Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 23rd, 2012 - 205 comments
The media (and the braying right-wing blogs of course) have been bleeding plenty of ink over Shane Jones’ actions in the citizenship case. Jones hasn’t really put his side of the story – until last night.
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, May 8th, 2012 - 95 comments
The Government is planning to offer free long-term contraception for beneficiaries and their daughters. At one level its a sensible idea. But it comes with too much baggage attached. The Nats have already made such a mess of it that they can’t make this proposal with any credibility.
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, May 1st, 2012 - 136 comments
Maryan Street’s “End of Life Choice Bill” has triggered another round of debate. A recent poll shows public support for legalising voluntary euthanasia at an all time high. It’s a question of “when” not “if”.
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, May 1st, 2012 - 41 comments
In 2008 John Key was loudly telling us about his high standards and principles. The Banks case is yet more proof that it was all a prattle of empty rhetoric.
Written By: - Date published: 6:35 pm, April 30th, 2012 - 34 comments
David Cameron’s defence of embattled Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been called a “firewall” that’s failing to hold.
Cameron needs Hunt to stay or else Cameron is the next to go. It is the same for John Key.
As the stench of corruption around John Banks grows, he desperately needs him to stay or else all he loses legitimacy for asset sales and potentially his majority on the issue as well.
Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, April 5th, 2012 - 83 comments
“Prime Minister John Key says hundreds of extra pokies at Sky City Casino will not increase gambling addiction”. Key is lying and he knows it. That’s why the Nats won’t release the official advice they have received on this topic…
Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, November 22nd, 2011 - 18 comments
Michael Laws has been calling for listeners to shoot journalists. He’s a disturbed individual who should never be on the air again. Wouldn’t be nice to take the trash out of political commentary?
Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, August 12th, 2011 - 122 comments
Farrar and others of the Right push for ever lower taxes, but their arguments are laughably flimsy. Tax cuts don’t raise revenue. Tax cuts don’t cause growth. In search of their ”superior moral justification for selfishness” the Right are going to have to do a lot better than that…
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 15th, 2011 - 83 comments
In response to Labour’s tax proposals the Right is trotting out their favourite mindless catch phrase – “the politics of envy”. Should the Left fight fire with fire, and get stuck in to “the politics of greed”?
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, June 16th, 2011 - 100 comments
The Nats’ blogging poodles are still trying to spread disinformation about credit card details (we have the proof). Are they just stupid, or do they know they’re spreading lies? Either way it amounts to the same thing, they are deliberately trying to upset innocent members of the public. The usual scummy tactics.
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, June 15th, 2011 - 87 comments
National’s first dirty tricks operation of the 2011 election campaign has ended in an embarrassing own goal. But they’ll be back with more of the same. Because the last thing National wants is an election campaign focused on the issues.
Written By: - Date published: 6:26 am, June 14th, 2011 - 383 comments
National’s raid on Labour donor data was a grubby, amoral little operation, with no point except to intimidate innocent individuals.
Unfortunately for the Nats it has blown up in their faces.
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, June 13th, 2011 - 126 comments
At 9am today Slater is probably going to publish a list of some of the donors to the Labour Party. A big thank you to every person on that list! To anyone who is angry at being named, please don’t blame some hapless web admin working for Labour. Please blame the people who took this information and illegally made it public.
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, May 27th, 2011 - 14 comments
This story didn’t get any big headlines. This story slipped by almost completely under the radar. But it’s a very important story. Much more important for New Zealand’s development than the smoke and mirrors of the do-nothing budget.
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 pm, April 23rd, 2011 - 7 comments
“Fallen soldier records free to access over Easter” is the headline in a Herald story today promoting a special free access to a website. I went to look at it because three of my four uncles were shot down in combat during World War 2. Both of Mum’s brothers, Andy and Jack, were killed and …
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, March 23rd, 2011 - 45 comments
Owners of businesses in the red zone CBD want brief access to their premises to retrieve items and data that are vital to whatever remaining chance they have of keeping their enterprises alive. The government is refusing access on the grounds of safety. There’s right on both sides of the issue, but whatever happened to informed consent?
