Category Archives: Political Psychology

PMs just wanna have fun …

Posted on 25th Apr, 2015 by Puddleglum

According to John Key it was all just innocent “horsing around“. It wasn’t, of course – as John Armstrong in the New Zealand Herald understands. And Key knew that too. All his protests to the contrary amount to him pulling our collective … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Human Nature, National Identity, New Zealand Politics, Political Polls, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Seven Sharp, Campbell Live and TV Ratings – The ‘Nudge’ Factor

Posted on 10th Apr, 2015 by Puddleglum

University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler and Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein  wrote a generally well-received book in 2008 called ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness‘. It was an accessible assemblage of very well known work in psychology … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Free Market, Human Nature, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

‘And then she goes and spoils it all …’

Posted on 5th Feb, 2015 by Puddleglum

[I’ve awoken from my summer slumber and find I have a lot to write. Apologies about the length.] Well, what was that all about? As Colin Peacock said when he introduced the Mediawatch item on it, what exactly “put a Catton … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, New Zealand Politics, Philosophy, Political Psychology | 9 Comments

‘Everybody knows …’ the politics of dissimulation

Posted on 3rd Dec, 2014 by Puddleglum

“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, New Zealand Politics, Political Polls, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Blowholes and memory holes

Posted on 5th Sep, 2014 by Puddleglum

When whales were hunted in previous centuries, the old method was to spot the intermittent bursts of spray that were shot into the air when a whale came to the surface to take a breath. The time gaps between these … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Democracy, New Zealand Politics, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

We no longer have a Prime Minister

Posted on 1st Sep, 2014 by Puddleglum

Having just listened to an item featuring John Key on Checkpoint (National Radio) I now have to announce that New Zealand has no-one at present performing the proper role of Prime Minister. John Key could not have acted less Prime Ministerial if he had … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Democracy, Media, New Zealand Politics, Political Polls, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments

A Tale of Two Tracks. Part II – Something new under the sun.

Posted on 30th Aug, 2014 by Puddleglum

[This is the second part of a two-part post. In the first post I argued that our modern world is susceptible to ‘two tracks’ arising in all areas. In this post I argue that it is wrong to claim that … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Democracy, Freedom, New Zealand Politics, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A Tale of Two Tracks. Part II – Something new under the sun.

A Tale of Two Tracks. Part I – A two track world

Posted on 30th Aug, 2014 by Puddleglum

There’s plenty of interesting side-tracks to travel down in Nicky Hager’s book ‘Dirty Politics‘. But the main track needs to be kept visible. That track is actually two tracks. And those tracks amount to a highly networked web of relationships between a loose … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Democracy, Labour, Media, New Zealand Politics, Political Psychology | 8 Comments

National’s problem – more ‘glass ceiling’ than ‘complacency’

Posted on 5th Jul, 2014 by Puddleglum

  I agree with John Key and Steven Joyce on a couple of points they stressed to the party faithful gathered in Wellington for their recent election year conference. Yes, as John Key argued, this election will be closer than … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, New Zealand Politics, Political Psychology | 2 Comments

Christchurch and the election

Posted on 18th Jun, 2014 by Puddleglum

[As an experiment, I’m testing the use of an ‘abstract’ for my posts. Those who don’t want to grind through the long version but would like to know if it might be worth the grind can have an overview of what … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, Education, Labour, New Zealand Politics, Political Polls, Political Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments