Some lawyer she must have been. Of course, she doesn't list a source where Jacinda has categorically said this, I note.

They just go from blunder to another

I honestly don't know a single member that I would even consider capable. 

Fred99: Making up stories (aka telling lies) to try to gain support for your extreme view is the problem, Collins backing the MP's "right" to hold extremist views is a smokescreen - it avoided addressing the real issue - that Hipango is a loose cannon, her comments about full term abortion are blatant deliberate hateful lies.

You only have to glance at National's election postmortem report to see how they bled out.

Like a thousand pages on the board's structure. Then the impression given from throwing in a tiny paragraph referencing members: "Members are important. Whatever. @#$% you, give us some money."

Add another whole tiny paragraph on marketing "we need to boost our presence in digital". No details because they're like a deer in headlights with that.

Every time National have portrayed a phony personality or attack ad online its been a total cluster & received the worst metrics possible. Its pretty clear they didn't want to pay for creative direction, only production of their own stupid, horrible ideas lol. So seeing them "boost their presence" with what looks to be the same attitude towards messaging will be pretty funny... or cringe depending on how you look at it.

Apparently they're in worse shape than they were when Muller took over a year ago.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/nationals-two-year-ticking-time-bomb

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-does-nationals-turmoil-mean-the-party-is-terminal/3AR66SLRI4MCO6GH7FDF3TBE3M/

Bryce Edwards does a good roundup of the whole week's developments here.

Looks more and more like Act is the new National.

JaseNZ:

 

Looks more and more like Act is the new National.

 

I don't think so.

ACT's rise and fall coincides inversely with National's fortune, during the Key years their polling slumped - as it'll do again when National's polling puts them in a position where currently disenchanted voters think National has a chance.

IMO a stereotypical National Party voter tends to be socially conservative, more likely to be religious / church-going.  While they might like the memes suggesting that Labour is all about "cancel culture" and "communist revolutionaries", they're not going to buy in to most of ACT's extreme free-market ideology, nor social liberalism taken to ideological extremes.  If ACT called the shots, you'd be legally able to marry your cat, shoot anybody who tried to stop you, the roads would be clogged with Dodge Rams, there'd be a huge casino in Milford Sound, and a $20 fee to take a dump in any public toilet.

Tell me more about marrying your cat.

Tell me more about being able to shoot anybody.

Rikkitic:

 

Tell me more about marrying your cat.

 

Sure.  If Seymour can get the legislation passed and the cat's okay with it, you're even welcome to hold the ceremony in my temple.

Only half kidding, one of Seymour's predecessors came up with the gem that you should be able to marry a sibling / consensual incest should be legalised.

Fred99:

 

Sure.  If Seymour can get the legislation passed and the cat's okay with it, you're even welcome to hold the ceremony in my temple.

 

Only half kidding, one of Seymour's predecessors came up with the gem that you should be able to marry a sibling / consensual incest should be legalised.

 

🤢🤮

Rudy Giuliani - Very Bad Week

🤣

EDIT: better add to this to keep it on topic I guess lol. Setting aside the bizarre nature of that proposed law, its kinda more disturbing that they would want to create laws mainly centered on their own personal life... the term abuse of power springs to mind.

A second cousin hardly strikes me as a big deal. Children and the vulnerable should be protected. Inbreeding should be prohibited. Apart from that, people should be free to do anything they like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. There is an element of moral panic about this.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300345221/national-party-is-selfdestructing-former-minister-says

There's something delightful about Finlayson being so blunt and 100% correct at the same time.

The number of Young Nats I know who left the party and don't vote for it anymore are staggering.

National has to offer something to people who aren't property investors or business owners. At the moment it can't even do that. 

GV27:

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300345221/national-party-is-selfdestructing-former-minister-says

 

There's something delightful about Finlayson being so blunt and 100% correct at the same time.

 

The number of Young Nats I know who left the party and don't vote for it anymore are staggering.

 

National has to offer something to people who aren't property investors or business owners. At the moment it can't even do that. 

 

It should not be hard to be centre-right conservative. But sitting on hands and crowing about the obvious surplus, being anti climate change and anti housing crisis and anti pandemic are a real problem when these topics are front and centre every day. In todays world and especially a teeny country, you can't just say we have a market driven economy and leave it at that. It shouldnt be left vs right. progressive vs conservative it should be progressive vs conservatively progressive. To run this place you need to be doing stuff, changing stuff, fixing stuff, it doesnt fix itself. Both parties need to be attending to all the issues we have, its fine if one is more liberal than the other. But its not fine if one does nothing as we are market driven. We have no clout so the market drives us, that doesn't always work so it needs to be managed. Provide relevant alternatives to solving the same problems, don't just disagree by default