Author Archive

For what it’s Worth

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, December 5th, 2012 - 23 comments

John Key on whether Brendan Horan has the moral right to stay in Parliament: “I don’t think he would do if Winston Peters can really put up the arguments that he is that whatever he (Horan) has done is so bad that he deserves to be expelled from the party and has really bought (sic) Parliament into disrepute, but the issue is: can and will he prove that?”. Can anyone say: Richard Worth?

GCSB cover-up once in a decade

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, December 5th, 2012 - 79 comments

Remember when Bill English signed a Ministerial Warrant on behalf of John Key in a last-ditch attempt to stop the GCSB’s illegal spying on Kim Dotcom from becoming public? Did you wonder ‘what’s a Ministerial Warrant?’ I did. I’d never heard of one. Well, the Greens investigated. Now, it turns out there’s only been one issued in at least a decade.

Taking the gap

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, December 3rd, 2012 - 157 comments

Russel Norman’s taken advantage of the gap in Labour’s economic skills and vague positioning to cement the Greens as the main alternative voice on economics. Labour lacks any strong economic voice now Cunliffe’s on the outer, and they don’t know where they stand – they attack National but essentially adopt their neoliberal approach.

$50,000 per Hobbit job

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, November 28th, 2012 - 144 comments

Government has a central role in job creation. Just ask National. They’ll tell you it’s not true, and then proudly proclaim that they got The Hobbit made here, creating 3,000 temporary jobs. According to the New York Times, the total cost of our government’s subsidies for The Hobbit is NZD$150m – $50,000 per short-term job.

Bias in election coverage?

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, November 27th, 2012 - 44 comments

Like everyone else, I find you can get better political analysis from chicken entrails than from Claire Robinson. But it seems she can count and use a ruler and what she discovered is interesting. In last year’s election campaign, the four biggest newspapers featured 138 pictures of Key to 80 of Goff, and Key’s were twice as large on average.

Winners and losers

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, November 21st, 2012 - 156 comments

So, who won and who lost?

Members send a message to caucus

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, November 18th, 2012 - 19 comments

Looking at the MSM reaction this morning, one thing is clear.

They’ve missed that the significance of the vote yesterday was not about whether there will be leadership contest.

It’s about the accountability of the caucus to the party.

Labour chooses democracy

Written By: - Date published: 2:55 pm, November 17th, 2012 - 152 comments

Labour has established its new leadership voting rules. The attempt to effectively neuter the membership’s new power by setting a high bar for a leadership vote to be triggered failed. It will take 50% of caucus to trigger a vote in ordinary times, but a 60% caucus endorsement of the leader to avoid a leadership vote in the compulsory mid-term motion.

Polish that turd, John

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, November 17th, 2012 - 16 comments

John Key knows his economic failures are coming out in to the open, so he came to The Nation this morning expecting a fight. And he knew his lines well and it all sounded good. If you didn’t think about it. Basically, he said the solution to the fact unemployment has risen by 80% under his failed economic policies was… wait for it … his failed economic policies.

Kiwis lose jobs, Nats make jokes

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, November 15th, 2012 - 21 comments

Didn’t it make you sick to your stomach when smug Tories getting fat on quarter of a million dollar taxpayer-funded salaries get up in the House and make jokes to deflect from the dire jobs situation?* Well, I know 410,000 Kiwis who are looking for work and aren’t laughing when Key and co make jokes about it.

Crushless Collins drops lawsuit

Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, November 14th, 2012 - 18 comments

Judith Collins pledged to take Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little to court for defamation after they suggested she was involved in leaking Bronwyn Pullar’s name via Slater-Lusk. Today she dropped the suit after a letter from Mallard and Little in which a) don’t concede defaming her and b) deny intent to do so. A huge back down from Crushless.

Don’t worry, be happy

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, November 13th, 2012 - 53 comments

I don’t read the Listener or Kiwiblog, so it was 3 months until Anthony drew this article to my attention. The bit that caught my attention was oil and gas shill John Pagani saying The Standard‘s “idea of political is embittered and angry”. Allow me to respond.

On David Shearer’s Leadership

Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, November 10th, 2012 - 284 comments

For the Left to win in 2014, David Shearer has to resign as Labour Leader. This is a big call to make and one that I have agonised over, but the reality has become increasingly clear: under Shearer, Labour is all too likely to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 2014.

More positive news from US elections

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 8th, 2012 - 36 comments

Fran O’Sullivan must be shaking her head in confusion – her endorsement of Mitt Romney failed to get him over the line. Maybe she’ll find succor in these referenda results: 5 out of 5 states voted in favour of legalising marijuana. 4 out of 4 voted in favour of marriage equality. California has watered down its 3 strikes law. And Florida voted against banning public funds for abortion.

New heights of childishness

Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, November 8th, 2012 - 33 comments

Yesterday, Key denied calling David Beckham “thick as batshit”. Specifically, he denied using the word ‘batshit’. While it’s enlightening to see Key remembers quips to schoolgirls better than he does briefings from his spies, couldn’t he just have manned up and told us exactly what insult he did use, and then do the adult thing and apologise?

High trust

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, November 6th, 2012 - 12 comments

National’s strategy around the Pike River report is to try to get the media story over in a day. But this won’t go away. For one, there’s Key’s claim that our safety standards were up to Aussie’s and our safety record was good. Then, there’s the larger question of the Government’s whole neoliberal approach that leads to such disasters.

