Rumour and Innuendo

I am not one to spread rumours, however I will on this occasion because I loath the present administration and it might be a little fun.

This one has circulated around before but this time the news is allot stronger and seems to be based on more than just innuendo.

I have heard through the grapevine that Michael Cullen is looking into rolling Clark as leader.

The reasons given are that Clark's wild pre-election spending bribes have pissed the good Dr off because the Government's financial books are getting harder to balance and they have to be revealed soon.

Even though Clark and Cullen are the best of friends and they share the same socialist ideals of high taxes with the State at the centre of everything, there is one thing that Dr Cullen doesn't like at all.

That is, his books being interfered with.

The rumour, and I must stress it is a rumour, emanates from Wellington political circles and has recently been doing the rounds at prominent Auckland social occasions.

I wonder why mainstream media hasn't got a hold of this yet?

Perhaps Duncan garner for TV3, could have a wee look, he thrives on rumour.

c Political Animal 2008

Election bribes par for the course for Labour

The desperation swirling around the Labour Party at the moment leaves me with deep pit of emptiness in my stomach.

Labour are well behind in the polls at present, their leader has been enveloped in lies and corruption over the Owen Glenn Winston Peters donation saga and Michael Cullen has gone feral on John Key's connection to Merrill Lynch.

The emptiness comes from the past history of how Labour operates to buy voters before an election.

Before the 1990 election the kitty was raided by Labour to the point where people thought the country was in a surplus economic position but after the books were revealed post election it turned out that we were deep in debt.

In 2005 of course was the mother of all bribes when Labour announced free money to students and increased welfare via working for families and some other state assisted lollies.

We have already had the following before the 2008 election:

1. KiwiRail purchase - cost NZ $665 million, plus hundreds of millions to "upgrade it" and keep it running. Altogether, including missed economic growth from keeping the money in taxpayers hands, $2 billion plus. Election bribe.

2. $10 billion in "tax cuts" mostly focused on those on welfare-working for families -and at an average of $16 per person hardly worth legislating for. Election bribe.

3. Increase in working for families-$200 million plus per year, 600 million over a 3 year term. Election bribe.

4. 1.7 Billion in lost capital value for Auckland International Airport shareholders because Labour stopped the sale of this private asset to buy votes. Election bribe.

5. Corporate welfare for research and development, cost $700 million. Election bribe.

6.Universal student allowances. Cost $728 million. Mooted but it will go ahead. Election bribe.

7. South Auckland "University". Cost, $25 million to purchase land and hundreds of millions more to develop. Not needed as Auckland already has 4 universities. Election Bribe.

8. Mt Eden Prison, Cost, well north of $250 million and unnecessary. Bunk beds will do. Election bribe.

Other costs with some merit but nonetheless some of the better ones could have been done earlier in Labour's term.

* $750 million in new health spending (includes first year of $160 million announced over weekend for elective services).

* $621 million in total over five years to boost Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

* $446 million over four years to boost funding for community organisations.*
.
* $164.2 million over five years for a cervical cancer immunisation programme.

* $150 million a year on educational changes to keep young people in school or training until they are 18.

The cost so far to the taxpayer?

Just over $18,000,000,000.00 , that is Billion with a capital B folks. You will have to pay this out of your taxes should Labour buy their way into power.

There will be more bribes with your money just before the election, probably targeted at students again and the elderly.

Watch for a possible surprise bribe. One that has been circulating around the traps is a cut in GST.

Watch your wallet folks, Labour is going to use it to buy your vote.

c Political Animal 2008

Quote of the Year

"...creating product that is impossible to comprehend..."

Mark Weldon-Newstalk ZB , 17 Sept 2008

Mark was talking about the current market turmoil and some of the dodgy financial instruments that have led to its current shake-up.

Unfortunately for us though Mark and his NZX are putting together financial products that are even harder to comprehend than sub-prime related instruments.

He is helping develop a carbon trading platform that will make the current mess look like a walk in Central Park, during daylight hours.

