A Career Change

Some of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware I am pursuing a change of career. In short, I have just left my old comfortable legal job in a largish firm. I didn’t tell my colleagues the truth about what I am planning to do, because I didn’t want to be the target of…

Elusive Lusk Has Troubling History

Mystery continues to surround a key figure in the ACC email leak scandal. Political operative Simon Lusk has been linked by Opposition MPs to the leaking of information about ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar. Labour MP Trevor Mallard first raised Lusk’s name in connection to the leaking of an email from Pullar to Judith Collins, but…

Police To Investigate Taping During Press Conference

Police have launched an investigation into alleged covert journalist recordings, following an incident at a press conference yesterday. They confirmed late last night that a complaint had been received alleging covert taping by members of the press. The complainant, Police Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess, has alleged he was taped while speaking at a press conference…

A Plan For Shearer And Labour

The media is awash with articles and commentary on what Labour leader David Shearer should do next. Other bloggers and commentators have been quick to express their views on how the Labour leader needs to behave, and which direction he needs to take the party in. Commentators seem obsessed with the notion that Shearer must anchor…

The Roman Discovery Of New Zealand

There’s an article in the news today claiming that the ancient Greeks and Egyptians came to New Zealand. It is garbage, of course. The idea that these ancient peoples could have made it so far on their flimsy boats is preposterous. There is no evidence that they ever landed in New Zealand. The Romans, on the…

The ACC Scandal: Live Updates

The demise of Nick Smith has been spectacular, but it is not an end to the ACC privacy story, and the story continues to develop by the hour. I will keep a live update here as developments come in. Stay tuned. 7:08am:  An emergency meeting of political journalists will be held at 8:00am this morning…

Shearer’s Move To The Far Right

A number of commentators have suggested that Labour leader David Shearer’s speech last week is evidence of a move by Labour to the right. At first I was not convinced with any of the arguments, and I dismissed them as baseless speculation. It seemed to me that what few policy hints Shearer gave out rooted…

Shuffling The Deck

John Key’s plan to transform the economy by reorganising a few government departments into one super-bureaucracy leaves me imagining a street magician offering card tricks to a gathering crowd of onlookers. “Watch as I dazzle you with my amazing tricks!” he says, shuffling the deck. Two hours later he’s still shuffling the cards, the crowds…

New Zealand’s Next Top Mandela

Comparisons to Nelson Mandela seem to be the rage this week. In the last couple of days the African statesman has found himself being compared with Tame Iti and the late Jock Hobbs. I am picking that this trend towards Mandela-isation will continue. Who wouldn’t want to be likened to the great man? So who…