Author Archive

Labour’s leadership team

Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, April 15th, 2017 - 54 comments

Big turnouts for Labour meetings. Some commentators just can’t quite get to grips with how well the new leadership team is working.

Good on you Andrew Little

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, April 13th, 2017 - 62 comments

Andrew Little questioned the actions of this government, as he should, and has fronted up and taken personal responsibility for offense taken by other parties, as he should. He has endured a costly and draining leagal process with a result widely hailed as a victory for democracy. But apparently that isn’t enough, so here we go again.

Climate change, political heroes, political culture

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, April 13th, 2017 - 117 comments

How ironic that Parliament is to debate climate change today, as the latest in a torrent of warming-fueled extreme weather events bears down on the country, and as the government charges Russel Norman and the other heroes trying to end oil exploration in NZ waters.

Little’s court win good for democracy

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, April 12th, 2017 - 111 comments

The defamation case against Andrew Little has been an unwelcome distraction while he should have been free to do his job as leader of the largest opposition party. The consensus is that the process delivered a qualified win for Little, and a clear win for democracy.

Greenpeace’s Taitu confronts oil exploration ship

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, April 11th, 2017 - 27 comments

Thank you Greenpeace, and specifically thank you Russel Norman and the crew of the Taitu, for taking to the seas to fight this little battle in the most important struggle of our age.

Motels are full of homeless so now what?

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, April 11th, 2017 - 83 comments

Ordinary people are priced out of home ownership and increasingly out of renting, the state-housing safety net has been deliberately run down, and now the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is full. National leaps into action – by asking the Salvation Army for ideas…

Perhaps climate change will go away if we ignore it?

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, April 11th, 2017 - 22 comments

That seems to be Bill English’s position.

Mediawatch on Hit and Run

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, April 10th, 2017 - 77 comments

“Has the meaning of book Hit and Run been obscured by all the claims and counter-claims in the media?” – Yes of course it has, and that is a deliberate strategy on the part of people who are desperate to avoid an inquiry.

Property porn vs. reality

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, April 10th, 2017 - 92 comments

Sick of the property porn on the Stuff and Herald websites? It was refreshing to read the truth for a change.

Syria sarin capitalism and war

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, April 9th, 2017 - 60 comments

The dirty truth behind many of the wars that our political / media world gets itself so excited about is that they wouldn’t be happening without the arms that we (the “western” world) sell so copiously.

MSD and our privacy

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, April 7th, 2017 - 16 comments

National’s plans for our privacy and access to social services are a perfect cocktail of over-reach and incompetence.

Independent media a losing battle

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, April 7th, 2017 - 10 comments

Unfolding in Australia, but obviously relevant here, bad news for Farifax media staff and their editorial independence.

Labour’s leadership team

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, April 6th, 2017 - 40 comments

Labour’s new tactic of featuring a leadership team seems to be working well.

Small on the Nats’ Key deficit on Hit and Run

Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, April 6th, 2017 - 24 comments

Vernon Small thinks the B Team is missing Key.

The truth will out

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, April 5th, 2017 - 93 comments

English can squirm and deny, but according to Stephenson there is more Hit and Run to come.

Nurses ask us to vote for our health

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, April 5th, 2017 - 50 comments

You could vote for three more years of “brighter future”. Or you could listen to the nurses.

Typhoid in Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 3:48 pm, April 4th, 2017 - 76 comments

The typhoid outbreak in Auckland is very bad news. Now would also be a good time to reflect on NZ’s generally poor record on child poverty and disease.

Warmongering

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, April 4th, 2017 - 36 comments

Right wing agendas seize control in England and America. Talk of war from England and America. Probably just a coincidence.

Land of the long white wash

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, April 4th, 2017 - 89 comments

In ruling out an inquiry Bill English insults both our intelligence and our integrity. Next stop the International Criminal Court? (Alas the title is not mine, take a bow Finlay MacDonald.)

The NZDF will never clear its name – and neither will Bill English

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, April 3rd, 2017 - 154 comments

It’s likely that some time this week Bill English will announce that there will be no inquiry into operation Burnham. The NZDF will lose any opportunity to clear its name. Fronting up to the truth, whatever it may be, is better than the perception of a shabby coverup.

Update: And there it is – no inquiry.

Welfare is making Kiwis lazy and unemployable

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, April 2nd, 2017 - 166 comments

This old chestnut is getting another outing on Stuff today.

The neoliberal revolution

Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, April 1st, 2017 - 31 comments

Thirty years old today – the longest April Fool’s joke in history?

Warnings on Auckland Housing

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, March 31st, 2017 - 60 comments

Warnings on the state of the Auckland housing market are coming thick and fast now. People who bought recently (at the peak of prices and low interest rates) are likely to get burned.

Brexit begins

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, March 30th, 2017 - 81 comments

Here we are then. Article 50 has been invoked, and the 2 year countdown to Brexit begins.

Right-wing American stupidity is now a global crisis

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, March 29th, 2017 - 47 comments

The Trump regime has begun the process of dismantling environmental protections in America, including those designed to limit carbon emissions / climate change.

Isn’t that convenient

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, March 29th, 2017 - 50 comments

A full report into the Havelock North water crisis has been delayed until (surprise!) after the election.

Motels are not state houses

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, March 28th, 2017 - 39 comments

It’s almost as if deliberately running down state housing stock doesn’t make the need for homes magically go away – who could possibly have predicted that?

NZDF credibility on the line

Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, March 27th, 2017 - 80 comments

There were several significant developments on Hit and Run and the NZDF over the weekend. Which version of the NZDF story is it that Bill English backs 100%?

Clifton: Nat MPs getting nervous

Written By: - Date published: 6:42 pm, March 26th, 2017 - 79 comments

English is down 6% in the latest Colmar Brunton. Jane Clifton sees Nat MPs getting nervous. “For the Nats, having so long taken a fourth term as read, the possibility that their own leader may soon be less secure in his job than Labour’s will be a toughie.”

When right-wing hacks confess the damage that they do

Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, March 26th, 2017 - 20 comments

Some right-wing hacks (like Glenn Beck) are recanting their rants and apologising for the damage that they’ve done. I reckon a few more should follow their brave lead.

Jam tomorrow

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, March 25th, 2017 - 85 comments

It’s too hard! We’ll do it later! Auckland airport rail is just the latest example.

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