If only Key was as passionate about climate change

Written By:
Date published: 8:18 am, February 12th, 2015 - 43 comments

John Key gave a somewhat rousing speech about how New Zealand would not stand back when dealing with the ISIS tyranny. It made me wonder why he is not passionate about dealing with a problem that has the potential of wrecking much of the world’s environment and making much of it it uninhabitable.

Open mike 12/02/2015

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Date published: 6:30 am, February 12th, 2015 - 220 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Revolutionary Spain, Revolutionary Syria, and the Bastards We Vote For.

Written By:
Date published: 3:36 pm, February 11th, 2015 - 63 comments

It seems that just as the 30’s offered the chance to turn dreams into reality, Syria is offering that chance up to ‘the left’ today. Suddenly, for me, the recent travel bans and the passport confiscation laws etc make sense since we are potentially looking at an international influx of non-nutters and non- psychopaths as happened during the Spanish Revolution of the 30s.

Say NO to the $140m SkyCity bailout

Written By:
Date published: 12:32 pm, February 11th, 2015 - 86 comments

The Labour Party is organising a petition against the $140 million bailout SkyCity is demanding – and John Key is insisting we have to pay to prevent getting an “eyesore” of a convention centr

Salvation Army – State of the Nation

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Date published: 9:42 am, February 11th, 2015 - 18 comments

This morning the Salvation Army released their state of the nation report – A Mountain All Can Climb. It is mixed news, and most coverage has focused on the impact of the housing crisis.

SkyCity vox pop

Written By:
Date published: 9:00 am, February 11th, 2015 - 21 comments

skycity-vox-pop

Open mike 11/02/2015

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Date published: 6:35 am, February 11th, 2015 - 244 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Sky City’s playing us for suckers

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Date published: 8:14 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 87 comments

Sky City crying too poor to build a bigger casino – give us a break, please!  Casino expert Sudhir Kale estimated the extra pokies gained by Sky  to be worth $35million over figures used by government. That’s for year upon year to 2048. It could cover any casino upgrade in four years. Either Joyce and Key are being played for suckers, or they are playing the rest of us for suckers. The deal stinks.

Damn you readers :) Upgrades again

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Date published: 7:47 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 31 comments

Well ok, after the election I figured that I could shift the site to some slower storage with a whole lot of redundancy in a RAID6 array of slower drives. We’d have a lot fewer readers than our peak for 6 months after post election, right? Nope – wrong. You are making me work…

The Enduring Legacy of Neo-Liberalism – Sir Edmund Thomas

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Date published: 4:25 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 6 comments

Sir Edmund Thomas will discuss this topic in Wellington at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace,  tomorrow Wednesday 11th at 5:30pm. All welcome – see synopsis – if you would like to come please register here.

NRT: Parliamentary Privilege vs Suppression Orders

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Date published: 4:08 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 27 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on the most interesting event at the first session of Parliament for 2015. The Speaker’s actions open up an interesting can of legal worms…

The SkyCity Deal

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Date published: 1:11 pm, February 10th, 2015 - 76 comments

Eighteen months ago Stephen Joyce said about the Sky City Convention Centre deal that anything not written down was not happening. It appears that he was wrong as John Key softens us up for more public money being spent on a private convention centre.

Campbell on separatism scaremongering

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Date published: 10:36 am, February 10th, 2015 - 35 comments

The excellent Gordon Campbell on Key’s divisive and opportunistic lines on “Maori separatism”.

The Sallies do not like Government’s housing policy

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Date published: 8:30 am, February 10th, 2015 - 61 comments

The Salvation Army has all but ruled out being involved in the Government’s Social Housing unless it is provided with capital.  And if divestment occurs it considers that tenants should have a role in governance of the houses they live in.

How does #nzpol do on Facebook?

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Date published: 8:30 am, February 10th, 2015 - 19 comments

Feinstein Doak has a post up with the Top Political Facebook Posts of 2014, and the results are interesting.

Open mike 10/02/2015

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Date published: 6:40 am, February 10th, 2015 - 186 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Captain’s Call

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Date published: 7:32 pm, February 9th, 2015 - 53 comments

Leaving Mike Sabin in charge of the Law and Order Select Committee was certainly a captain’s call by John Key. Just like Tony Abbott’s award of  a knighthood to the Duke (as if he needed more fruit salad), this was a judgment call. And it does call Key’s judgment into question. It’s not about when he knew what he knew, it’s about what he did when he knew.

Locking in housing inequality

Written By:
Date published: 3:20 pm, February 9th, 2015 - 37 comments

We are in the process of locking in inequality through the intergenerational ownership of housing, thus squeezing more and more mobility out of society.

Cult of “personality”

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Date published: 8:36 am, February 9th, 2015 - 56 comments

The latest bout of National’s cult of “personality” was on show at yesterday’s Big Gay Out

Hide vs Armstrong on Sabin

Written By:
Date published: 7:11 am, February 9th, 2015 - 114 comments

In which Rodney Hide writes the column that The Herald’s senior political reporter should have written…

Open mike 09/02/2015

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Date published: 6:30 am, February 9th, 2015 - 330 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

The War Club Family

Written By:
Date published: 7:35 pm, February 8th, 2015 - 73 comments

There’s a fascinating article in the latest New Statesman titled “An Empire that speaks English: the right’s dream of a new world order.” Suddenly UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond’s recent visit here makes sense. So does John Key’s references to sending troops to Iraq on behalf of the “club” or the “family” – he’s at the heart of the Empire.

Is Tony’s tenure terminal?

Written By:
Date published: 2:41 pm, February 8th, 2015 - 47 comments

Over in Australia a spill motion scheduled for tomorrow may end Tony Abbott’s reign. Former PM Julia Gillard who famously lectured Abbott on his misogyny must be grinning from ear to ear. Update: Abbott has survived with the vote reported to be 61-39 against a spill. I suspect the left will be pleased …

Tino Rangatiratanga

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Date published: 7:51 am, February 8th, 2015 - 309 comments

It has been claimed that Andrew Little has advocated for Maori to have law making powers. What he has done is reflect on a recent Waitangi Tribunal decision which concluded that Maori never ceded sovereignty to the Crown and properly concluded that this is an issue that needs to be considered.

Open Mike 08/02/2015

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Date published: 7:16 am, February 8th, 2015 - 80 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

A concise description of the problems in the Middle East

Written By:
Date published: 5:18 pm, February 7th, 2015 - 40 comments

The complexity of the current Middle East situation explained in a single letter to the editor.

17 year old kiwi sits atop the world

Written By:
Date published: 4:17 pm, February 7th, 2015 - 15 comments

The only person to receive 100% in the world for her work was a young kiwi with only two years background. Read more here.      

Police told the Government about Sabin’s problems

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Date published: 7:30 am, February 7th, 2015 - 218 comments

Police Commissioner Mike Bush has essentially confirmed that under the no surprises policy the Police told either Anne Tolley or Michael Woodhouse or both about the Police investigation into Mike Sabin. The issue will be when they were told. If this occurred before the time that Labour told the Prime Minister’s office about Sabin’s difficulties the veracity of what John Key has told us will have to be questioned.

Open mike 07/02/2015

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Date published: 7:15 am, February 7th, 2015 - 135 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Weekend social 06/02/2015

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Date published: 2:00 pm, February 6th, 2015 - 28 comments

Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?

Guest Post – Waitangi Day, build a bridge and get over it

Written By:
Date published: 8:48 am, February 6th, 2015 - 30 comments

A Guest Post by David Meech presenting an irreverent view of Waitangi day, and New Zealand history and culture.

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