Billy Bob English says ... nothing, really

The latest "secret tape revelation" about Bill English is another firework without an explosion.  It's a fizzer for the simple reason that National have nothing to say and nothing to hide -- and that's really the saddest thing about this.

What you see is unfortunately all that you're gonna get.

The idea so loudly promoted from the left, that National has a secret agenda, is exploded by the very "secret tapes" that Labour's Kees Keizer has been releasing to a complaisant media.  If that's the very best they've got -- and you'd have to post your 'best' stuff in the last week, wouldn't you -- then it's very certain there's no agenda here that's worth a damn.

Equally, the idea so loudly promulgated by the so called "centre right," that National is the answer to all your problems, is just so lame as to be crippled. 

National offers nothing and stands for nothing.  It's a blank canvas.

And like all blank canvasses, what has been projected upon them is the wishes, fears and hopes of both their supporters -- eager for "change" -- and their opponents -- keen to to keep their snouts in the trough.

But those wishes, fears and hopes bear no relation to the reality that is the National Party.  Whatever your hopes might be for the National Party, the reality is resolutely blancmange.

UPDATE 1: As it happens, Linda Clark offers, on TV3's morning show, a much more sober analysis of the "revelation" than the breathless hype of Duncan Garner, on TV3's preceding evening show.

UPDATE 2:  Liberty Scott has more on Bill English: "a fool, but hardly a warrior" says Scott.  And he takes a look at National's real agenda.  Did anyone say Nanny?