Helen Clark Archive

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  They must be dreaming - by frog

  
  
  
  08wire has a video that reckons Helen Clark and Jeanette Fitzsimons dream the same dream.  It’s a shame that Helen Clark doesn’t do much about it when she wakes up.  The video says that Labour is ‘against poverty, against waste, against pollution… against excess’. That’s certainly true of its rhetoric, but so far its actions [...] read more
  July 16, 2008 2:25 pm - 21 Comments
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  Sheltering from the ‘cold wind’ - by frog

  
  
  
  A tough ‘vexatious‘ winter ahead is the warning Vernon Small says Prime Minister Helen Clark will be giving her caucus today: Labour heads into an all-day caucus strategy meeting today facing a crisis in the polls. Miss Clark said she would say to her MPs “hard hats on” as the Government wrestled with issues out [...] read more
  July 8, 2008 8:37 am - 13 Comments
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  The Facebook campaign - by frog

  
  
  
  I’ve just been to have a look around Facebook this morning to see how the virtual campaign is going.  The NZ Politics application has the Greens in a close race (223 votes) leading National (219 votes) and Labour (215 votes).  Peter Dunne, who once referred to the Greens as luddites, and this month said we [...] read more
  June 16, 2008 8:58 am - 1 Comment
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  Books - by frog

  
  
  
  It looks Ian Wishart’s much wished for book suppression has finally happened, with posters advertising his Helen Clark biography being taken down in the bookstore right outside Bowen House.  The posters of a scowling Helen Clark right outside the doors where several senior Labour ministers enter their offices have been replaced with posters advertising Michael [...] read more
  June 10, 2008 8:25 am - 5 Comments
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  The PM’s Carbon emissions speech - by frog

  
  
  
  Right, I’m back from the Green Party conference.  (Oh, talking of which you should listen to Kiwi FM’s Wallace Chapman talking to Scoop’s Selwyn Manning on the Greens’ Conference over the weekend). Seems the one of the big news stories for the week will be World Environment Day.  The Prime Minister, gearing up for World [...] read more
  June 4, 2008 4:13 pm - 6 Comments
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  Apology to Vets is decades too late - by frog

  
  
  
  Helen Clark will formally apologise to our Viet Nam veterans today in the house. “The apology will recognise that Viet Nam veterans were not treated fairly on their return to New Zealand after the war”, Helen Clark said. “Those who served in Viet Nam, like other New Zealand soldiers before and after them, undertook their [...] read more
  May 28, 2008 8:57 am - 56 Comments
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  It’s not my fault - by frog

  
  
  
  The Prime Minister is in this morning’s Press telling Colin Espiner that the government’s woes are not its own doing: “It’s made a particularly tough challenge because you have an international economic slowdown, the fallout from the subprime crisis in the United States which has impacted on mortgage rates here without the Reserve Bank lifting [...] read more
  May 20, 2008 8:35 am - 6 Comments
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  Labour’s fairfax rout - by frog

  
  
  
  Today’s Fairfax Media poll brings the theory that Labour was turning its fortunes around into serious question. I enjoyed this quote from the Dominion Post: Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is in South Korea, could not be contacted for comment. I guess she hasn’t given it much thought , eh? The Greens are continuing along [...] read more
  May 17, 2008 7:31 am - 37 Comments
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  Science solves global warming - by frog

  
  
  
  Every once in while someone comes up with a nifty new idea that’s going to save us from facing up to global warming and solving it the old fashioned ‘hard work’ way.  Last week we had Helen Clark’s Emissions Trading Scheme that exempts most major polluters.  Previously some of you may remember proposals for giant [...] read more
  May 15, 2008 9:26 am - 4 Comments
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  The real cost of climate change - by frog

  
  
  
  Phew, it seems like everyone money to lose is joining the Prime Minister in her fleet-footed race from facing up to the costs of implementing the Emissions Trading Scheme. (I wonder where Rio Tinto got the impression it could bully the Prime Minister into backtracking on climate change legislation?) So what is the biggest cost associated [...] read more
  May 14, 2008 8:42 am - 7 Comments
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  Fed Farmers looking for a new Chief Executive - by frog

  
  
  
  Charlie Pederson is advertising in this morning’s Dom Post for a new Chief Executive at Federated Farmers.  I initially thought someone was ‘havin’ a laff’ when I saw that applications were to be submitted to Helen Clark at a 470 phone number (470 are often the first three numbers in a parliamentary precinct phone number). [...] read more
  May 7, 2008 1:24 pm - 5 Comments
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  Champion of the Earth - by frog

  
  
  
  Congratulations to Helen Clark on being named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations for the heroic manner in which she talks about sustainability and carbon neutrality. “We take pride in our green identity as a nation and we are determined to take action to protect it” In other news I understand John [...] read more
  April 23, 2008 2:42 pm - 21 Comments
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  Ladies - by frog

  
  
  
  I enjoyed Hillary Clinton’s attempt to make a joke about Helen Clark.  Presumably her comment was premeditated and her motive for even bothering to name Helen Clark was to highlight that other countries had female political leaders.  I guess at least that is one thing we in New Zealand don’t seem to need to contest [...] read more
  April 22, 2008 8:28 am - 18 Comments
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  Globalisation - by frog

  
  
  
  The Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association’s Alasdair Thompson thinks the government might be playing political games by opposing the sale of Auckland Airport: And it’s a dishonest ploy at that, because we know the Government supports globalisation, foreign direct investment (FDI) both into and out of New Zealand, free trade and free capital flows too. [...] read more
  April 15, 2008 10:41 am - No Comments
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  It’s a matter of doing, not of believing - by frog

  
  
  
  Labour’s attacks on John Key and various National MPs for not believing in climate change are interesting, but ultimately a bit of a sideshow. It doesn’t matter whether Cullen and his team believe in climate change or not if their actions are not doing anything to address the problem. Believing is a relatively easy step [...] read more
  April 2, 2008 2:48 pm - 79 Comments
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  Bush leads fight against climate change, Clark following fast - by frog

  
  
  
  President Bush proclaimed yesterday that the U.S. is “in the lead” in the fight against climate change. Now, look, I understand stereotypes are hard to defeat. People get an image planted in their head, and sometimes it causes them not to listen to the facts. But America is in the lead when it comes to [...] read more
  March 6, 2008 10:09 pm - 29 Comments
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  Saving the whales - by frog

  
  
  
  Just before she received the 6000 person petition yesterday from anti whaling boatie, David Taylor, Metiria also received this email in support of the anti-whaling campaign. Hello, My name is Aniston I am 7 yrs old and I live in New Zealand. I LOVE all Whales and want to help protect tham. I arranqed a [...] read more
  March 5, 2008 9:08 am - 2 Comments
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  China FTA still unseen but ready to sign - by frog

  
  
  
  The media is reporting that New Zealand and China will be ready to sign a free trade agreement in April. It seems the Prime Minister and Trade Minister Phil Goff have already booked their tickets to Beijing and packed their ceremonial pens. There is one particularly interesting quote from the Newsroom story [offline]: She [the [...] read more
  February 26, 2008 8:23 am - 9 Comments
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  ‘Good enough’ on climate change - by frog

  
  
  
  The Nation has a challenging story on the way John McCain is being framed as ‘good enough’ on the issue of climate change.  In answer to the question will he be the climate champion America so desperately needs: This is a classic case of what our president calls the soft bigotry of low expectations. Judged [...] read more
  February 13, 2008 9:53 am - 80 Comments
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  Russel’s response to Helen Clark - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s Russel again, this time responding to the Prime Minister’s speech this morning. And Frog’s got a few questions for the Prime Minister: If the problem is the poverty caused by the 1991 Mother of All Budget cuts, why is the solution keeping young people in schools (or other forms of education) and a $9 [...] read more
  January 30, 2008 2:53 pm - 17 Comments