I see from NZ Newswire that Labour, NZ First and the Greens are gearing up to go after John Key and National this week over various Panama Papers related issues.
This in interesting for a few reasons.
The first is that this will be a good test of how well the Teflon on Key is still working on such sensitive issues (given his own ultra wealthy background and somewhat dodgy actions by sending his lawyer into bat for the trust business in NZ) and second if this will be a coordinated action against Key and National or individual shots by each party.
Personally I think the Greens will give the best in this situation as Labour and NZ First seem less willing to really go for the jugular as opposed to the other two (possibly due to their own compromising financial circumstances) but I will be back on Friday to see how it went.
This is also a golden opportunity for Labour to make some hay while the sun shines as there is fodder for all in what the Panama Papers have revealed, what they may reveal and NZs connection in all of this.
If they have any brains they will spend the week running non-stop interference on the government with the other two parties playing spoiler on the side.
Of course NZ First and the Greens will also be seeking to get into the spotlight so again if this is coordinated then there should be enough to go round, if not expect a little bit more chaos than normal but also some one upsmanship as each seeks to get in the blows ahead of the other.
Over the last few months National have definitely started looking like they have a case of third-term-itis as the blunders and attitude is starting to become a constant and the media seem to be running nothing but negative articles about them.
Of course NZ Newswire may have jumped the gun and lead me astray and nothing will happen this week but I will be back here on Friday to see how things went.
Well if today’s Question Time (Tuesday) is any indication, it looks like you will have plenty to discuss when you get back on Friday. But I have to say JK is a master of the diversionary tactic. Still, he’s looking very tired…
Anne:
It could be the photos but I do think your right. Both Key and English have looked very haggard these days in photos. Key specially looks like he is melting internally somewhat or maybe suffered a stroke in some photos, at least thats how it looks to me.
To be fair though, the pressures of office do seem to weigh heavily on a person and photos of Obama in 2008 compared to today are revealing, a lot more grey hairs, and the media does seem to have a habit of picking the worst photos available, look how they treat Hilary in the US (every photos of her has her mouth open and teeth showing like she is having a fit or a Revelation of some sort).
On the question side, Tuesdays questions were a good start and I will be following with interest to see if the opposition can keep the pressure up as this is as close to watergating Key as I can remember. Someone should make a bar graph/pie chart of how many times he has had a brain fade.