Martyn Bradbury

Paula Henry and his right wing panel were shocked this morning on the Paul Henry Morning Insult Show because the ‘flying squads’ sent in by Paula and John Key to offer ‘help’ to the homeless living in cars were rejected.

The launch was a clumsy flop, but the strategy behind using MMP to beat the National Party in 2017 is actually not only possible but likely.

…we need NZ solutions, a Kiwi Socialism, if we want to insulate ourselves to the massive global downturn we are facing. The problem is that no political party in NZ is even close to articulating the radical reforms we need to reverse the damage neoliberalism has created.

You actually can’t write satire better than this. He’s offering the homeless to leave Auckland for $5000 and offering the poor in the provinces $3000 to move to Auckland but he wouldn’t shoot a gorilla.

Our sensible sentencing lynch mob mentality fuelled by get tough on crime politicians and lazy news journalism that uses crime to pump ratings is so overwhelming that the idea Prisons are costing us a billion per year gets eclipsed by the idea Guards are being bribed to give Prisoners ciggies

The issue with the Labour Green announcement was the lack of sizzle, or for that matter sausage. The line being floated that it won’t ultimately work because NZers some how can’t understand it however is a bit silly and desperate.

This announcement has been surprisingly clumsy. Why the hell didn’t they agree on a basic policy platform and which electorates they would and wouldn’t stand in against each other? Those two things could now be the focus of media attention rather than the fact that their Memorandum of Understanding – the most colourless and visionless name ever – is as hollow as National’s Housing Policy.

The Greens and Labour need to look like a confident functioning Government in waiting, that’s the point of this, but it all seems a bit clumsy and rushed.

Once the social media campaign begins to link the TPPA to the warship visit, a showdown will be set and the Government’s only hope is that the legislation is voted in early and the sense of fury amongst the protest movement dissipates.