Wednesday, 11 November 2015 12:51

Put him out to

Written by 

With the payout down and dry conditions looming, what's the last thing dairy farmers need now? An ageing political mouth with an overactive media secretary using the industry to try to make political capital.

Winston Peters' office issues a constant stream of drivel to the media these days, including a doom-and-gloom missive off the back of the GDT result last week, saying the sky was falling, and blaming the "gummint" but offering no solutions or ideas.

This is the man who opposes free trade deals, but then insists we should be free trading with Russia while Putin is complicit in the Syrian war and the Malaysian plane going down over Ukraine.

Ageing All Blacks are not the only ones who should be retiring.

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Dreams aren't plans

OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery finally roars to life.

If voters see some growth and wages rising faster than prices, the government could say they've "fixed" things as they ride into the next election.

Back here on Earth though, the economy they inherited is a basket case, and the long-term headwinds are fierce.

Political commentator Liam Hehir says, "dreams are not plans" and if the turnaround doesn't come in time, National may have no choice but to go negative.

"Everybody wants to fight on the economy if they can. But when neither side has a compelling story, the contest shifts to other issues. That's not new. In fact, it's the stuff of politics everywhere, always."


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