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c Share Investor 2008

VIDEO: Tina Fey Parody of Sarah Palin

The Parody of Sarah Palin by Tina Fey on The Saturday Night Live show.

It is very funny and she has Sarah down 100% perfect.

If only real politics was this funny. Hang on what am I saying, it is!

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c Political Animal 2008

Briefing of Brian Henry's evidence

From Stuff.co.nz 

*At 1.26pm on December 14 2005, Mr Glenn began a 6-minute, 41-second call to Mr Peters.

*At 1.33pm, Mr Peters began a 6-minute, 10-second call to Mr Henry. 

*At 1.40pm, Mr Henry e-mailed Mr Glenn in Sydney saying: "Further to your discussion with my client at 1.30 nzt I provide my bank details ..."

*Mr Henry said Mr Glenn's name was mentioned during the call from Mr Peters, which reminded Mr Henry he had asked for $100,000 toward the cost of the Tauranga electoral petition.

*He could not recall why Mr Glenn's name was raised, but said he would have remembered if Mr Peters mentioned a discussion about money because there was a policy of keeping donations from him.

*"It is not logical to say that there was a discussion over payments, because he [Mr Peters] and I would have had a barney, and I would have remembered that ..."

*He said the e-mail was simply to jog Mr Glenn's memory.

*"I'm telling him that I know he's had a discussion with my client, and I'm sending him my bank account details saying `Hey, I'm still here. Are we going to get a donation?"'

Brian Henry continues to Perjur

Brian Henry's statements before the Privileges Committee yesterday simply defied belief.

There was no substance, no evidence and simply no truth to be found.

Instead we found a calculated decision by Henry on behalf of his client, Winston Peters, to continue the lies that have surrounded this whole donation mess since it was uncovered many, many months ago.

We had Peter's style accusations and bluster to make up for the vacuum of evidence and what shred of credibility as a lawyer that Henry had left was wiped away in the extended lie.

The individual that came out the worst yesterday was clearly Helen Clark.

She continues to hold on to Peters, and lie herself, to protect her Labour Government from collapse.

Her greed for power seems to  know no bounds and if this is her idea of trust then I must be breathing the atmosphere of Uranus and not earth.

Must be.

c Political Animal 2008

 

KFC finally flying

Stepping away from market turbulence for a while(I have decided ignorance is bliss) I thought I would take a look at Restaurant Brands [RBD.NZ] sales figures for the 16 weeks ended 8th September 2008.

Sales are flattish overall for the last quarter for the 3 brands the company operates-Starbucks, Pizza Hut and KFC-but Starbucks is suffering and Pizza Hut continues to bleed cheese all over their dirty backroom floors.

What I want to look at is KFC because what is happening looks good.

It has always been the strongest of the 3 brands but having said that its sales figures have been patchy over the years but there looks like there is finally some reason for optimism for the revival of the brand and sales. For the year to date, KFC sales were $110.4m, while the last quarter KFC sales increased $2.7m to $63.4m, with sales up 5.5 per cent on a same store sales basis.

Back on December 12 I was reasonably skeptical about the "increase in sales" that management were crowing about:

Management are siting "record" sales at its fried chicken restaurants but the facts are that the year they might be comparing this latest result to, 2002, KFC did $177.1 million in sales. If you add the 2007 cumulative 3 quarter total of $151.8 Million to say a generous $48 million final quarter, you are still just shy of $200 million, an approximate 12% rise in dollar sales since 2002. Factoring in a generous 3% annual inflation since then though and sales are 3% down since their record listed year in 2002.

Lets do a little rough calculation to come up with a full KFC sales figure for 2008 based on the first two quarters of sales.

Lets assume another 5% growth of sales for the next two quarters and the company could be looking at as much as $230 million in KFC sales for the full year. That estimated figure would be around 30% more than their record $177.1 million in 2002. Factor in the 3% inflation rate for six years for a cumulative 18% then we see real growth in sales over 6 years of around 12% cumulative or 2% a year above inflation.

