Written By: - Date published: 3:00 am, July 17th, 2009 - 49 comments
So, Fitch, the third of the big three sovereign credit ratings agencies, has moved the Government’s rating from a stable outlook to a negative outlook. Does this mean that John Key will be admitting that he has delivered a credit downgrade, like he was boasting of an upgrade when S&P (another of the big 3) moved us […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:25 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 16 comments
Courtsey of Chairman Meow. Obey the Kitteh!
Written By: - Date published: 3:52 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 30 comments
Maori unemployment is ballooning day by day but the most important thing that Maori Affairs Minister Sharples can spend his time on is debating which flag will fly on the Harbour Bridge next Waitangi Day. “Having a flag under which Maori can rally under is really, really, really important. And people might see it as […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 3 comments
Drinking Liberally Palmy’s having their first event of the year at the Brewers Apprentice bar on July 23. Head over, have a pint or two, talk some politics with likeminded people and hear Green co-leader Metiria Turei talk about the upcoming referendum. As usual with these events she’ll probably stick around afterwards for questions and […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:46 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 7 comments
It takes two days from folate blowing up as a political issue for Key to get Crown Law onto finding a way for us to get out of it. It’s been nine months and there’s still no action on the economy and jobs. Priorities? By now, we know what Key’s priorities are: Dampen down any […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 44 comments
It was disappointing to hear Phil Goff defending the Fourth Labour Government on National Radio the other morning. This was a government whose policies put hundreds of thousands of Kiwis out of work, introduced regressive taxation through GST, began the firesale of our national assets and drove record numbers of our young people to suicide. […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, July 16th, 2009 - 2 comments
60 Minutes on “Video piracy” – 1979 – part 1 of 2 60 Minutes on “Video piracy” – 1979 – part 2 of 2 (Via Gizmodo)
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, July 16th, 2009 - 34 comments
Does it seem odd to you that on March 20th 2009 the Minister for IT & Comms, Mr Steven Joyce, said the following: “We have been following the internet filtering debate in Australia but have no plans to introduce something similar here. … The technology for internet filtering causes delays for all internet users. And unfortunately those who are […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, July 16th, 2009 - 18 comments
Crusher Collins to launch McPrisons(TM) Clearly envious of the regular stream of complimentary Happy Meals arriving at Paula Bennett’s Parliamentary office (Paula tells us she has already managed to collect seven out of the eight of the new Ice Age figurines), Crusher Collins has attempted to go one better than Bennett’s McJobs scheme with a […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, July 16th, 2009 - 18 comments
I disagreed with Helen Clark in 2007 when she first suggested raising the school leaving age, as I don’t believe the mainstream school system is suitable for all young people. However I did largely support Labour’s 2008 policy to ensure all school leavers under the age of 18 are in some kind of education. If […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 16th, 2009 - 15 comments
Claire Trevett wrote me a very cordial email in response to my criticism of her reports from Key’s trip around the Islands. I want to say from the start this reply is meant in the same constructive tone. Trevett points out that there were in fact two articles each day – one serious, one ‘colour […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:40 pm, July 15th, 2009 - 15 comments
Gordon Campbell has a great piece up at Scoop on the pitfalls of Public Private Partnerships, something we’re going to be hearing a lot more about in the near future if National and its business mates get their way. Go have a read.
