Prebble doesn't get it!

Don Brash's decision to surrender to 'the politics of division' suggests National now aims to cannabilize ACT's vote in next year's election, Progressive MP Matt Robson says.

"Richard Prebble doesn't get it. What Don Brash is doing is aiming to bolster National's relative strength as an Opposition party by knocking ACT out of Parliament next year," Matt Robson said.

"Rob Muldoon used the Springbok tour, and Ruth Richardson used the explosion of beneficiaries in the wake of Rogernomics, as the basis of their political strategies to get into government with less than 40% of the vote under First Past The Post.

"Don Brash's problem is that what worked under First Past The Post won't work under MMP. Under MMP, you need a majority in Parliament to get a Budget passed or legislation enacted and most people will choose parties that reject a return to Muldoonism," the Progressive MP said.

"Confrontational politics are economically and socially inefficient because, when implemented, they exhaust the nation's energy in a round of endless naval gazing, name-calling and division instead of focusing attention on economic and social development.

"The Progressive Party is committed to the social and economic development of our country.

"We reject a return to Muldoonist division.

"Next year, voters will demand other parties, like NZ First, come off the fence and very clearly declare their position well ahead of an Election Day offering two stark choices for the future and two radically different interpretations of true nationhood," Matt Robson said.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>