Archive for November, 2010

Made in Wellington

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 33 comments

I went to see Made in Dagenham last night. The parallels between the dispute, that began when female workers at a Ford plant in the UK struck for better pay, and then equal pay with men, and the Hobbit fiasco were striking. But it’s the dissimilarties in the outcomes that I was left pondering. Let’s take a look at the two events:

Schools stand up for education

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 70 comments

225 schools are refusing to take part in the Nats flawed, damaging “national stadards” fiasco.  They have a mass of educational evidence and professional opinion on their side.  Anne Tolley and the Nats have precisely no evidence to support their position, all they can do is repeat threats, slogans and lies.  That is why the Nats are losing this debate.

Nat’s Mana strategy: exploit Parliament

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 47 comments

National is finding new exploitative ways to try save their by-election campaign in Mana.

Labour and Greens lead on transparency

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 12 comments

Last week Speaker Lockwood Smith rolled back transparency on MPs expenses, by making travel spending secret again.  John Key came out “against” the move.  Yesterday Labour and the Greens called his bluff by releasing their details.  Over to you John, once again you’re too late to lead, but you can still follow…

Open mike 03/11/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 70 comments

Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Austerity in the UK

Written By: - Date published: 5:16 pm, November 2nd, 2010 - 63 comments

The UK entered the financial crisis over-committed and under-prepared.  They spent billions of taxpayers’ money bailing out the bankers.  Now the bills need to be paid, and the new government is embarking on a vicious austerity regime.  As usual, the burden falls on the poor…

Charging for the foreshore

Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, November 2nd, 2010 - 9 comments

I don’t know about you, but I have certainly been confused about ACT’s move to insert a last-minute clause into the new Marine and Coastal Areas (Takutai Moana) Bill (proposed replacement for the Foreshore and Seabed Act). Canterbury legal academic David Round sets out some of the issues involved.  With deep divisions within Maoridom, and a growing conservative backlash, this mess isn’t going away any time soon…

Can we afford poverty?

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, November 2nd, 2010 - 215 comments

We know that poverty is the root of a good deal of society’s problems from crime, to poor educational outcomes, to poor health. Just the direct economic costs of these problems are in the billions per year, and we can’t forget the loss of human potential and happiness. The good news: we can easily afford to eliminate poverty.

Tolley pushes ‘choice’ in private schools over child welfare

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, November 2nd, 2010 - 116 comments

Anne Tolley’s Education Amendment Bill 2, due out of Select Committee next week, ignores the Law Commission’s call for “light-handed” legislation to deal with 100 year old gaps that leave children at private schools in a legal vacuum regarding their welfare.   Instead the Nats will hand unspecified sums of public money to private schools.

Open mike 02/11/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 2nd, 2010 - 25 comments

Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Treasury: peering into the dark with a broken torch

Written By: - Date published: 12:09 am, November 2nd, 2010 - 55 comments

I saw Labour’s press release yesterday about the latest Treasury monthly statements. Basically, Treasury says ‘the economy’s a whole lot worse than we expected but we stand by our growth forecasts in the Budget’. Odd, because the Budget forecast 1.6% growth so far this year and it has actually been 0.7%. How good is Treasury at forecasting?

Broadband deal illegal?

Written By: - Date published: 7:08 pm, November 1st, 2010 - 10 comments

Are Joyce’s plans for a regulatory holiday on the proposed ultra-fast fibre broadband network a violation of international legal commitments?  InternetNZ says yes.  Joyce says no.  Labour’s Clare Curren accuses the Nats of “disregard for NZ law, legal trade obligations and public scrutiny”.

Felix on the Mana debate

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 1st, 2010 - 24 comments

Q+A held a debate between the Mana by-election candidates yesterday. Felix has done a very nice summary of how the candidates came across. Fa’afoi is a good guy but we aren’t seeing his values coming through very strongly. Parata is a nasty piece of work. She continually interrupts others when they speak then gets angry at the slightest questioning.

Turia vs the Maori Party Left

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 1st, 2010 - 41 comments

The problem with any identity-based political movement is it pre-supposes that the common identity of its members surpasses their conflicting class interests. This has been brought to the head at the Maori Party national conference as Tariana Turia angrily denounced criticism of the Maori elite from the Left faction.

Do nothin’: drink-driving

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, November 1st, 2010 - 60 comments

The latest drink-drive crash has reignited the debate over the legal blood/alcohol level. It’s clear from John Key’s excuse-making on Breakfast this morning that the Nats have no intention of reducing the limit from 0.8 to 0.5. The argument that most drink-drivers have accidents when they are well over 0.8 misses the point.

National’s Broken Promises

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, November 1st, 2010 - 18 comments

National are a land of broken promises – from GST rises and tax cuts to falling wages and attacks on education.  Here’s my list – help me with any I’ve forgotten.

Key to get White House invite?

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, November 1st, 2010 - 45 comments

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way to New Zealand this week, bringing the customary promises of good will and better relations between our two countries.

The big question is however: Will Clinton be bringing the overdue White House invite for our Prime Minister? John Key has claimed after all he and Obama are best pals… and he can pick up the phone anytime. Now’s the test.

Open mike 01/11/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 1st, 2010 - 91 comments

Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…

Happy birthday Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 am, November 1st, 2010 - 8 comments

Happy Birthday Auckland!  The new Supercity is now in effect, with Mayor Len Brown at the helm.  How is the tension between a left wing mayor representing a third of the country, and a right wing central government, going to play out?  The Nats can’t afford to let Auckland fail…