Written By: - Date published: 4:12 pm, July 15th, 2009 - 12 comments
John Key’s speech on the economy, billed as the way to close the 30% wage gap with Australia, had six policy headings – regulatory reform, infrastructure investment, better public services, education and skills, innovation and business assistance, and a world-class tax system. On regulatory reform, the recipe was more deregulation, particularly of job security with […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, July 15th, 2009 - 70 comments
Looking at the centre photo above of John Key gave me pause for thought; I realised that much as I dislike his politics, he is a brave man. Brave because he really does appear to be consistently out of his depth, yet despite being half-dead with a cold or exhaustion, he soldiers on. I somehow doubt […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, July 15th, 2009 - 42 comments
I was going to do a fisking of Key’s ‘major speech‘ today. But there’s nothing to fisk, no substance, no ideas, no vision. There’s just endless recycling of the same old Crosby-Textor lines and waffle. In fact, there’s one section that is just a bunch of rehashed lines – one after the other. You get […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, July 15th, 2009 - 13 comments
Judith “Crusher” Collins, postergirl for uncompassionate conservatives, proudly announces in her latest press release: “Prison numbers set to be highest ever”. Odd thing to be proud of when what it really shows is a justice system that’s failing. Our rate of incarceration – the second highest in the western developed world – should be a national […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, July 15th, 2009 - 9 comments
The Key Government decided not to monitor the implementation of its Fire at Will law. It probably feared embarrassment. Fortunately, the EMA and CTU have done something to fill the gap (from RNZ report, not yet online). The EMA conducted a survey of members and the CTU has asked workers to come to them for assistance if […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:10 am, July 15th, 2009 - 19 comments
Today Key is giving a major speech on the economy. He told Oliver Driver on Sunrise yesterday that it would be “pretty high level”, and he wasn’t joking. The Sir Peter Blake Awesome Stratosphere Rollercoaster will rise from Queen’s Wharf, circle the Sky tower, rise to a height of 1500m, and do a twisting loop before plunging […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 18 comments
Not to be outshone by their leader’s latest efforts, looks like Young Labour have been busy with a little video project of their own. Nice. (Hat-tip: Red Alert)
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 31 comments
According to NZPA John Key is going to deliver a big speech tomorrow in which he will “detail the problems and solutions for New Zealand’s economy”. I’m not holding my breath. As I said two weeks ago when he indicated he would announce a plan to stop job losses (he still hasn’t, perhaps this will […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 7 comments
The shots above are small versions from this site where you can find other great images from Obama’s first 167 days in office. The official Whitehouse Flickr photostream is pretty impressive too. [UPDATE] Not to be outdone, as of yesterday, National’s photostream features Kate Wilkinson with a giant lump of earwax block of cheese.
Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 6 comments
Who’d have thought? An oil company coming out on the side of New Zealand’s biggest environmental organisation over emission reduction targets. Gull says let the science dictate how much New Zealand cuts its greenhouse gases by, and that the cost of inaction will far outweigh the cost of urgent cuts. Curious times call for curious […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 30 comments
I just don’t see why medicating an entire population to prevent a handful of spina bifida cases, which will only work if women eat far more bread than they do, is a good idea. It’s such a grossly untargeted and unsophisticated approach. Saying ‘well many women don’t get enough folic acid and many pregnancies are […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, July 14th, 2009 - 7 comments
One of the most fundamental rights at work is the right to come home at the end of the day healthy and safe. Now that work right, like so many others, has come under attack from National. NOHSAC, the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee, was set up by Margaret Wilson in 2003 to […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, July 14th, 2009 - 29 comments
The Herald’s ‘Mood of the Boardroom’ survey is predictable reading. Year after year, it’s the same ideologues with the same outdated ideas. The bosses are happy that their boy is in power. Can’t point to anything he’s actually done. But love him nontheless. Still hate Labour and the unions. As ever, their companies’ under-performance is […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, July 14th, 2009 - 47 comments
As you know, things are tough in the job market at the moment. The firm figures won’t be out until later this month but unemployment has grown by probably well over 50,000 so far this year. The number of the dole has shot from 37,000 in March to 50,000 now and is growing at 1200 a […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, July 13th, 2009 - 16 comments
You may have noticed that we’ve taken to offering Labour a little unsolicited comms advice of late. Irish recently told them to get some decent key lines. I asked them (as have many others) to start talking about their vision, and when they do, to keep it simple. Phil Goff’s latest video (below) looks like a step […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, July 13th, 2009 - 16 comments
should-a.com, the site that lets you write your own parody of the upcoming referendum question, has been issued with a takedown notice by the Electoral Enrolment Centre. It’s a shame that the EEC hasn’t had a sense of humour about this but, more importantly, it reveals once again the weakness of our free speech protections […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, July 13th, 2009 - 99 comments
New Zealanders are now the third fattest nation in the world according to a report covered in today’s Christchurch Press. New Zealand faces a healthcare time-bomb as a new report ranks the country once touted for its outdoorsy, fit population as the third-fattest nation after Mexico and the United States. Health authorities fear disease and […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 am, July 13th, 2009 - 81 comments
Last Monday, John Key said you, the people of New Zealand, don’t have the right to know why a minister in your government was sacked. We think you do have that right. And so do others. We have been told the reason from sources in and around the National party. The only reason for Key […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:58 pm, July 12th, 2009 - 12 comments
Tv1 has revealed that our daydreamer PM had much much bigger plans for the cycleway. Like excited schoolkids, he and good mate Mark Weldon of the NZX drew up plans for a grand cycle race to be called the Sir Edmund Hillary tour that would go the length of New Zealand along the cycleway. They […]
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