It's not what it is, its what you call it that counts for Labour

Remember 20 hours free childcare? It is not free, but its called 20 hours free. But it can't be free when you have to pay for it. Think of a reverse situation - the poor people on the sickness benefit. Many of them are not sick, they are unemployed on the wrong benefit,but they are not called unemployed. We have had laws that ban smacking because people say that smacking is child abuse - its not child abuse, but it's called child abuse. We have people in the highest levels in the Labour party who lie, execpt what they say is not called a lie, its called a " misspoke".

Helen Clark's relationship with Peter Davis is called a marriage - but is it really?

Remember police quotas? Police have denied they are have quotas for issuing tickets. They have quotas all right, but they are not called quotas., they're called "minimum expectations", according to a recent leaked email.

Waitemata road policing manager Superintendent John Kelly sets out ticket targets for his district's highway patrol officers in five "fatal" offence categories.The categories are speeding, alcohol, restraints (e.g. seatbelts and child carseats), dangerous/careless driving and high-risk driving.Each fulltime-equivalent officer is expected to issue 1420 tickets a year, including 560 for speeding, the email says.

With 225 traffic officers on New Zealand roads, that means 875 tickets should be dished out to motorists throughout the country every day. And the email points out in bold type that the figures are "the minimum expectation".

If a minimum expectation is not a quota, what is it?

Perhaps we can safely say, also, that we have a Government. But does it govern - or is it just called a Government?