Now I have been watching this company for ten years and this is the best result in sales that KFC have achieved(if the sales figures pan out) so management efforts seem to be working.

It is hard to tell whether it is the better menu offerings and pricing or the store refurbishments that have been the reason, but I would put more emphasis on the menu and slightly better service.

Just one rider on the good news about KFC sales. Like other retail businesses, higher day to day costs like Labour, energy and ingredients are keeping a lid on margins.

KFC looks more promising though than it has for more than 10 years.

Shame about Starbucks and Pizza Hut.


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c Share Investor 2008

John Key VS Michael Cullen, no contest

We are currently experiencing a global financial fallout that is having effects on our Labour led mismanaged economy and we will clearly need a good person with experience and knowledge of economics and the financial markets then for the position of Prime Minister after the next election.

John Key is just that man. In fact I cant think of a more appropriate person to be at the head of an economy in recession, with unprecedented market ructions and negative consequences than a man with Key's obvious experience and qualifications:

Michael Cullen however thinks differently:

"He has got a short-term profit maximising mentality and that is what has brought Merrill Lynch and Lehmann Brothers and these other businesses to their knees.

"Do you want someone like that running the economy when we are going to be going through a difficult period."

He said he believed linking Mr Key back to the massive global company he left eight years ago was legitimate.

"Mr Key has put forward his Merrill Lynch credentials as part an important part of his narrative," he told reporters.

"That doesn't look such a good qualification any longer for running New Zealand's economy."

Of course one might like to have a look at Michael Cullen's qualifications for running an economy.

Yes of course, he has none.

Dr Cullen has a doctorate in History, so the best he can do with our economy is look back at the last 9 years in time to come and wonder how he could have gone so wrong and made so many bad decisions.

Cullen linking Key to a company that he worked for 8 years ago and somehow relating that to its collapse overnight, is desperate in the extreme and already seems to have backfired on him and his party.

Kiwis instinctively loathe this kind of senseless finger pointing but it is Cullen's style.

Instead of playing petty politics in the face of economic uncertainty, Cullen's focus should be instead on his own failures during his 9 years as finance minister and he should be pondering over why he has taxed Kiwis to the tune of 17 billion dollars above the rate of inflation during his tenure, that is $230 per week for the average family, for every week of that 9 years, of extra tax for no discernible extra service from the government.

That money would have been better back in our pockets and would have the economy to the point where New Zealand would have been in a much better position that we are now to ride out the recession.

Shame on you Mr Cullen, you are lower than a sewer rat.

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c Political Animal 2008

"Little Prick" Michael Cullen misjudges economic turmoil,again

The current market turmoil and subsequent downturn in global economic conditions are great reasons why National should go ahead with their "$50 tax cut" plan.

There has been much fuss made by the uniformed and ideologically bent Michael Cullen over this issue:

He suggested the forced sale of Mr Key's former employer - Merrill Lynch - in the US showed the National Party leader was not a safe pair of hands to manage it.

"You don't want a gambler and short-term money market player who will risk billions and billions of dollars. We are seeing in the United States the consequences of that kind of mentality unfolding right now."

That is not only sneering and sticking the knife into people who may have lost money, people mikeyboy calls "rich pricks" but it is patently misleading.

During downturns such as these one of the best things a Government can do is stimulate the economy. Using tax cuts to do this is the perfect way to ease the economic pressures in the short and long-term.

Of course Cullen's antidote to the current problems will be to tax New Zealanders more.
For people out of his depth, such as him-he has a doctorate in history-raising taxes will be a way of "protecting the State" something he loves.

Bugger the proletariat though, he has a different feeling for us.

So if you are expecting this individual to manage New Zealand's way economically well over the next 3 long turbulent years just remember who led you into the current mess.

He has mismanaged the economy for the last 9 years under the best  economic conditions for generations, imagine his ideological tax and spend ways under a deep recession.

It would be an unmitigated disaster.