Only there for the photo-ops

Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, November 5th, 2012 - 33 comments

John Key won’t be on the West Coast today when the Pike River report will be released. He’ll have a tightly managed press conference at the Beehive, instead. Key promised that he would stand  by the Pike River families. He promised that all efforts would be put in to get the bodies out, no matter the cost. It was all hollow talk from a hollow man.

Clear as batshit

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, November 5th, 2012 - 147 comments

On Breakfast just now, Tourism Minister Key tried out his line on the international debacle arising from his insulting a prominent visitor to our country who was forbearing enough to spend time talking to Key’s kid. His plan is to try to stymie the story by saying ‘I’m not going to engage with what some reporter think they heard’. No denial. No owning his behaviour. Just pathetic.

Gordon Campbell on Labour

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, November 1st, 2012 - 152 comments

It looks like Gordon Campbell has picked up on Irish’s piece on what Labour needs to do and added a few thoughts of his own. I think Campbell has a point here and it troubles me deeply. The last thing we need is for Labour’s vote to collapse in election year the same way Bill English’s did in 2002, or for the campaign to be derailed by faux pas like Brash in 2005.

Failing on jobs? Attack the workers

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, October 31st, 2012 - 62 comments

National are economic failures. Unemployment is up two thirds under their watch and still rising. Household incomes are falling behind inflation. Manufacturing firms are closing up and making workers redundant. People are fleeing to Aussie in record numbers looking for jobs and decent wages So, what’s Key’s solution? Drive down wages by attacking workers’ right to organise.

Is anyone ABC any more?

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, October 30th, 2012 - 178 comments

It’s fine not to agree with someone’s politics. It’s fine to weigh up the attributes of one prospective leader against another and decide that one is the better choice. But the Anyone But Cunliffe clique didn’t do that. They literally wanted anyone who wasn’t Cunliffe. When Parker wasn’t going to win, they went to Shearer. It was a childish way to play with Labour’s future.

It really is the economy, stupid

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, October 29th, 2012 - 112 comments

The latest Roy Morgan also includes a poll of what people think is the single most important issue facing New Zealand.It makes informative reading. Jobs is the largest: 1 in 5 consider it the most important issue. Combined, the economic categories are 57% of people’s top issue, up from 49% a year ago, and 43% the year before that.

Out of touch on jobs

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, October 26th, 2012 - 9 comments

Yet National’s position is that there isn’t a problem, let alone that they can do anything about it.

Business NZ threatens members will violate human rights over PPL

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, October 25th, 2012 - 19 comments

Here’s Business NZ’s shill on extending paid parental leave: “Employers who have been forced to bear considerable replacement costs, or to find those amongst their other employees willing to provide cover, may well think hard before again employing a woman of child-bearing age”. 1) that makes no sense 2) it’s illegal under the Human Rights Act.

Time for Greg O’Connor to resign

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, October 25th, 2012 - 52 comments

All Police are tainted by the illegal, unethical actions of the few, which the Police Association under Greg O’Connor endorses, defends, and tries to cover-up. O’Connor’s latest outrages are dismissing a report into systemic sexism and sexual abuse by Police as a “ritual humiliation” and justifying Police laying false prosecutions.

And now, some good news

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, October 23rd, 2012 - 8 comments

Union members are the ones who win decent wages and conditions for everyone. And the good news is union membership is increasing, despite rising unemployment.

A trip down faulty memory lane

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 pm, October 17th, 2012 - 69 comments

One of the fishy elements of the GCSB-Dotcom-Key saga is Key’s suddenly very faulty memory. It’s unbelievable what he’s forgotten about such a major issue. Here’s a partial list of things Key can’t recall, isn’t sure about, or doesn’t know – just from his answers in the House and just the last 3 days of questions. Update: got to tip my hat to Te Reo Putake’s name for the PM: ‘DunnoKeyo’

None so blind

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, October 17th, 2012 - 43 comments

Yesterday, John Key told Parliament in endless detail exactly what the GCSB did trying to check if there is any video of him talking about Dotcom. He knew all of that front to back. But, when it came to a simple question: ‘when did the GCSB realise they had broken the law in spying on Dotcom’. He had no idea. It’s incredible that he hasn’t bothered to learn such a basic fact.

Banks suppressed Police statement

Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, October 17th, 2012 - 48 comments

Remember how Banks’ Police report came out and the statement he gave to the Police was blanked out? And remember how Banks said it was the Police’s choice, not his? Yeah, well that was a lie. Even on the most generous reading of Banks’ words, he was trying to mislead the media. What’s Key’s rule? “A Minister who lies or misleads about his actions would lose his confidence”

Inflexible national standards labels kids failures

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, October 16th, 2012 - 51 comments

Did you know that national standards must be completed in written form and there is no provision for extra time or oral answers from students (oops, sorry, ‘learners’ in Parata-speak) with disabilities? At high school and uni, if you have the need, you get these things. National’s stupid national standards have no such flexibility. Instead, they label you a failure.

Time for Labour to end the Jones ego show

Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, October 14th, 2012 - 37 comments

Shane Jones doesn’t have any portfolios – he’s been relieved of them, for a second time. So, what the hell is he doing acting as a spokesperson? First, he takes it upon himself to attack Gareth Hughes for the crime of sharing a Greenpeace parody of a Sealord’s ad on Facebook. Then, he attacks Hughes’ […]

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