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 25th, 2010 - 90 comments
Some of the journalists covering Pike River have resorted to extreme measures (even posing as victim support workers) to try and contact grieving families. This is an example of all that is wrong with the media taken to the very worst of its extremes. I can see the problem, but I can’t see the solution. Are the light and dark sides of the media simply inseparable?
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, October 22nd, 2010 - 31 comments
When Justice Bill Wilson was accused of serious misconduct, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson didn’t want to investigate telling fellow National MP Colin King “Justice Wilson is a mate of mine and there’s no way I am pursuing this any further”. Now, Wilson’s got a $885,000 golden handshake from the government to make the issue go away.
Written By: - Date published: 6:06 pm, October 10th, 2010 - 116 comments
TVNZ have announced the resignation of Paul Henry. John Key’s going to have a LOT of angry rednecks on his case over this one. First Andy Haden, now Paul Henry. And then of course there are all the civilized people already on Key’s back about his gutless failure to protest Henry’s racism in the first place.
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, October 9th, 2010 - 56 comments
Here’s a compilation from TV7′s Russell Brown from April this year, highlighting the value for money taxpayers get from paying Breakfast Bigot Paul Henry $300,000+ per year: ridiculing the appearance of guests whose opinions he disagrees with, ridiculing deaf people, women, and the disproportionate rate of infant deaths in developing countries – “but they’ve got …
Written By: - Date published: 8:05 pm, October 7th, 2010 - 40 comments
India’s External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has summoned the New Zealand High Commissioner in New Delhi to please explain Paul Henry’s ultra-racist outburt against Minister Sheila Dikshit, on New Zealand’s state broadcaster TVNZ. The Minister may also like to ask why Prime Minister John Key giggled in response Henry’s racist attack against our Governor General …
Written By: - Date published: 6:28 am, October 7th, 2010 - 50 comments
More anti-Indian racism from Paul Henry… and Paul Henry being racist about hispanics (you can tune out through the middle, but listen to the first and last few minutes) We’re paying this guy $300,000+ a year for this. This is what TVNZ condones in continuing to employ Henry, despite it going against TVNZ and BSA standards. It’s typcial …
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, October 5th, 2010 - 73 comments
Here’s some of the international coverage of New Zealand that Paul Henry’s racist outburst against our Governor General Anand Satyanand has sparked. In India and here. Cool, after the recent effigy burnings of a certain Kiwi in New Delhi on the grounds that he was racist, that should really help things heaps. Australia, UK, USA, …
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, October 4th, 2010 - 185 comments
New Zealand’s most infamous anti-Ambassador Paul Henry has shamed us all once again. On TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, Henry asked John Key (at 6’30″ into the interview) of our Governor General “Is he even a New Zealander” (Satyanand was born in NZ) and could the next GG be someone who “looks and sounds a bit …
Written By: - Date published: 11:41 pm, September 17th, 2010 - 17 comments
It’s been a very big week this week, so I thought I’d do a round-up, just so we don’t forget some of the ‘lesser’ lights that may have been big news had we not had so much to go on…
Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, July 3rd, 2010 - 9 comments
Over at No Right Turn, I/S I filed an OIA request for specific information on the handling of Cabinet conflicts of interest. The request has been declined. In the following post (reprinted) I/S sets out the “Questions the government will not answer”.
Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, June 17th, 2010 - 37 comments
Currently the “hunt” is on for whistleblowers in cases both within NZ, and internationally. When a whistleblower takes on a big organisation over a matter of genuine public significance they are taking a risk, in some cases a huge risk. Let’s hope that there will always be people who are brave enough to make sure that we the people know the truth.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 29th, 2010 - 47 comments
Key’s assets are supposed to be blind to him. Before the 3 News report he claimed that they were blind. Now he is claiming something much much narrower (no “beneficial interest”). Why? We’ve been here before. Bill English claimed no “pecuniary interest” in his accommodation rort trust. The Auditor General found otherwise. Key’s case should go to the Auditor General too.
Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, May 7th, 2010 - 11 comments
It’s puzzled me for some years how few people bat and eye at the countless portrayals of violent death and brutality we see every night on TV, while anything that portrays acts of physical intimacy are carefully vetted in case they cause anyone offence. This cultural oddity has been highlighted by a recent BSA ruling that …
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