He has had a chance.

Vote the "little prick" out.



c Political Animal 2008

Strap yourself in Baby

I cant help myself, I'm starting to get more than a little concerned with what is going on in New York at the moment.

Without a doubt, things are going to get nasty overnight(NZ Time) on the DOW and European markets.

Over this weekend, Lehman Brothers, which is, significantly, 136 years old, and survived the Great Depression, has failed to be rescued by a consortium of banks or the US Fed.

Merrill Lynch, John Keys old stomping ground, has been acquired by Bank of America for a cut down price and the largest insurance company in the world , AIG, is in serious trouble, with a need for an injection of funds to keep it operating.

In my 12 odd years of investing in the stockmarket, which clearly isn't very long- I have never experienced anything like it-a sense of impending panic just seems to be around the next corner.

In my entire almost 43 years, there has been nothing as serious as this that has happened to financial markets, not since the Depression, where faith and trust in destroyed financial markets and more than a few bodies flew out windows, have things looked this dismal.

There are still more skeletons in the financial closet though.

However, the cards have been played and the market must keep plugging until the joker cards, both of them, turn up.

Hold on and lets hope there is an ace in the pack somewhere.

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c Share Investor 2008

Sikhing a good cop, not a Turbanator

Oh dear lord, this definitely puts the PC into police constable.

A  Sikh constable in Nelson is going to be allowed to wear a large towel on his head instead of the regulation cap.

Stuff.co.nz

Nelson Bays police area commander Inspector Brian McGurk said adding a turban to the police uniform reflected that the organisation was becoming more diverse and more representative of the communities it worked alongside.

McGurk said he was delighted that the police had been able to help Mr Malhi nurture his religious and cultural beliefs.

There had been extensive consultation between the police ethnic responsiveness coordinator, its uniform standards co-ordinator and the Sikh community before the turban was approved, he said.

Now there are a couple of observations one can make about towels being applied to the head of a policeman other than when one comes out of the shower but I am too nice to mention them.

All I can do is wonder what will be next, Rasta cops with tea cosy helmets, Skater cops with backwards baseball cap helmets, how about a full Burkha for the Muslim woman who likes to do undercover police work even when wearing body hugging police issue blues?

Burkha Cops in Iran

On a less serious note, will our police dogs be wearing little booties(thanks Leighton Smith for the tip) as they do in parts of the UK, when they are required to search a Muslim household?

Probably, it is just a question of when.

His mates have shunned him

Is it any wonder why a certain cop was shot dead last week in the hell-hole that is South Auckland, by some scumbag when Labour Party sanctioned police priorities are to.

nurture his religious and cultural beliefs.

And.

There had been extensive consultation between the police ethnic responsiveness coordinator.

How about nurturing the ability of officers to be able to defend themselves from bullets, knives, rocks, cars and other things that are used to attack them.

No word yet on whether Mr Malhi has consulted the police ethnic thingamy whatsit to see whether he can stop and pray before he asks a mongrel Mob member to please don't shoot me and please put down your gun sir.

Bring back the tough cops and the tough attitude-where are you Clint Rickards and Anthony Solomona, both drummed out of the police by Labour for PC reasons. 

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c Political Animal 2008

Fast Food gang policy

Ahh, after the Goff Gaff on Agenda yesterday and the announcement of the election on Thursday, one of the first policies Labour canvasses is that good old election bogey, law and order:

From the NZ Herald:

Mr Goff's position differs from previous comments by Police Minister Annette King, who told Parliament in March 2006 and November last year that she did not not believe it was "feasible or possible" and to think it would actually work was "dreaming". Ms King is also following developments in South Australia.

Mr Goff said the ban had to be assessed, because while it might be popular with the public, "it is not what looks good, it is what actually has a significant impact on gangs".

After nine long years of a  Labour Government and Kiwis telling them they wanted a ban on gangs, Labour decide to listen just 3 days after an election fight kicks off.

A coincidence?

