Archive for June, 2012

Serco incompetence should put a halt to Wiri

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, June 7th, 2012 - 10 comments

A year in to its 10-year, $300 million contract, and Serco is making a real hash of running Mt Eden Prison. A second escape this week, along with two late releases, failure to meet drug testing targets and failure to report as agreed. And this is dealing with mostly only remand prisoners. Why are we spending $900m on an unneeded prison at Wiri for these clowns to run?

The problem with Treasury’s broken crystal ball

Written By: - Date published: 6:56 am, June 7th, 2012 - 35 comments

The Budget was released on May 24th and Treasury’s numbers are already proving to be wrong. It’s not just a laughing matter. When you’ve got a government making its decisions based on a arbitrary, binary bookkeeping target: surplus by 2014/15 – yes/no, then you’re going to get problems when your chief bookkeeping agency doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.

Open mike 07/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 7th, 2012 - 131 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…

Lifestyle “choices”

Written By: - Date published: 3:58 pm, June 6th, 2012 - 192 comments

Last year John Key said that the poor and those on benefits had made lifestyle choices.  If they budgeted properly, they’d be fine. Things aren’t fine, and they’re getting worse, which is why a 40-yr-old DPB Mum in Christchurch – facing an $80/week rent increase, because Key hasn’t done anything about Christchurch’s housing shortage – has had to resort to the lifestyle “choice” of prostitution.

Basher Bennett rides to Hekia’s rescue

Written By: - Date published: 3:26 pm, June 6th, 2012 - 41 comments

Same old National – when they’re in trouble, out comes the club for a distracting headline.  Hekia Parata’s under fire and digging herself  into a very deep hole, so Paula Bennett rides to the rescue with the “news” that Cabinet is discussing allowing judges to direct miscreant parents not to have children. Who knows what the judges think about this hospital pass – let’s hope the media sees it for what it is.

People make a mess

Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, June 6th, 2012 - 15 comments

Like the character, Nick Taylor, in the movie, ‘Thank You For Smoking’, self-styled “Oil lobbyist”, David Robinson is a highly paid apologist for the fossil fuel lobby. But even he says he wouldn’t want fracking in his neighbourhood.

Transit of Venus

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, June 6th, 2012 - 7 comments

The transit of Venus is in progress. If cloud cover allows you a view it’s a pretty special astronomical event…

Coward

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, June 6th, 2012 - 79 comments

Hekia Parata has refused to front up to education groups against her bigger class sizes.

Only money matters

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, June 6th, 2012 - 12 comments

How did National get it so wrong on the cuts that would costs too many schools far too many teachers?  Did the Nats do any consultation at all?

Open mike 06/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 6th, 2012 - 73 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…

At least Parker’s onto it

Written By: - Date published: 5:33 pm, June 5th, 2012 - 80 comments

The news out of Europe, China and Australia is looking worse by the day. What’s coming at us doesn’t look pretty. I was about to do a post saying I hoped someone in Labour was doing some scenario planning and was very pleased to see today that Parker’s  eyes are open.

Class sizes: show National you care

Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, June 5th, 2012 - 23 comments

Here’s a petition against Hekia Parata’s class size increases. Show the government what a big mistake they’ve made. If Federated Farmers can spread it, so can you…

Postcards from the “brighter” future

Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, June 5th, 2012 - 18 comments

Hey John – where’s our “Brighter Future”? Hey National voters – was this what you voted for?

CGT Now!

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, June 5th, 2012 - 32 comments

The “tradeable” sector is still shrinking. The property market is heating up again. We need a capital gains tax now.

John Key, the jobs fairy

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, June 5th, 2012 - 46 comments

Remember when John Key promised 4,000 new jobs from the cycleway and, in fact, a few hundred, short-term, part-time positions were created? Remember when John Key promised 170,000 new jobs and unemployment went up instead? Looks like Key’s being making it up on the pokies-for-convention centre deal too, which would create only a fraction of the jobs promised.

Open mike 05/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 5th, 2012 - 127 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…

One law for some

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 pm, June 4th, 2012 - 18 comments

Financially troubled private school Wanganui Collegiate received a $3million grant in Budget 2012, 3 times the annual operating grant of the larger Wanganui City College. Since then it has been advertising its low class sizes and ability to  reduce fees significantly. Private schools will no doubt be using the current outrage over increased class sizes for recruiting purposes, but they should not be doing it with taxpayers’ money.

Greens going mainstream

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, June 4th, 2012 - 73 comments

The Greens have singled out Key and Bennett for scathing personal criticism. Another sign that The Greens are becoming a mainstream political party? Can’t argue with the results, but I must admit that I find it all faintly depressing.

Out of order

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, June 4th, 2012 - 79 comments

I’m not a big fan of the whole honours system, with or without knighthoods. But if you’re going to have it, make it mean something. Giving the top gong, which only 20 living people can have, to a guy whose claim to fame is marrying his second cousin and then acting like the stereotype of […]

There is no alternative?

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, June 4th, 2012 - 77 comments

We all know National is on a record borrowing binge. But when they say they need to slash education investment to balance the books, what dumb spending are they leaving untouched? Which leaves the obvious question: why were these Tory sacred cows protected while public education was cut?

Open mike 04/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 4th, 2012 - 175 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…

Sunday reading

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, June 3rd, 2012 - 12 comments

Last week I put up some Sunday reading – longer, thoughtful pieces I’d found.  I liked that other people also put up their links, with some very interesting topics.  So I thought I might make it a regular feature.  I’d put up a couple of interesting things that I’d come across in the week, and other people could share their links.

The politics of reproduction

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, June 3rd, 2012 - 236 comments

The Nats have a thoroughly unhealthy obsession with the politics of reproduction. They’re talking about “stopping ‘unfit’ parents reproducing”, but Paula Bennet let slip the real agenda months ago.

Emmerson: Larger classes

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, June 3rd, 2012 - 8 comments

Open mike 03/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 3rd, 2012 - 62 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…

Protest in the smartphone age

Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, June 2nd, 2012 - 31 comments

There’s a lot of analogy between how a guerrilla movement succeeds against a superpower or a state in the era of mass communication and how protest movements can do the same. Unable to win head-on, losing becomes winning as long as the cameras are rolling. It’s about being seen as having a legitimate cause and just as importantly being seen as the victims of disproportionate force and abuse of power.

Police fail to incite riot

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, June 2nd, 2012 - 142 comments

The police have a number of different strategies for dealing with protest marches. Each has its own known likely result and the police choose their strategy depending on the desired outcome. Yesterday’s mass arrests were not the police responding to something they did not expect to happen. They went into it with a plan to […]

Parata to change careers?

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, June 2nd, 2012 - 15 comments

Hekia Parata this week became the fourth minister in three months to see her career reduced to tatters. Looks like she’s planning a change.

Class sizes don’t matter?

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, June 2nd, 2012 - 44 comments

Open mike 02/06/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 2nd, 2012 - 81 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…

Abbott does a runner

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 pm, June 1st, 2012 - 7 comments

Tony Abbott fled from the Australian Parliament on Wednesday. He was trying to avoid his vote being recorded if newly independent Craig Thompson supported the Coalition on a closure motion. Running away won’t help Abbott whose numbers are at record lows as Labor improves. Instead of a leadership spill in Labor we could see one in the Coalition.