Below are some of the top tweets on tonight’s TVNZ leaders’ debate between John Key and David Cunliffe. In roughly reverse chronological order. (To be updated) Good point from Gordon Campbell: "hard to imagine David Shearer carrying Labour’s banner in that debate last night" http://t.co/Dxg9wpGxfp — Mr Howell (@jeffieh) August 29,...
On Sunday 17 August, the Herald on Sunday published a “Top 100” list of Twitter accounts to follow for the 2014 New Zealand General Election. The list was curated by myself and Bryce Edwards. Here is the reaction from Twitter to the list. Top100 tweeters to follow this election. “Dotcom’s...
In my previous post, I looked at why Simon Lusk is such an important figure in Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics. His strategy to change National from within represents the end which justifies the means – the questionable tactics which have been covered extensively by New Zealand media since the...
Largely lost in the discussion of Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics is a key figure – Simon Lusk. Simon Lusk has his own chapter in the book– Chapter 5, “Simon Lusk’s Plan”. He also features heavily in Chapter 6 – “El Rushbo of Aotearoa”. In this chapter, the role of Lusk...
On Monday, Martyn Bradbury posted “3 guesses about Nicky Hager’s new book” on The Daily Blog. The post is so short that it’s worth quoting in full: 3 guesses about Nicky Hager’s new book Nicky is about to inject some critical analysis into politics with the launch this Wednesday of...
#81959809 / gettyimages.com In New Zealand, this week has seen some discussion about Mike Hosking hosting leaders’ debates on state-owned, but independent and commercially-driven broadcaster TVNZ. It has been reported that Labour leader David Cunliffe is considering boycotting them because of Mike Hosking’s alleged leanings towards National, the main centre-right...
This post was originally published at Liberation. The majority view seems to be that David Cunliffe’s apology on Friday for ‘being a man’ was a mistake. But a contrary view could be that the apology was a very deliberate and calculated risk. Here are three reasons why Cunliffe’s apology might have been a...
UPDATED 28 August 2017: I’ve updated both the Twitter list and this post in time for the 2017 New Zealand General Election In 2012, I began to curate a Twitter list related to New Zealand politics. I would have used someone else’s, but couldn’t find a truly comprehensive list for what...
This post was originally published at Liberation. In my first post, I looked at why the Internet Party might be successful. Here, I look at why it might not be. 1. Ideology In the last post, I concluded by looking at the Internet Party’s chances of taking the mantle of a populist party....
This post was originally published at Liberation. The Internet Party has a funder, a leader and now a shortlist of 22 enthusiastic prospective candidates who are seeking a place on the party’s inaugural list. But how likely is the party to succeed? In the following two posts, I look at three reasons...