Author Archive
So what’s the plan again?
Written By: - Date published: 5:15 pm, February 1st, 2009 - 15 comments
Labour got a fair amount of mileage during the election campaign out of harassing National about its lack of distinct policy. I guess that’s kind of forgivable of National in some ways, for reasons we won’t go in to again. But now National are in Government I still can’t help thinking their policy direction is […]
Identity Politics
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, January 31st, 2009 - 10 comments
In 2007 Te Ata Tino Toa applied to Tranzit New Zealand to have the Maori Sovereignty flag flown on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. Tranzit declined permission on the grounds that it wasn’t a UN recognized national flag, despite having previously flown the Team New Zealand flag, which would have failed the same […]
Fonterra’s Corporate Accountability
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, January 29th, 2009 - 33 comments
Despite very serious allegations from former Sanlu CEO Tian Wenhua that an unnamed Fonterra board member influenced her decision to not cease production of milk powder known to be contaminated, on RNZ’s Checkpoint Fonterra Chairman Henry van der Hayden was adamant Fonterra would not be disclosing documentation to prove it advised Sanlu only a 0% melamine content […]
The Neo-Liberal Front
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, January 28th, 2009 - 76 comments
National’s two main internal factions consist of the Conservatives, and the Neo-Liberals. Overall the Conservatives want to keep things pretty much as they are, and with such an inspiring reason for being it’s hardly surprising their star has waned over the last couple of decades. The Neo-Liberal camp has a different agenda. Like the Conservatives […]
NZ Herald: Nobody Wants It
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 28th, 2009 - 34 comments
It seems that Irish millionaire Tony O’Reilly won’t be solving his debt problems any time soon. O’Reilly is desperate to be shod of his major shareholding in APN “which publishes the New Zealand Herald and is the largest radio and outdoor advertising operator in Australasia”. (No conflicts of interest in APN’s rabid anti-EFA campaigning there […]
Conservatism and Progressivism
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, January 27th, 2009 - 99 comments
Conservatism is all about maintaining the status quo. It assumes that the status quo is essentially ok, while change is best avoided. The idea comes from philosophers like Edmund Burke who figured the reason conventions and structures get to endure in the first place is because they work. Of course if you’re in the middle […]
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