Author Archive

When politics and music video collide

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 pm, February 9th, 2008 - 2 comments

From CNN earlier in the week – Jeanne Moos presents her very own Super Tuesday Political Video Awards. A good summary of some of the hottest and some of the most cringe inducing items on the download circuit. What will be our NZ equivalent? Meantime fresh controversy is set to rage with the news that […]

TV3 poll presents challenge

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 pm, February 5th, 2008 - 38 comments

The latest TV3 poll comes hot on the heels of Labour MPs gathering for their first caucus meeting of the year. “National can govern alone in the latest 3 News poll at 49 percent. It has shed two points, from what was an artificial high.But Labour drops to 35 percent, the lowest it has been […]

Key and crabs

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, January 16th, 2008 - 52 comments

Now I know many of us are still in holiday mode for awhile longer but did it strike anyone else as a little odd to see Mr Key speak out against someone earning their living (presumably) – wanting crab pots banned at his exclusive beach resort? “Mr Key said residents approached him late last month […]

What you can do with this gadget is up to you

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 pm, January 10th, 2008 - 3 comments

Spotted in the NY Times (6 Jan 2008) this new gadget looks like it takes the concept of open source one step further (article has some photos too). “HACKERS, welcome! Here are detailed circuit diagrams of our products — modify them as you wish.” That’s not an announcement you’ll find on the Web sites of […]

The Politics of New Hampshire

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 pm, January 10th, 2008 - 9 comments

For those of you following the presidential primaries this opinion piece by Dan Balz in the Washington Post (9 Jan) provides some interesting observations on the Clinton/Obama result which flew in the face of polls and political pundits: “Hillary Clinton’s stunning victory here on Tuesday night was another powerful reminder of something that is taught […]

Political intermission

Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, December 21st, 2007 - 1 comment

If like me you are thinking “why?” to the issue of attack billboards at the time of year when everyone just wants to escape from work and not even think about politicians then here’s something you might enjoy. From Creature Comforts – a unique perspective on the Christmas season… (includes a pensive turkey who feels […]

Spain bans parents from smacking children

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, December 21st, 2007 - 61 comments

Yesterday we saw a report from Police Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope saying claims that the repeal of section 59 would lead to the prosecution of parents and the removal of children from their homes have been proven wrong. This follows another report which indicates that the law change has not led to a big rise […]

Leadership style & Clinton v Obama

Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, December 19th, 2007 - 3 comments

Leadership is a quality that everyone can recognise but a whole suite of academic debate has emerged over its definition. For an example check out these Q&As from the NZ Leadership institute. Here, between the leaders of our two major parties we see the positioning between the experienced Helen Clark, and the untested John Key […]

Turning attention inward: looking at the media

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, December 14th, 2007 - 8 comments

Some interesting observations from Steven Price on DomPost editor Tim Pankhurst’s keynote address at the Jeanz conference called “The Power of Print”. His speech included this interpretation on the NZ Herald’s Electoral Finance Bill campaign: “He was a bit bemused. “Good on them,” was his attitude. But he thought it would be boring the Herald’s […]

National reopens Selwyn race

Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, December 14th, 2007 - 2 comments

Local Nats don’t want David Carter as their candidate for Selwyn. Looks like the threats, intimidation and bullying tactics used to get him the candidacy have backfired for him. Carter (himself a three time loser to Labour’s Ruth Dyson in Banks Peninsula) has a history of bagging other candidates within his party. He said of […]

What is the price of believing?

Written By: - Date published: 1:41 pm, December 12th, 2007 - 15 comments

Oprah is a global brand, so when she went public with her campaign to support Barack Obama it was part of our news cycle. But we haven’t seen much follow-up on what it means for the Democrats and impact on the African American vote as they primaries beckon. For those taking an interest in US […]

Argentina gets first elected female president

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, December 11th, 2007 - 13 comments

We’ve been writing about Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark (btw – yesterday was the 8th anniversary of signing Ministerial warrants for the first term Labour ministers). Now Argentina has an interesting twist – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first woman to be elected president in Argentina, succeeded her husband, Nestor Kirchner. From the NY Times: […]

Xmas trees & when all that glitters

Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, December 11th, 2007 - 11 comments

It was once a matter of personal preference. Now it’s part of the sustainability story. Do you prefer the uniform shape, colour, ease of the plastic fantastic, or was the distinctive aroma of pine sap and rustle of pine needles a defining characteristic of your Xmas experience? Well now there’s the ethical question to add […]

A decade since Shipley

Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, December 10th, 2007 - 34 comments

How remiss of us! Our pals over at Kiwiblogblog have just pointed out that we’ve just missed the 10 year anniversary since Jenny Shipley first took the reins on 8 December 1997. Some of my personal favorites from her time in the sun: The Code of Social and Family Responsibility. At the time the Wesley […]

Political correctness gone Möbius

Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, November 1st, 2007 - 4 comments

In the wildly twisty turny inverted think of Rodney Hide it is both possible to say all violence is wrong and that smacking isn’t violence so that’s OK. Mr. Hide’s October media release states: “violence in any circumstance is unacceptable” In May Mr. Hide stated that: “I think the issue of the smacking of children—not […]

Growing poverty across the Tasman

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, October 26th, 2007 - 6 comments

The Australian Council of Social Services has highlighted an update on the numbers living in poverty. New figures released by Australia Fair show that the number of Australians in poverty increased from 9.8% to 11.1% of the population between 2003-04 and 2005-06. This is based on the standard measure used extensively in OECD countries, 50% […]

National’s challenge

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 pm, October 24th, 2007 - 1 comment

With the British conservatives looking strong (and Labour embarassed by the costs of an election that never was) and the fresh new blood surging ahead across the Tasman (noting that the polls continue to be against Howard despite their proposal for a massive tax cut) I suspect National here will be feeling pretty pleased with […]

Deja vu: alle par dejeuner

Written By: - Date published: 3:34 pm, October 12th, 2007 - 9 comments

Reading Hager’s observations in his select committee testimony got me thinking. That big business lobby which used to sit behind Dr Brash now sits behind Mr Key. I’m sure McCully has explained to those monied types that National has to be careful about how to describe the true policy agenda. But Mr Key and his […]

Tough but fair

Written By: - Date published: 5:08 pm, October 9th, 2007 - 1 comment

Listening to Nine to Noon on RNZ yesterday I thought there was some useful insight into the bigger picture behind Key’s “the war in Iraq is over” gaffe: Laila Harre: What this really demonstrates is a real lack of depth in terms of John Key’s own understanding not just of foreign policy issues or grasp […]