Author Archive
Labour – clearing the decks
Written By: - Date published: 6:47 am, November 7th, 2015 - 54 comments
Labour has positioned itself astutely in the run up to and early stages of its conference. Best news, there will be proper cooperation with The Greens next election.
Labour’s conference
Written By: - Date published: 1:36 pm, November 6th, 2015 - 118 comments
Labour’s conference will be in full swing this weekend. Don’t expect any policy fireworks.
Useless on unemployment
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, November 6th, 2015 - 73 comments
“Less debt more jobs” says National’s billboard. Instead we good the opposite. With extra helpings of icing on this Cake of Fail.
TV3’s woes and a media bouquet
Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, November 5th, 2015 - 21 comments
Excellent piece on TV3’s woes at Spinoff this morning. It’s a grim picture for news over all, and we are much the poorer for it. (Bonus bouquet to Kirsty Johnston at The Herald for her current series on education.)
The threats facing NZ
Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, November 5th, 2015 - 24 comments
Some buzz this morning about an official list of six “threats” facing NZ. For some reason most of the actual threats aren’t on the official list.
The Pacific as we know it is doomed
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, November 4th, 2015 - 211 comments
“‘Unless the world acts decisively in coming weeks, the Pacific as we know it is doomed,’ says Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama”. Odds of the world acting decisively in the coming weeks – effectively nil.
The education review
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, November 4th, 2015 - 31 comments
National is initiating a review of education. They will of course be excluding consideration of resourcing and their sacred cows (national standards, charter schools). One possible outcome appears to be shifting resources from poorer schools to richer ones.
30 Years after ANZUS (and we’re doing fine)
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, November 2nd, 2015 - 14 comments
Fouling our nest
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, November 2nd, 2015 - 38 comments
New Zealand is a beautiful country, and tourism is our second biggest earner of foreign exchange. We’d be stupid to trash the place, right?
Paying a generous wage
Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, November 1st, 2015 - 116 comments
Well paid staff are happy, productive staff. Who’d have thought it!
US ship visit and nuclear free NZ
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, October 31st, 2015 - 77 comments
The US has been invited to send a ship to NZ. One News has a headline about a “nuclear ship”. Explosive if true, but I think this is an error. There is some confusion on the matter, let’s hope it is cleared up fast.
Dirty Politics was in the public interest
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, October 30th, 2015 - 46 comments
Today’s anonymous editorial in The Herald makes for interesting reading, with the right conclusion in the end – Hager’s Dirty Politics served a genuine public interest, and should be legally protected as such.
Technology and the law – and going after Hager
Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, October 29th, 2015 - 214 comments
A recent supreme court ruling that a “stored sequence of bytes” constitutes property is pretty bizarre – and it seems to be being used to go after Nicky Hager.
“A creeping authoritarianism from the current government”
Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, October 28th, 2015 - 37 comments
The reaction to Westpac handing over Nicky Hager’s data to police is still playing out. Rob Hosking observes “a creeping authoritarianism from the current government”.
Cameron prefers ornamental Lords
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, October 28th, 2015 - 15 comments
Fascinating developments in British politics as The House of Lords opposes Cameron’s cuts to tax credits and chooses instead to protect the poor. Cameron is incensed.
Well I’m glad we cleared that up
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, October 27th, 2015 - 25 comments
NZ number one in the world – and it’s all bad news
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, October 27th, 2015 - 388 comments
Rachel Stewart writes about a disaster for this country.
Angry at Westpac
Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, October 26th, 2015 - 57 comments
Westpac passing over Nicky Hager’s details was probably illegal, and may turn out to have been a very bad move…
Let them drink beer
Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, October 25th, 2015 - 30 comments
Health Minister Coleman provides another salient example of the surreal lengths that National will go to in order to avoid facing up to truths that they don’t approve of.
Key not taking us with him on the flag
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, October 23rd, 2015 - 31 comments
John Key’s antics trying to drum up support for a flag change are getting increasingly desperate, but NZ isn’t listening.
Wallowing in extravagance
Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, October 23rd, 2015 - 16 comments
“Wallowing in extravagance” is how Labour described the latest news of extreme spending from Steven Joyce’s MBIE.
The equal pay initiative
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, October 22nd, 2015 - 17 comments
After twice killing off pay equity legislation (2009, 1990), National have been forced to confront the issue again.
Canada and the TPP
Written By: - Date published: 7:06 am, October 21st, 2015 - 19 comments
Will the Liberals’ victory yesterday result in Canada dropping out of the TPP? Probably not. But Canadian farmers are going to push hard, creating an interesting opportunity for the Liberals.
Obesity policy ignores elephant in the room
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, October 20th, 2015 - 182 comments
Obesity is a difficult topic to write about, but with the release of new government policy yesterday it is very much in the news. Unfortunately, unsurprisingly, National have chosen to tinker with the consequences of obesity without addressing the causes.
Kelvin Davis on Christmas Island
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, October 19th, 2015 - 39 comments
Today Key is trying to dress up Aussie platitudes (on detained Kiwis) as scraps of progress. But Labour MP Kelvin Davis is taking action…
Another financial crisis?
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, October 19th, 2015 - 102 comments
There are a lot of canaries giving warning in the world’s economic coal mine just now.
Our influence in Australia
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, October 18th, 2015 - 76 comments
Key has failed to budge Australia on the detention and deportation of Kiwis. Apart from the photo ops and the mutual admiration society, our actual influence is zero.
Lucky Labour – disgraceful Speaker
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, October 16th, 2015 - 37 comments
Three of the four member’s bills drawn yesterday were sponsored by Labour leaders. What followed was one of the most disgusting maneuvers ever pulled by this government, justifying the headline – Nats play politics while Kiwi kids die in homes.
Court’s decision on TPP OIA has both Nats and Ombudsman squirming
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, October 15th, 2015 - 23 comments
The High Court recently found that Government and Tim Groser improperly considered Prof. Jane Kelsey’s application for information concerning the TPPA negotiations. The Nats aren’t happy. The Ombudsman isn’t happy. Tough.
Labour’s deputy
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, October 15th, 2015 - 85 comments
An anonymous editorial in The Herald this morning is a mostly well balanced discussion of the issue of Labour’s deputy leader.
Cancer patients and punitive policies
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, October 14th, 2015 - 73 comments
We need a welfare system that acknowledges the realities of cancer and other major medical conditions. That isn’t “special treatment”, it is basic human decency.
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