Archive for September, 2011

Kids, Rivers, Jobs

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 21st, 2011 - 70 comments

The Greens launched their economic policy today –  I attended on behalf of the Fabian Society. Titled “100,000 green jobs for New Zealanders, it follows their plan to bring 100,000 children out of poverty by 2014. The focus was on leveraging green priorities, using direct government investment, changing the way state-owned companies work, and shifting the drivers for green jobs in the private sector.

Where the fuck is Webb Ellis

Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, September 21st, 2011 - 3 comments

http://youtu.be/WazeyJtY7UQ Very, very funny. Where the fuck is Webb Ellis? hat tip: Trevor Mallard at Red Alert

Stand up for the rule of law

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, September 21st, 2011 - 44 comments

Your Police knowingly acted illegally to spy on your fellow citizens. No-one’s saying those being surveilled are angels. It’s not about them. It’s about whether the agents of the State, who are ultimately meant to be your agents, should be allowed to act illegally. Should the ends justify the means or do we believe in the rule of law as the only way to constrain those with power from abusing it?

Ohnstrong on Labour’s Chch policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, September 21st, 2011 - 29 comments

A guest post from Jarm Ohnstrong: I want to start this article with an apology. A couple of weeks ago, I attacked Labour for its criticism of National’s performance on the Christchurch rebuild while not having released its own recovery policy. That was unfair and petty. Now, Labour has released its policy. It’s deserving of the highest praise.

The wrong problem

Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, September 21st, 2011 - 53 comments

Economist Paul Krugman argues that governments the world over need to wake up to the fact that they’ve been trying to solve the wrong problem.

Open mike 21/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 21st, 2011 - 56 comments

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

NRT: Pissing on the rule of law

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, September 20th, 2011 - 137 comments

NRT: “The Supreme Court ruled that covert video surveillance evidence against the Urewera 18 was inadmissible, because it had been obtained unlawfully. This was no surprise to the police; they had known that the use of such surveillance was unlawful, but had gone ahead and done it anyway.” Now, the government’s changing the law for them.

Chart o’ the day: Not on target

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, September 20th, 2011 - 74 comments

National Policy?

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, September 20th, 2011 - 57 comments

John Pagani has an excellent piece on the lack of National substance in the lead-up to this election.

Like last election we’re seeing Labour say what they would do, presenting one alternative, as National fail to present theirs; relying on that nice man John Key’s image over any policy substance.

Your PM at work for you

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, September 20th, 2011 - 38 comments

Two news snippets yesterday seemed to me to capture the essence of John Key PM.  First, his response to recommendations about super, and second his prognostications on the Christchurch insurance market.

Open mike 20/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 20th, 2011 - 75 comments

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

118 years on – what would Kate say?

Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, September 19th, 2011 - 15 comments

118 years to the day when NZ became the first country in the world to give women the vote.  You can imagine how incredibly proud Kate and the sisterhood must have been. You can imagine them lifting their eyes to the future and seeing women standing shoulder to shoulder with their brothers, equal in political rights (and determined to […]

The innovation that we need

Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, September 19th, 2011 - 49 comments

We’re going to need a lot of innovation to survive the coming decades. Today’s innovation is a simple modification that at least doubles the energy output of a wind turbine.  Brilliant.

Labour’s plan for Christchurch

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, September 19th, 2011 - 109 comments

Today Labour released another substantial policy, a plan for recovery in Christchurch.   It’s a policy that works for ordinary people, and a much needed helping hand for displaced red-zone residents.

FPP: A man’s world

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, September 19th, 2011 - 32 comments

The Campaign for MMP has a series of vids that we’ll be running. This one looks at how MMP has lifted the representation of women in Parliament. Makes you wonder about the people who want to send us backwards. By the by, due the paucity of women on National and ACT’s lists, the next Parliament is likely be to be first since 1978 to see the number of women decrease.

The faltering rebuild

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, September 19th, 2011 - 24 comments

The Press reports: “The Central Christchurch recovery is under threat as quake-weary property owners start using their insurance money to buy new buildings in Auckland and overseas.” Hmm. If only they had been repeatedly warned about this for the past seven months. Hopefully, we’ll see a real plan from Labour today.

Open mike 19/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 19th, 2011 - 179 comments

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

A “triumph” for McCully

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, September 18th, 2011 - 27 comments

The horse bolted last weekend.  Murray McCully has been hard at work on the stable door.  But the rail passengers voted with their feet…

Disengaged

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 18th, 2011 - 114 comments

Why are the young so disengaged from the political process?  2011 is shaping up to be even worse than last election.

Open mike 18/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 18th, 2011 - 50 comments

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

Roy Morgan and Sue Bradford

Written By: - Date published: 6:03 pm, September 17th, 2011 - 115 comments

From the miscellaneous bits of news department – a particularly grim Roy Morgan poll, and the announcement that Sue Bradford is standing for Mana against Paula Bennett in Waitakere.

Down the gurgler

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, September 17th, 2011 - 64 comments

The warnings on the economy are coming thick and fast now, both globally and nationally.

Open mike 17/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 17th, 2011 - 68 comments

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

Denmark goes centre-left

Written By: - Date published: 12:21 am, September 17th, 2011 - 31 comments

Denmark has ended the 10-year reign of the right supported by the anti-immigration Muslim-baiting Danish People’s party. The Social Democrats headed by their first woman PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt will move away from the right’s favoured austerity and spending cuts to more investment in education, welfare and infrastructure. Austerity isn’t working in Britain, and Denmark is worth watching for all kinds of reasons.

Weekend social 16/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 16th, 2011 - 77 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?

Slow follower

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, September 16th, 2011 - 16 comments

When it comes to making any kind of effort to saving the planet from catastrophic climate change I guess being even a “fast follower” was just a little too ambitious for the Key government.

Trotie – the dubstep remix

Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, September 16th, 2011 - 4 comments

Remember

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 16th, 2011 - 59 comments

When the Nats say they must cut early childhood education funding – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.
When the Nats say they have to cut women’s refuge money – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.
When the Nats say they have to sell our assets to pay their debt – remember their new $500m subsidy to polluters.

Goff dissects Key on RWC

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, September 16th, 2011 - 65 comments

A video clip from Parliament yesterday.  Goff calmly and systematically rips Key and the government apart on Friday’s RWC fiasco. Armstrong calls it Goff’s “best speech in a long time”.

Open mike 16/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 16th, 2011 - 181 comments

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

Price of milk your fault

Written By: - Date published: 6:16 pm, September 15th, 2011 - 198 comments

It turns out that the high price of milk is your fault.  No – really.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

No feed items found.

  • NZ and Nordics: likeminded partners
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has highlighted the strong ties that bind New Zealand and the Nordic countries of Northern Europe during a trip to Sweden today.    “There are few countries in the world more likeminded with New Zealand than our friends in Northern Europe,” Mr Peters says.    “We ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-04-25T01:21:11+00:00