I think not.

c Political Animal 2008

Rodney Hide shapes up

I was watching a debate, Decision 08, on Prime at midnight-oh where are our prime time political shows- after the bloody good Warriors win last night.

Rodney Hide was under the grille and he managed to answer questions from Audrey Young, Barry Sopher and one of the Espiner brothers and he did well.

He actually answered questions, which is rare in ANY politician, was very statesman like and acquitted himself with dignity and grace.

His policies were ones of a smaller government, more private ownership of our personal lives, responsibility and long-term tax breaks.

Rodney seems to have filled out his political personality as his weight has dropped over the last 3 years and he is looking like a good partner in a National/ACT coalition, which looks the most likely combo given the continuation of a trend in political polls-after a month long blip-that shows National is well ahead of Labour.

His stance on the Emissions tax scam bill passed last week was well worth hearing. Rodney is one of the most qualified in the house to comment on the Global warming swindle-he has several degrees- and he is the sole finger in the wind in Parliament against GW zealots like Helen Clark, David Parker.

He might just get my vote. 

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c Political Animal 2008

Will the stalactites hold?

The financial meltdown has been making a mess on stock exchange floors and business boardrooms globally but nothing that has been tried so far seems to be freezing the tide of red ink.

Since the financial crises that kicked off in August 2007 it has beset markets and financial institutions all over the world, stock markets have lurched upwards, downwards and sideways since and seemingly at the whim of the market regulators in the United States.

The next collapse of a Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Lehman Brothers or another New Zealand finance company seems just around the corner-if Bear Sterns Fannie and Freddie and Lehman Brothers have gone the way of the dodo, you can bet other Wall Street firms who have been drinking at the easy credit trough and lending to others whose assets are of dubious value are going to head the same way.

Last week a massive bombshell, one that has been on the brink for the best part of seven years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finally collapse and the US Federal Government will pile 100s of billions of taxpayer dollars into it hoping to stem the flow.

All this has had a chilling effect on the credit market, the lifeblood of business, between financial institutions and other business and between individuals.

Heads of powerful investment banks have still not come clean about their exposure to the sub-prime derivatives market to in what Warren Buffett has called "financial weapons of mass destruction" and we continue to see new revelations everyday about previous cavalier attitudes to lending, and borrowing, coming home to roost.

The value of these derivatives in the Fannie and Freddie collapse are relevant to the bleak outlook for world markets and the global economy and likewise the recent Lehman Brothers meltdown.

Optimism is well overrated in this market because the bubble of optimism keeps getting pricked.

Even Warren Buffett's assurances that the Federal Reserve did the right thing bailing out Fannie and Freddie had me worried.

It seems a tad self serving to me on his part considering he usually keeps his mouth shut and claims not to like the limelight-seems to me he has been popping up everywhere in extended interviews, ball games, TV shows and the like over the last year or so, most uncharacteristic of him and his style in the past.

My feeling is that investors are set for at least another year of this cloak and dagger stuff.

The market has so far been propped up by taxpayers around the globe-directly to help ailing banks and indirectly to allow cheaper credit to flow through financial markets and ease the pressure on doing normal business.

There is no sign yet that this approach has or will work in the future, having said that, the vast increases in new and different financial instruments in the 1990s and early 2000s and the resultant surge in speculation and bull runs in sharemarkets took time to reach their nadir.

Perhaps now that the bubble has burst it will take just as long to recover from the hangover than the credit binge party itself.


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c Share Investor 2008

TV One Colmar Brunton Poll: Sept 14 2008

In the latest TV One Colmar Brunton Poll out this minute the polls are not good for Labour but things have changed.

National is on 53%, and Labour on 35%. The Greens are back over the 5% threshold and Act has crept back into the picture with 2%. The Maori Party is on 1.8% and New Zealand First is at under 2% support.

National would have 66 seats on these numbers and Labour just 43. The Greens would have six MPs and, assuming electorate seats are held, the Maori Party gets four, Act three, United Future and the Progessives one seat each.

