Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Security footage of a burglary?
Authorities have released an image from security camera footage of one of the [alleged] perpetrators of an electoral ‘dirty-deal’ sealed in Auckland yesterday. Anyone with knowledge of the incident, carried out in front of about 40 journalists* and cameramen, should um … well, they should, er … gee … well, what can they do? * [...]
Being the medium
Sorry, I’ve been a bit busy to post. Over the weekend, on Saturday I covered the Mana Party campaign launch at Otara — an upbeat, good-humoured event which spouted talk of revolution and smashing/overthrowing the system. Invigorating rap songs and anthems bookended passionate speeches from this country’s radical literati — living treasures of the left-wing [...]
Just the sort of endorsement a political journalist doesn’t need
Cameron Slater already knows I think he’s a blinkered, partisan, irrationally aggressive National Party mouthpiece/toady/apologist/rottweiler. He knows because I told him. I guess it’s possible he may also have a bad side?* But it intrigued me this morning to see Cameron’s (cough) selective re-tweets of a couple of political journos’ “reviews” of the Goff/Key press.co.nz [...]
Winston Peters – comeback kid? Again?
I said this about Winston Peters in A voice in the wilderness? Or reclaiming the Grey Power mantle? in April: This man has come back from the dead before. (Just sayin’.) Don’t underestimate his political instincts and populism. Since then, Peters has continued to cause a ‘disturbance in the Force’ and ruffled a few feathers [...]
Getting a narrative going
Sometimes, especially in an election campaign, the political reporter’s role is to stand out of the way and let the protagonists slug it out. Really, all we need do in some circumstances is let them say what it is they’ve prepared, report it accurately, and let the public decide. Like most people, I’ve never seen [...]
Green Gorilla: What? No authorisation statement?
OMG, don’t let Cameron Slater see this! After last week’s brain fart he might blow a gasket. I don’t know exactly which Green Party candidate it’s promoting — who is the ‘Green Gorilla’? Does anyone know? Russel Norman? Bu-bu-but I couldn’t see an authorisation statement anywhere! Gee, they’re cunning, those Greens. Very cunning … – [...]
Dodgem or dipstick? The miraculous rehabilitation of Chris Trotter from scheming Labour flunky to honourable lefty
David Lange once described Mike Moore as not so much having a train of thought but ‘Dodgems of thought‘. In a way it was a compliment, because Moore was unquestionably an ideas man — he generated lots of ideas. Ideas spilling over each other. The trouble was, as someone who I can’t remember said, that [...]
Putting fuel on the fire
Enough with the sheep jokes, already! As a Kiwi with Australian friends, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to be a good sport over so-called ‘jokes’ about New Zealanders and sheep. (Example: “Q: How do NZ’ers practice safe sex? A: They paint an ‘X’ on the back of sheep that bite.”) Especially when I’m visiting the [...]
Drunken yobos spit in MP’s face, then skite to their mates like idiot schoolboys
Just yesterday I said “As I see it, [Trevor] Mallard cops flak from haters and nutters simply for being part of Labour’s online presence…” Here’s a case in point, from last night — via Cameron Slater and Twitter. How it looks to me: A pair of adolescent drunken yobos (Clint Heine and anonymous ‘inventory2‘) hassling a [...]
A character reference for Trevor Mallard that I find more plausible
Long-serving Labour MP Trevor Mallard cops a fair bit of hateful abuse from the attack dogs in the NZ political blogosphere. He’s routinely denigrated and slandered by people with an obvious axe to grind — partisan political activists. You know the type. As a point man in the Labour Party he’s obviously a target for [...]
