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Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:34 pm, September 2nd, 2010 - 5 comments
Few stories that have slipped through the cracks are bothering me:
Whatever happened to Tolley’s diplomatic squad investigation? What about Coldplay’s damages for when National stole ‘Clocks’? And Bennett’s apology to Fuller? And that mysterious company in the Caymans that bought Key’s shares? And why was Worth really sacked?
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:11 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 45 comments
National don’t understand macroeconomics. As such they are inflicting massive and unnecessary harm, with high unemployment and a long time until recovery.
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:48 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 27 comments
Many argue English should never have extended the deposit guarantee to South Canterbury Finance in April, or question whether the terms of the guarantee called for the pay-out. Then there’s the stink around the payment of SCF bonds. One thing’s for sure, the Nats didn’t need to spend $20 million on foreign depositors – they did it to try to kill the issue faster. Plenty of meat for Labour. Will they bite?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:47 am, September 1st, 2010 - 33 comments
Bill English came pretty close to admitting that the Nats are “relaxed” about our current high unemployment. Phil Goff came out swinging…
Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:07 am, August 27th, 2010 - 12 comments
At what point, I wonder, will National figure out that they’re in a hole over “national standards” and finally stop digging? At what point, I wonder, will National stop lying to us that the parents of insert region here are supportive of national standards?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 1:19 pm, August 26th, 2010 - 19 comments
I was wondering whether to write a post on the very odd things that outrage the tight little circle of right wing bloggers we have in this country. But MikeG in a comment at Dim Post made the point far far better than I could have.
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:45 am, August 26th, 2010 - 41 comments
It is time we got away from Mr Key’s focus on individual greed and got back to a focus on better hospital, schools and care for those who are struggling. David Clark argues that Key’s tax cuts are going to actually drive away our high-achievers while Mr Key is telling us it’s going to bring them home.
Written By: Michael Foxglove - Date published: 8:27 pm, August 18th, 2010 - 52 comments
TV3 is reporting Winston Peters will standing at the next election… against John Key in Helensville. Those are candidate meetings I for one wouldn’t want to miss!
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 2:52 pm, August 18th, 2010 - 13 comments
So Rodney can’t keep 4 other people on side. The liberal and authoritarian split in Act has had its blood-letting and the authoritarians have won. Where will the neo-liberal idealogues go? And how will Epsom react to this change in philosophy in a year’s time?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 1:52 pm, August 18th, 2010 - 26 comments
A new lobby group, the “Costal Coalition”, crawled out from under a rock today. Above is their first billboard, one of several planned for Wellington and Auckland. It’s a distasteful, damaging campaign, but National and their associated hacks have no grounds for complaint.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:32 am, August 18th, 2010 - 79 comments
National is governing like National governs. Anyone could have foreseen this, there were plenty of clues, but its only now are people who switched to Key waking up to the fact that he’s just the grinning face on the same old beast. I wonder: if someone is smart enough to see that Key’s government is a failure now, how were they dumb enough to ever believe things would be different?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 17th, 2010 - 6 comments
When John Steinbeck said “No one wants advice – only corroboration†he could well have been describing the numerous working groups the Government has established in many areas of significant economic and social policy. Too lazy to spend its nine years in opposition developing a detailed policy prescription, National now picks groups to tell it what it wants to hear.
Written By: r0b - Date published: 2:23 pm, August 14th, 2010 - 36 comments
Some within Labour believe that the tide of popularity is beginning to go out on the National government. Commentators seem to be waking up too. John Armstrong takes the Nats to task for their scare-mongering on benefits. And Fran O’Sullivan, cuts to the chase – it’s the economy stupid.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 1:45 pm, August 13th, 2010 - 30 comments
In Morning Report yesterday there was a clear question and statement on the difference between weather events and climate. This is a question that always seems to confuse our CCD’s (climate change deniers and skeptics). So it is worth examining it a bit in the view of some of the unusual weather that has been happening recently. A increased frequency of such events is going to be the main effect of climate change over time, leading eventually to famines.
Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 2:31 pm, August 11th, 2010 - 13 comments
Finlayson says that paying compo to women abused by cops would “open the floodgates”. In other words, he reckons all the other claims that would come out of the woodwork would cost too much. What’s right is right. No matter the cost. ‘Floodgates’ is just an admission that the hundreds have been harmed. This government doesn’t have the guts to do right by them.
Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:54 am, August 11th, 2010 - 37 comments
In his own surreal and ultra-privileged way Paul Holmes has discovered the recession. And it seems to have shaken him up a bit. Paul cuts loose with some Holmes truths about the useless Nat government. But in claiming that there is no alternative Holmes reveals nothing but his own lack of vision…
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:38 am, August 11th, 2010 - 43 comments
It just gets worse: “The Government has rejected a secret forum’s recommendation that 10 women who alleged sexual misconduct by police officers get reparation.” Sadly, I think this is just the Nats being cheap and unwilling to face their responsibilities. They don’t care about the victims of police abuse, they care about saving a few dollars to pay for tax cuts.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:38 pm, August 7th, 2010 - 9 comments
After half a government term of insisting that NACT had an economic plan, it has been ‘misplaced’. The full plan, said by informed sources to have been found in a brief case (along with a pie and a men’s magazine) and written on the back of an old rental expenses claim form, reveals that the government expects significant economic development will be lead by the construction of a single national transport infrastructure, namely a National Cycleway.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:45 pm, August 6th, 2010 - 77 comments
This guest post quotes the statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller in Germany after World War II about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. The comparison to NACT policies towards the education sector is striking.
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:17 am, August 6th, 2010 - 280 comments
When National rammed through the first version of the 90 day fire at will law it claimed the period would be a ‘choice’ negotiated fairly between employees and employers.
Now employers are advertising it as a precondition in job ads, with the Minister backing them all the way.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 11:39 am, August 5th, 2010 - 11 comments
Labour has rightly challenged National on its failure to make any progress on its core promise to “close the gap” with Australia. And rather than responding with action, National has responded with spin and bullshit. And that is very telling indeed.
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:36 am, August 5th, 2010 - 36 comments
Last night National and ACT voted down Grant Robertson’s ethical investment bill on the basis that “the market” would somehow solve the problem.
You can imagine what these people would have said about slavery at the time of the Civil War.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 12:00 pm, August 4th, 2010 - 70 comments
Why in hell are John Banks and the irresponsible Citizens and Ratepayers dominated Auckland City Council giving me (as a ratepayer) the risks of rebuilding Eden Park. They (and I) already have more than enough risks to handle in the massive costs of the leaky building liabilities.
Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:00 am, August 4th, 2010 - 56 comments
Key hasn’t ruled out working with Winston after 2011. This seems like a huge miscalculation. Not only has he added legitimacy to the re-animation of this political zombie, but he has also cut the legs out from under the right’s “Winston is the devil” campaign. That giant sucking sound you hear? That’s DPF’s head imploding.
Written By: r0b - Date published: 6:03 am, August 3rd, 2010 - 119 comments
John Key trotted out a huge lie in Parliament last week: “It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy; it might take a bit longer than that for us to sort it out”. Let’s compare National and Labour’s economic records shall we.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:00 am, August 1st, 2010 - 81 comments
Chris Carter’s bumbling attempt at a coup has pushed the question onto the tip of everyone’s tongue – can Labour win the 2011 election? And can Phil Goff be the one to lead them to victory? But 24 hours can be a long time in politics, and a year is a very long time indeed. The biggest mistake Labour could make now would be to get into leadership battles.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 10:00 am, July 30th, 2010 - 9 comments
A recent poll in New Hampshire showed that being endorsed by Sarah Palin was an immediate turnoff to moderate voters. Similarly the RWNJ’s of the ‘tea party’ have managed to succeed in getting ideologically ‘pure’ but politically lower quality candidates selected where the GOP has undemocratic systems in place. Is this the beginning of the end for the RWNJ’s in the US as voters reject their candidates? Now if only WhaleOil would endorse candidates here…
Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:39 am, July 29th, 2010 - 26 comments
The Nats lied and promised their way in to an election win in 2008. That was always going to make it difficult for them as the honeymoon glow wore off. Now Key is lying about the failure on one of their biggest empty promises of all.
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:35 am, July 29th, 2010 - 60 comments
John Key’s description of student debt as ‘dangerous’ is just the latest broadside from National against interest-free student loans.
But the real problem here isn’t who pays off the interest on student debt, it’s that we have a system that causes such debt to be created in the first place.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:39 am, July 28th, 2010 - 92 comments
Closing the wage gap with Australia was one of National’s key promises in the leadup to the 2008 election, but the Dom Post reports today that the wage gap has grown by another $40 a week under National’s watch.
Can we stop pretending now that National ever really had a plan to close the wage gap?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:41 am, July 28th, 2010 - 2 comments
During the election the National Party packaged up its policies so as not to scare voters. The 90 day probationary period was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses. Either the original justifications still hold true, hence undermining any argument to extend the scheme, or the original justifications were rubbish from the very start.
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