Winnie flame grills another whopper

Suspended on a high wire, with a 100ft drop below, shaky legs, carrying Rodney Hide on his back, Helen Clark throwing the Baubles of office at him and with John Key tickling him with a feather, Winston Peters is still able to leap to bizarre conclusions and balance all credibility on a gnats pubic hair.

Peters is now cooking up a curious story about a conversation he had(with who Winnie?) that seemed to date back to November 2005 in which Peters contends will redeem him when he fronts the Privileges Committee again next week.

Winnie has a few more days to flesh out his story, but the deeper he reaches down in his cave of obfuscation and bluster the more confused we all get and meanwhile Winnie gets lost in the emptiness of his own little wonderland.

He did his best to halt further allegations against him from the aforementioned Hide(no yellow jacket this time folks-very appropriate because his colour was anything BUT yellow) in Parliament yesterday, making Hide's five minute members speech an hour long.

Usually Peters is able to make his own speeches seem this long by simply speaking the regulatory five minutes.

Pass the banana please, Im feeling a republic coming on.

Peters in Parliament yesterday - VIDEO

c Political Animal 2008

NZ Herald Digipoll: 28 August 2008

The gap is closing between the two main players and the mother of the nation, Aunty Helen ,will be rubbing her bony hands together with socialistic glee.

Oh the humanity!



4:00AM Thursday August 28, 2008 By Paula Oliver

National leads Labour in every age group and every income band in the August Herald-DigiPoll survey, but its dominance is reducing among middle-aged people and higher-income earners.
With National still polling 50 per cent overall, it enjoys good support across the board.

However, since the July DigiPoll survey, which gave National a 24.6 percentage point lead - dramatically reduced to 13.7 points in this month's poll - John Key's party has suffered a loss of support in areas it might normally think might be skewed in its favour.

Although the numbers of people in each age bracket are small and therefore the analysis of the figures is indicative only, National has notably lost support in the 30-39, 50-59, and 60-69 age groups since July while Labour has picked it up.

Continued

Related Polls


NZ Herald Digipoll: 29 July 2008
NZ Herald Digipoll: 28 June 2008

c Political Animal 2008

NATIONAL PARTY : Peters unacceptable in a National-led Government

National Party Leader John Key says Winston Peters would be unacceptable as a Minister in a government led by him unless Mr Peters can provide a credible explanation on the Owen Glenn saga.

"Labour Party donor Owen Glenn's letter to the Privileges Committee completely contradicts Winston Peters' version of events about the substantial $100,000 donation made by Mr Glenn to Mr Peters' legal costs.

"Mr Glenn's letter represents a direct challenge to Mr Peters' credibility, from the only other person in the world in a position to know the facts.

"From Parliament's point of view, the Privileges Committee provides an appropriate vehicle to resolve the points of conflict and to hold individuals to account. But from the Prime Minister's and the Government's point of view, that is not enough.

"Governments and Ministers must enjoy the confidence of the Parliament and, ultimately, the public. Faced with today's revelations, it is no longer acceptable for Mr Peters to offer bluster and insults where simple, courteous, honest answers are required.

"It is no longer acceptable or credible for Helen Clark to assert a facade of confidence in her Foreign Affairs Minister and to fail to ask the plain questions of him that she has a duty to the public to ask.

"Faced with today's revelations, Helen Clark must stand Mr Peters down as a Minister. That is what I would do if I were Prime Minister. Helen Clark has stood Ministers from Labour down for much less.

"Unless he can provide a credible explanation about this serious issue, he should be unacceptable to Helen Clark as a Minister in her Labour-led Government.

"Mr Peters will be unacceptable as a Minister in a government led by me unless he can provide a credible explanation."

Foodstuffs take their foot off the gas

Foodstuffs Ltd, one of the two players locked neck for neck in a court bid over the last year against the Commerce Commission to allow them to make a bid for The Warehouse [WHS.NZ] say they will now drop their own appeal in the Supreme Court and leave it up to Woolworths Australia [WOW:ASX] the other player, to argue the case in the court.

Foodstuffs managing director Tony Carter has been reported as saying that Woolworths would argue a similar case, and saw no point in their joining, as they did in the Court of Appeal case that the Commerce Commission took, against a decision made in the prospective buyers favour in the High Court.

Having come this far, arguing cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal, I find it curious that Carter and Foodstuffs would now stand aside.

It just isn't in Carter's style to do the "softly, softly" approach. His company fought tooth and nail against Progressive-the former owner of part of the present Woolworths Group in New Zealand-buying the Woolworths brand to add to their Foodtown and Countdown brands a few years back.

It looks to me that Carter can see the possibility of Foodstuffs buying The Warehouse to be moving further and further away from its grasp.

"We will await with interest the outcome of the Woolworths appeal and, as we have consistently said, we would not rule anything in or anything out going forward..."

The fact that Woolworths Australia were the first party to make their bid for an appeal against the Appeal Court decision known publicly would indicate to me a more positive outlook that management have in being a successful bidder for The Warehouse.

There is no news out yet about whether the move to seek leave from the Court of Appeal to take the case to the Supreme Court is a happening thing but it is likely that leave will be given.

Given the backlog in the Supreme Court, it is unlikely that Woolworths will get a court date before Christmas and any decision, either way, will not be made until 2009. Yes 2009.

Shares in The Warehouse have prevaricated with the whims of the Courts. Vacillating in the high 6 buck range when the courts found in the possible bidders' favour, to less than NZ$3 after the decision not to allow any bids for The Warehouse from the Court of Appeal came out on August 15.

Shares closed down 3c to $3.35 today.




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c Share Investor 2008 & 2009