More significantly, John Key also leads Helen Clark by 10 points as preferred Prime Minister.

It puts last months polls that gave Labour a closing gap into sharp focus because they failed to show any sort of meaningful long-term trend.

Today's Colmar Brunton Poll continues a steady trend of National leading Labour by 15 points or more for over a year.

It also shows how much Helen Clark's support of Winston Peters has hurt them and NZ First itself.

More at TVNZ

National pulls well ahead in poll (3:33) VIDEO

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c Political Animal 2008

A Sign O' the Times

Originally from Whaleoil but I got this from KiwiBlog, come two highly modified Labour Billboards.

Helen's own billboards have been airbrushed and manipulated but these hoardings take the photo shopping that one step further.

Labour tried some fakery of their own earlier this year when they posted brochures to kiwis extolling the virtues of their generosity to families in the 2008 Budget and used a fake family on the offending junk mail.

Perhaps then, the billboards below are not far from Labours past history of fakery and surface sheen.

These fake billboards certainly put Clark's matter of trust claims in some perspective.

Satire, yes, but there is some truth behind those composites.

c Political Animal 2008

Labour eats Bush in Indian Nuclear sandwich

Agenda  
Episode 23, 14 Sep 2008 

On the Agenda programme this morning Phil Goff is trying to defend the bad decisions and shonky position of our defence forces: inability to fight in combat,purchasing decisions gone awry etc.

Incidentally Goff is very defensive, rude and shouting over the interviewer.

The big news though that a phone call from George Bush has pushed Labour to allow India to develop their nuclear capabilities, a clear flip flop on Labours previously strong nuclear stance:

"There were several high-level phone calls" to the capitals of the holdout countries, with even US President George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on the phone, an unidentified diplomat told AFP in Vienna. The holdouts complained of "bullying" tactics by Washington. "The Chinese were furious. They walked out. And there’s no agreement without the Chinese," a diplomat told AFP. The Irish were furious, too, and had complained that the US had been bullying them.

Horah News Service

“It was clear to us that as long as these countries were a group, they would remain a problem,” a senior Indian official said. “But we also knew none of them wanted to be the last man standing.” So between the United States and India, a determined political effort was made late Friday night to ensure each of the four came on board. The first to agree was China, said the official, and the last New Zealand, with Ireland and Austria also dropping their objections in between. Though the last three communicated their decision to Washington, the official said the Chinese side directly informed India that it intended to back the consensus.

The Hindu

Seems this little gem has been hidden by Goff and his friends in the Labour Party and is important to note before you vote on Novemeber 8 that a party that calls itself an opponent to Nuclear proliferation globally, flip flops when it comes down to a phone call by a President of the United states that they would label a war monger.

Where are Labour's principles now?

Let them eat Bush.

c Political Animal 2008

Polls Apart

That Billy Joel sure was a sensitive character, Honesty and A Matter of Trust two big hits pleading for, well, trust.

After Helen Clark's long winded election date speech on Friday, she emphasised that the election, for her, will be "about trust" and which leader has the New Zealand citizens trust.

There have been a couple of large polls taken by the two large newspaper groups in the country, APN and Fairfax and both show a massive swing to the National Party.

Here are the two polls, taken since the Prime Ministers speech on Friday.

From Stuff.co.nz:

Announcing the election date, Prime Minister Helen Clark said the campaign would be about trust. Who do you trust more?

Helen Clark (4748 votes, 24.0%) 

John Key (15061 votes, 76.0%)

Stuff polls are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those internet users who have chosen to participate

See current polling on Stuff.co.nz here .

From the New Zealand Herald.co.nz:

Who will you vote for in the election?

Out of 9128 votes so far the National Party vote is at 60% while Labour is at 20%

Go here to see full poll

The Stuff poll is from the left side of the journalistic realm and the NZ Herald poll is from a more centrist perspective-Granny used to be right wing-so it is interesting to see both media outlets showing similar swings to National.

