A Cautionary Tale From Canada
With Winston exhaling anger, and Metiria Turei breathing hope, Andrew Little and Labour need to offer the New Zealand electorate something more than a deflated ideological balloon.
Chris Trotter
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The Bright Sunlit Uplands of Radicalism: Metiria Turei and the Greens set the 2017 Election on fire
METIRIA TUREI has rescued the 2017 General Election from the timidity and moral squalor into which it was fast descending. In a speech that brought tears to her listeners’ eyes and cheers to their throats, the Greens’ co-leader carried her party out of the shadows of moderation and into the bright sunlit uplands of radicalism that have always been its natural habitat.
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The Boxer
At this point in the electoral cycle, Bill English should be staggering across the ring like a bloodied, punch-drunk boxer desperate for the salvation of the fight’s final bell. Instead he’s still up on his toes and trading punches with an opposition that seems incapable of laying a single glove on his up-tilted prime-ministerial chin.
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Is Barry Coates Serious? Are the Greens really willing to trigger a second election before Christmas?
HOW SERIOUSLY should New Zealanders take the words of Green MP Barry Coates? In a recent post to The Daily Blog he said: “The memorandum of understanding with Labour is the foundation for building the next government. However, if we were not part of the coalition, we would not accept a Labour-New Zealand First government and certainly not a National-New Zealand First government. Neither will be acceptable to the Greens.”
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Neither Principled, Nor Pragmatic. What’s Eating The Greens?
In light of the Greens’ recent ideological contortions on the subject of immigration, it is possible to interpret Metiria’s attack on NZ First as being driven by internal – not external – considerations. It is possible that the immigration issue has become a symbol of the increasingly bitter divisions that have opened up between idealists and pragmatists within the Green Party. If so, then NZ First has been made the whipping-boy for offences much closer to home.
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A Tale For The Times
WHY IS “THE HANDMAID’S TALE” so bloody scary? The movie was bad enough, but the television series is so chilling I find it hard to watch. And what, exactly, is the raw nerve which the story is touching this (it’s third) time around?
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Morbid Symptoms: Neoliberalism’s Room for Manoeuvre Keeps Shrinking
TWO BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS TODAY. The first came from the New Zealand Initiative and purported to be about improving our education system. The second came from the Supreme Court of New Zealand and had the effect of stopping the Ruataniwha Dam in its tracks. On the face of it these two announcements have nothing whatsoever in common. What links them, however, is the way in which both demonstrate how dramatically Kiwi neoliberalism’s room for manoeuvre has shrunk.
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Revolution or Resignation? Responding to the “Rigged Game” of NZ Politics
OKAY, so the game is rigged. Well spotted. Now, what should be done about it? That’s the $64,000 question. Because understanding that one lives inside a corrupt system does not automatically lead to political action. Indeed, it’s as likely to lead to resignation and despair as it is to anger and revolt.
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Letter from London 2 – Chris Trotter blogging election from UK
The Tory base may be larger than Labour’s, but its vision of Britain’s future is limited, backward-looking and profoundly hostile to all claims of social solidarity and progress. By contrast, the Corbyn-led Labour Party’s radical manifesto, and its direct campaigning style, has drawn tens-of-thousands of young and formerly disillusioned voters into the thrilling business of pursuing political, economic and social change.
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Letter From London – Chris Trotter blogging from UK election
Seeing London, it is easier to understand why the United Kingdom finds it so hard to let go of the expectations of greatness. The idea that Britain still counts – still has a role to play – must be hard to give up when its leaders drive to and from their offices in what feels like the world’s most elaborate movie set.