If National wins ...

[craic]

Daytr, Hitler was a leftie. Your particular bias is a very British anti American form - it was common even when I was in the British Army all those decades ago. It has little to do with politics and more to do with the success of a nation that biffed the British years ago. I am happy to see the world in black and white and get on with the business of deciding which side I am on. I am a successful man in that I started with nothing and my children and grandchildren are all successful and today I can sit on the grass under a tree at a winery and drink wine and listen to music and wonder how my horses are doing at Tauranga. My family includes English, Irish, American, Canadian and Russians, not forgetting New Zealanders.

[Major von Tempsky]

Actually, Emmerson has skewered John Key repeatedly and accurately, so he's probably making the point that some rugby players, who are not normally political animals, are concerned that the TPPA is not in NZ's best interests. Has it occurred to you, MVT, that many of our political cartoonists, like Murdoch, are usually mocking the National Govt?

EZ, has it occurred to you that in a democracy, most cartoonists spend most of their time lampooning the government. If Labour was in, Murdoch et al would be mocking the Labour Government.
Cartoonists are good for a laugh.

[westerly]

Daytr, Hitler was a leftie. Your particular bias is a very British anti American form - it was common even when I was in the British Army all those decades ago. It has little to do with politics and more to do with the success of a nation that biffed the British years ago. I am happy to see the world in black and white and get on with the business of deciding which side I am on. I am a successful man in that I started with nothing and my children and grandchildren are all successful and today I can sit on the grass under a tree at a winery and drink wine and listen to music and wonder how my horses are doing at Tauranga. My family includes English, Irish, American, Canadian and Russians, not forgetting New Zealanders.

Craic, you seem to have made up which side you are on. How ever Hitler was not a lefty -he was a dictator who despised marxism. The US has supported many dictators in it's war on communism over the years. You confuse dictators with the left. Dictators seem to be more right than left because the general population suffer whereas an elite prosper to keep the Dictator in power.
Most of the US excursions into the affairs of other countries seem to be more about their business interests.
I do not see things in black and white they never are. The fact I am annoyed at the media's adoption of
US words like rookie and cookie does not mean I hate the US. I wonder about the Irish though

westerly

[elZorro]

EZ, has it occurred to you that in a democracy, most cartoonists spend most of their time lampooning the government. If Labour was in, Murdoch et al would be mocking the Labour Government.
Cartoonists are good for a laugh.

MVT, if you care to take the time to look over many previous cartoons from Murdoch and Emmerson et al, you'll see they overwhelmingly lampoon the National Govt. And why? - because to a thinking person they make a very easy target. National is staying in power with money, smoke and mirrors, but it's the money that pays for the smoke and mirrors.

Please give me a list of all their good (for most of NZ) policy steps since 2008, it'll be a short list.

[777]

Please give me a list of all their good (for most of NZ) policy steps since 2008, it'll be a short list.

They got rid of Labour. What more do you want.

[fungus pudding]

They got rid of Labour. What more do you want.

You must understand 777 that you are dealing with an individual who spends every waking moment (and probably also in his/her nightmares) concerned about National and John Key and their advertising agency. Not content to worry himself/herself to death eZ spends a considerable amount of time on this forum trying to convince others that we're on a treacherous road to destruction unless Labour takes over the reins. He/she overlooks the fact that we are one of the most successful countries and economies in the world. And also overlooks the fact that our P.M. is the most popular leader NZ has ever had, while trying to convince us that Goff, Shearer, and Cunliffe had, and now the current temporary leader, Little, in combination with the Greens, have the answers.

[elZorro]

You must understand 777 that you are dealing with an individual who spends every waking moment (and probably also in his/her nightmares) concerned about National and John Key and their advertising agency. Not content to worry himself/herself to death eZ spends a considerable amount of time on this forum trying to convince others that we're on a treacherous road to destruction unless Labour takes over the reins. He/she overlooks the fact that we are one of the most successful countries and economies in the world. And also overlooks the fact that our P.M. is the most popular leader NZ has ever had, while trying to convince us that Goff, Shearer, and Cunliffe had, and now the current temporary leader, Little, in combination with the Greens, have the answers.

Correct in most aspects, FP. Looking forward to more political arguments in 2016. I was talking to a small but long-established retailer today, he's selling off stock and downsizing to a smaller part of the same shop. He reckoned the building owner would have to find another way to fund his retirement. Retailing is tough, slim margins. National haven't helped SMEs much, but even this guy thought National was the lesser of two evils. He was alert enough to say that National used smoke and mirrors, hence my comment.

You were having a go at Andrew Little. At least Labour will be able to use his face in the 2017 campaign. If John Key's image goes up on the National hoardings, myself and hundreds of others will be adding hammers, pointy noses and ponytails to them. Fair warning.

[craic]

I love it! Spent the day soaking up wine and music in the shade of a walnut tree at a local winery while my horses took it easy on the track and didn't bother too much about winning. Switched on my email to find a message from my brokers. My shares, which were on the block, went up, yesterday, 9cps to my sell price and sold and paid for all my other excesses, several times over. The real profit comes next week when they bottom out and I buy them back. An text from a friend, just as we opening another bottle of Merlot under the tree to say that her cruise ship was just steaming up the coast past Hawkes Bay, en- rout to Tauranga. And all the left can do is plan to deface election posters.

[fungus pudding]

Correct in most aspects, FP. Looking forward to more political arguments in 2016. I was talking to a small but long-established retailer today, he's selling off stock and downsizing to a smaller part of the same shop. He reckoned the building owner would have to find another way to fund his retirement. Retailing is tough, slim margins. National haven't helped SMEs much, but even this guy thought National was the lesser of two evils. He was alert enough to say that National used smoke and mirrors, hence my comment.

You were having a go at Andrew Little. At least Labour will be able to use his face in the 2017 campaign. If John Key's image goes up on the National hoardings, myself and hundreds of others will be adding hammers, pointy noses and ponytails to them. Fair warning.

Back to normal -grammar a bit astray in that 2cnd last sentence eZ.

[elZorro]

Back to normal -grammar a bit astray in that 2cnd last sentence eZ.

Me, myself and I, FP? I assume the latter would have been more correct. I will try to do better. You didn't correct the right-wing Craic, who is not sure how to spell en route.

Craic, you're in the top percentile of people in NZ as far as wealth goes, by the sound of it. Does that mean you can stay smug and self-assured while the many working poor and unemployed are at the mercy of National government policies? For them, this is not an amusement.

These are the people, who when asked about their voting preferences, state "Not National". Luckily for National, their votes are often not exercised, or they are split amongst many other left-wing parties which don't link up carefully enough. Maybe Labour will sort that out this time around.