Not scientific but a good indication.

You can vote in the Political Animal Poll as well: 

Which Party will get your Constituency vote?  View Results & Vote

Which Party will get your Party vote? View Results & Vote

There will be a Colmar Brunton TV One poll out latter this evening.

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c Political Animal 2008

The Glamorous life

In a billboard revealed yesterday by Helen Clark to mark the kick off of her 2008 election campaign, to be spearheaded by notions of "trust" and "honesty", things seem to have gone wrong from the get go.

Take a glance at the photo on the extreme left and see if you recognise who it is on that hideous red hoarding.

Clark has been "retouched slightly" says her photographer-who would want to touch her in the first place this author wonders out loud-but even supporters of Helen have trouble picking their leader 

"Bit of air brushing, looks gorgeous."

Just some advice from a political virgin such as myself, if you are going to preach honesty and trust and all those other lovely moral virtues, first of all don't make a career out of lying and secondly make sure your election hoardings actually look like yourself.

Political Animal readers favourite link

VIDEO: Helen Hits out!

c Political Animal 2008

Honesty: Its such a lonely word

The 2008 Election on November 8 is to be fought on "honesty" and "trust" according to the official election day announcement made by the Prime Minister Helen Clark at 12.50 pm today.

Considering Ms Clark has had multiple issues with trust and honesty over her 9 year old governments tenure it seems to be a bizarre way for her to fight an election when she doesn't have a strong honesty platform from which to pitch her message to Kiwi voters.

Clark has lied over introducing new taxes, speeding in a ministerial car, signing a name to a painting she didn't paint, introducing an anti smacking bill, and a myriad of other promises made pre-elections such as "having an open and honest government", "closing the gaps" and returning New Zealand to the top half of the OECD.

Secret agendas also stretch the credibility slingshot to breaking point; removing the Privy Council, The Electoral Finance Act, increasing welfare to record levels via Working for Families, massive carbon taxes and a whole host of other policies not canvassed before elections, fully discussed before implementation and rushed through Parliament under urgency.

The biggest threat to Helen Clark's honesty and trust quotient though is her lie over what she knew, when she knew it, and what her involvement was in the Owen Glenn/Winston Peters donation scandal.

She withheld information about when she knew about the donation, then we found out she lied about that because she actually knew years earlier.

Truth and Helen Clark, like her husband, are strange bedfellows-to use truth and Helen Clark in the same sentence is the oxymoronic understatement of the year. 

New Zealand definitely needs a truthful Prime Minister but sadly Helen Clark is missing in Mt Albert somewhere when it comes to telling the truth.

Related Political Animal reading

Political Animal scoops Helen Clark on Election Announcement

Related Links

Clark announces election date

Reaction to election date announcement 

Nats promise to focus on future as election date announced

Election on November 8 - what the people think 

c Political Animal 2008

Warehouse sale could hinge on Extra decision

Today's announcement of profit (1MB PDF)at the big red sheds at The Warehouse Group [WHS] today had two significant pieces of information.

One, a good profit result-considering how other retailers like Briscoes Group [BGR] have fared recently- of $NZ90.769 million to full year July 27 2008 versus $114.834 million in 2007, a decrease of 21.0 % .

Sales were down on 2007 1.5% to $1.735 billion.

As I wrote in a column on Thursday, The Warehouse will do well in the long-term and today's announcement shows that in an extremely tough retailing environment the company has done better than most and weathered the recession well, so far anyway.

The second significant tidbit was the results of the trial of the 3 "extra" format stores:

"In relation to Warehouse Extra we have put considerable resource into refining the model and improving execution in both store operations and supply chain", Mr Morrice says. "As a result we have seen a measurable increase in customer acceptance and improved financial performance across our three Extra stores. Disappointingly however, the sales halo benefits that emerged in the first half did not maintain their momentum and have annualised well short of our expectations".

Mr Morrice said that the Extra strategy was under review. A decision regarding the future of the strategy would be made before the end of October.

