Chris Trotter
Writer and Contributor at Stuff.co.nz
Columnist and Commentator at Freelance
Blogger at Bowalley Road
Contributor at The Daily Blog
Chris Trotter is a weekly political columnist and commentator. On occasion he's also been known to sing.
Articles
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4 days ago |
interest.co.nz | Chris Trotter |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
By Chris Trotter*What has happened to the National Party? It’s once impressive ability to organise the diverse interests of its electoral base into a coherent policy agenda appears to have almost entirely disappeared. In its place stands a political project driven by a disconcerting combination of personal ambition and professional lobbying: part bucket-list, part wish-list, part to-do-list.
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2 weeks ago |
interest.co.nz | Chris Trotter |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
By Chris Trotter*The 'tyranny of the majority' isn’t good, but it’s a whole lot better than being tyrannised by a minority. As a young varsity student I marched in the streets against a regime in which 3 million whites tyrannised 25 million blacks. A few years later, I recall veteran trade union organisers telling me, a new recruit to the cause, that anyone who called a strike on the basis of a 51/49 percent vote was an idiot.
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2 weeks ago |
interest.co.nz | Chris Trotter |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
By Chris Trotter*“Your mission, Mr Hipkins, should you choose to accept it, is to lead Labour to victory in 2026.” Except, as always, the drama of a Mission Impossible movie lies not in the what, but in the how. Of course Chris Hipkins is willing to lead Labour to a win. The real question is whether or not he is prepared to do what it takes to make the election of a stable and credible centre-left government something more than an impossible mission. What will it take?
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3 weeks ago |
interest.co.nz | Chris Trotter |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
By Chris Trotter*The perennial problem with budgets is the political noise that accompanies them. The Government of the day devotes tremendous energy to massaging public expectations. The news media struggles to present itself simultaneously as soothsayer, expert, and advocate. Interest groups attempt to insert themselves into the increasingly cacophonous budget conversation. Meanwhile, the citizens on the receiving end of all this noise grow increasingly frustrated and bewildered.
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1 month ago |
interest.co.nz | Chris Trotter |Gareth Vaughan |David Hargreaves
By Chris Trotter*The Labour Party has a problem with ‘c’ words, not the least of which is ‘consistency’. It’s not a small problem: not when maintaining a consistent stance of matters economic, cultural and political is such a crucial aspect of rebuilding the electorate’s trust. Certainly, inconsistency raises questions of judgement and competence. A political party caught speaking out of both sides on its mouth on key issues will soon find itself in trouble – big trouble.
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New Zealand media are describing the declaration of a national emergency as only the third in our history. Actually it's the fourth. PM Sid Holland declared a state of emergency in 1951 under the Public Safety Conservation Act to crush the Watersiders Union.
Scott Hamilton clearly hasn't read my condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine posted at https://t.co/6ShFmnf7L8 on Monday. An apology is due, I think. Here's the link. https://t.co/ie8jX4xAUl
A better New Zealand becomes possible only when its citizens muster sufficient democratic force to guarantee themselves a fair hearing. https://t.co/rSpdHlDNob https://t.co/SGj53gAdzG