You don’t hear much of Helengrad these days. Instead, the sniggers are likely to be about The Don. The Soviet allusion has given way to the Sicilian: get in line or you’re topped.
Katherine Rich did not just lose her portfolio. She plunged in rank. Don Brash was exacting retribution.
In her early years in government Helen Clark micro-managed. Very few ministers had cabinet experience and she said they needed guidance if the government was to function well.
Colin James’s speech to the Sydney Institute, 3 February 2005
If you say the title of this talk quickly it will resonate with many Australians. Much of the commentary in Australia about New Zealand — apart from an obsession with trivia and curiosities — is about the military and seems to presume New Zealanders are freeloaders or pacifists or both.
This year is the halfway point in the 2000s decade. It is also a decider in the contest between the two big parties to be lead party for the next while.
National was the lead party in the 50 years to 1999. Though towards the end its grip was shaky, the odds in 2000 were it would reassert its grip. But Helen Clark’s Labour party has stolen a march.
Election buffs are eagerly watching the Maori party. Why? Because it might just give us overhang seats in Parliament.
Let’s say the Maori party gets 2 per cent of the party vote and wins all seven Maori electorate seats. The 2 per cent entitles it to three seats but under MMP rules it keeps all seven and the size of the Parliament goes up by four to 124.
Right, holidays are over, or nearly. Time to sober up. There are some things to be sober about.
I mean the economy. Specifically, I mean our spendthriftness and our belief that our personal finances are as safe as houses.
This belief has fuelled an impressive consumer boom. But who is really paying for the boom and what does that mean for the future?
Who won most in Helen Clark’s Christmas reshuffle? Bill English. Both education ministers were moved.
Not bad for the has-been, two scalps. Tony Ryall, for all his high-octane attacks on Phil Goff and George Hawkins, got neither’s. That may explain Don Brash’s failure to get a rise out of law and order last July.
Should we have had a referendum on the Civil Union Bill? There are three relevant answers: yes, that’s democracy; no, it’s not the way to protect civil rights; it depends�
That question and those answers illustrate something bigger: we are starting to question and discuss our constitution. A small but significant step will be taken this year.
Don’t be surprised if this year American warriors kill more Iraqis than Al Qaeda killed Americans in its attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11).
Add to that the larger numbers of Iraqis who will be killed by other Iraqis in this man-made tsunami. In the past two years between 15,000 and 100,000 innocent Iraqi citizens, depending who is doing the counting, have been sacrificed to the ideal of freedom or the ideal of (im)pure religion.
Colin James on the legislative agenda for the Business Herald for 31 December 2004 Second of two
Workplace productivity is the key phrase on one side, tax cuts and deregulation on the other. The 2005 election battle lines on policy for business are drawn.
They represent different beliefs about the path to prosperity. They promise different operating environments for business.
Colin James on the political year ahead for the Business Herald 30 December 2004 First of two
All election years are crunch years because they decide the next three years’ policy direction. But this year’s election may decide a bigger question: whether if re-elected, Labour can then embed its policy parameters so that for some time ahead future governments have less room for manoeuvre.