics pod, featuring Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas with Toby Manhire A brand new Gone By Lunchtime is here – unless you’re reading this some time in the future, in which case it will no longer be brand new. On the … Read more
In principle, a Universal Basic Income, as floated by the NZ Labour Party, sounds great. It’s once you start looking harder at implementation that things quickly become, well, messy, writes Eric Crampton. If you like a UBI, economist Kevin Milligan tells us you can choose two of the following three options. But only two. 1. … Read more
The Spinoff meets Grant Robertson at the cricket to talk leadership close-miss, caucus divisions on the TPP, the future of work and waffle, and whether John Key is brilliant or Labour just plain useless. In the 2014 Labour leadership race, Grant Robertson was a whisker – one percentage point – from victory. He was comfortably … Read more
Duncan Greive interviews David Dallas about his furious new single ‘Don’t Rate That’. David Dallas might have the most consistent trajectory in New Zealand hip hop. He’d established an instantly familiar style, and spent his last couple of albums polishing it, crafting huge hooks and eyeing up the America. It worked out pretty well by him: he got … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the issue or story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Four: The Big Issue for 2016. We asked our glittering academy to gaze into their crystal … Read more
On Sunday, Andrew Little will deliver his first speech as leader to the Labour Party conference. In the leadup, he’ll have been peppered with advice on what to say, what not to say, and how to say it. We at the Spinoff want to help, too, and invited a bunch of bright people to draft … Read more
On Sunday, Andrew Little will deliver his first speech as leader to the Labour Party conference. In the leadup, he’ll have been peppered with advice on what to say, what not to say, and how to say it. We at the Spinoff want to help, too, and invited a bunch of bright people to draft … Read more
Leftwing outsider Jeremy Corbyn has stormed to an emphatic victory in the British Labour leadership race. An all-star cast of politicians and commentators assess the impact for the Spinoff. Britain’s Labour Party has swung dramatically away from Blairism and elected veteran backbench leftwing MP Jeremy Corbyn its new leader, with an astonishing 59.5% of support in … Read more