Ian Morris, CEO

I'm very surprised that kiwis haven't embraced the giant "one stop" store format that has made Walmart so successful, however it appears that this style of shopping just wont fly here, or the company have the model wrong. This puts the decision made in the Appeal Court earlier this year, in The Commerce Commissions favour against Foodstuffs and Woolworths Australia buying The Warehouse, in jeopardy when it goes before The Supreme Court, probably sometime in 2009.

The Commission's case was apparently won on the basis of "potential competition" in the grocery market that the extra format stores "might provide in the future" and therefore a possible buyout of the company was nixed.

A decision to cut the format loose by The Warehouse in October would clearly remove that "potential competition" stumbling block from a Woolworths appeal to the Supreme Court and clear the way for a gobble up of the big red Kiwi retailing icon.

Short term investors should place their bets soon while the share price is low and long term investors should be hoping that there is a bidding war between the two possible suitors so their pockets are sufficiently full come bargaining time.

Either way the October decision will be eagerly awaited.

Disclosure: I own WHS shares

The Warehouse @ Share Investor

The case for The Warehouse without a buyer
Foodstuffs take their foot off the gas
Woolworths seek leave to appeal to Supreme Court
Warehouse appeal decision imminent
Warehouse decision a loser for all
Warehouse Court of appeal decision in Commerce Commission's favour
MARKETWATCH: The Warehouse
The Warehouse takeover saga continues
Why did you buy that stock? [The Warehouse]
History of Warehouse takeover players suggest a long winding road
Court of Appeal delays Warehouse bid
The Warehouse set for turbulent 2008
The Warehouse Court of Appeal case lay in "Extras" hands
WHS Court of Appeal case could be dismissed next week
Commerce Commission impacts on the Warehouse bottom line
The Warehouse in play
Outcomes of Commerce Commission decision
The fight for control begins soon

Related Links

Warehouse results




Audited Results for the financial year ended 27 July 2008.pdf (1MB)
Warehouse Corporate profile
2008 Interim Report
Shareinvestorforum.com -Discuss this company


Related Amazon reading


Harvard Business Review on Retailing and Merchandising (Harvard Business Review Paperback) by Hbsp
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $14.74
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c Share Investor 2008

VIDEO:FREAKY FRIDAY FUNNY-Aunty Helen hits out!!

Its time to introduce a new feature to the Political Animal Blog, Freaky Friday Funnies.

I will dredge the depths of the internet to come up with priceless and hilarious parodies of our dear Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

You are thinking to yourself, that politicians have become parodies of themselves?

Well yeah, there will be some of those.

Without further ado I will introduce the first Freaky Friday Funny.

This primitive Priministerial parody has a bloke dressed up as the aforementioned punching her screen co-actors in the face.

It is very funny and looks like a Uni production from somewhere made by ACT supporters.

It probably breaks the Electoral Finance Act, but fuck it, it deserves to be seen.

It looks at the Emissions tax scam, truckers, families, smacking! farmers and Helen's push for a position at the United Nations.

c Political Animal 2008

Labour Party Blog gets a wedgie

The Labour Party Blog, The Standard, has got its panties caught in their crack because their Prime Minister Helen Clarks official Election announcement was leaked by them yesterday, in conjunction with an advertising campaign by them, to push a Labour re-election and then scooped by this blog yesterday at 4.45 pm. 

I then opened the leak further on NewstalkZB on Danny Watson's show to hundreds of thousands of listeners at 12.15pm this afternoon. 

Helen Clark of course made her announcement at 12.50 after a long winded political diatribe that started at 12.30 and curiously kept mentioning the word "honesty" -such a lonely word, as Billy Joel often says.

Apparently other blogs have been accurately guessing the date as well and Kiwiblog apparently picked the date back in September.

Hopefully The Standard is disclosing its spend on its advertising for the Labour Party and they wont break their own Electoral Finance Act, again.

Incidentally I picked Nov 15 over a year ago.

c Political Animal 2008