Author Archive

An illiterate from another age

Written By: - Date published: 5:20 pm, April 27th, 2009 - 43 comments

I see that Michael Bassett has written about this site. However he doesn’t bother to check his facts or to keep up with current trends in online participation. It is a pity in a historian because he is obviously incapable of understanding how fast the world is changing. He seems to prefer to make either […]

Mount Albert Labour goes active

Written By: - Date published: 3:34 pm, April 26th, 2009 - 68 comments

On the way to the Question & Answer session for the Mount Albert Labour selection candidates, it was clear that the campaign has kicked off.  The hall is slowly filling up, and it looks like the seats are all full. You’ll see a photo (from the iphone) of candidates on the front table just as […]

Denigration of public service

Written By: - Date published: 5:41 pm, April 25th, 2009 - 42 comments

There was a great turnout at the Mount Albert War Memorial building this morning, both inside the hall and people outside waiting for the flag and the silence. What has been intriguing me over the years is the changing number and demographics of the people who are now turning up. When I first started attending […]

Look Mum they stole my city …

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 28 comments

After the success of the meetings about the super-city in Waitakere and Manakau yesterday, here are a few more of interest in date order. We will issue reminders when they are due. From the notice on the Grassroots Labour site about a public meeting in Waitakere. Time April 27, 2009 from 8pm (now correct time) […]

Well deserved

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 17 comments

Helen Clark has been awarded an honorary doctorate, a Doctor of Laws, by Auckland University. Chancellor Roger France said in a written statement that the degree recognised Helen Clark’s “enormous contribution to New Zealand and on the international stage”. “Helen Clark had made a mark nationally and internationally in a way that few leaders can […]

Phil Twyford not seeking Mt Albert nomination

Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, April 21st, 2009 - 57 comments

Breaking news… Labour MP Phil Twyford announced today he will not be seeking the nomination for the Mt Albert by-election. Twyford said he believed the by-election was an ideal opportunity to bring more fresh talent into Parliament, building on Labour’s 2008 intake. “I am already a Member of Parliament. If someone from outside stands and […]

Has National changed its policy on the super-city?

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, April 21st, 2009 - 23 comments

Yesterday I pointed out that the Local Government Act requires referenda on boundary changes such as are envisaged for Auckland. To not do so would be to use the parliamentary rights to amend legislation to remove a required consultation with the citizens of Auckland. It appears likely (from Graeme) that NACT will put forward a […]

When is the required referendum?

Written By: - Date published: 3:21 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 19 comments

I agree with the title of the Herald’s editoral today: “Let citizens have say on Super City“. Unfortunately, the editoral itself is wishy-washy. Aucklanders do deserve to have a say on the super city proposal. They should get to vote yes or no on the supercity in referenda before anything is set in stone. In […]

The sensible bits

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, April 18th, 2009 - 1 comment

Brian Rudman has a piece in the NZ Herald looking at the good side of the Auckland reorganisation. The potential for pooling resources. This was one of the reasons that there is widespread support for some kind of reorganization of Auckland into a single political structure. Just not with the proposal from Rodney Hide which […]

The fightback begins

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, April 18th, 2009 - 22 comments

This morning I picked up the local newspaper out of the mailbox – Harbour News. On the front page was this extraordinary editorial – “Who stole our Voice“.  The editor of the Harbour News tears Rodney Hide and the NACT government a new excretory orifice. This is what is coming from the ground up all […]

What plan? Government incoherent

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 17th, 2009 - 39 comments

Peeking through the OECD policy brief there were some interesting issues when looking at the short-term economic issues over the next few years. As usual Granny Herald in their usual editorial policy of supporting NACT has it wrong. On their front page article they said… The economy is in for a long and deep recession, […]

dick-o-meter

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 12th, 2009 - 16 comments

Russel Brown at Media7 doing a light-hearted take on how pathetic Paul Henry has been over time. You really have to ask if this Henry has left early adolescence yet after watching this video. But he does have his supporters with similar attitudes. hat-tip: Brian Edwards who has started a blog. It is a bit […]

Creating venal politics

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, April 11th, 2009 - 13 comments

It appears that John Key and Rodney Hide are participating in an old political action in Auckland – the gerrymander. From a general desire from politically aware Aucklanders to get a more coherent local government for the city, they have constructed a political system for business to completely dominate the city. Democratic and public spirited […]

Key, a Worthless Prime Minister?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, April 10th, 2009 - 24 comments

Yet another twist in the Worthless saga. It turns out that he used his diplomatic passport on the trip to India – which was a ‘private’ trip. John Key in his usual spineless way has issued another limp ‘warning”. It appears that even Worth does not believe the warning. Colin Espiner says Worth admitted in […]

Cullen leaving Parliament

Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, April 7th, 2009 - 67 comments

The press statement from Michael Cullen on his departure from Parliament is here. He will be missed, and probably not just by members of the Labour Party. He has been an outstanding Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. His attention to looking forward to circumstances such as the current world economic chaos has left […]

Key paralytic as ice melts

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, April 7th, 2009 - 42 comments

John Key’s government is at the climate change talks in Bonn avoiding doing their part in combating more climate change in the future (along with Russia and the Ukraine). Meanwhile the British Antarctic Survey is reporting that the Wilkins ice shelf is likely to disappear shortly. A large part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on […]

Mt Albert nominations open for Labour

Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, April 7th, 2009 - 19 comments

Normally I don’t put up press releases but this one is special to me. It is about my home electorate and where I moved to in 1964 to start primary school. Labour Party President Andrew Little is calling for nominations for the Mt Albert by-election, following the appointment of Rt Hon Helen Clark as Head […]

When are politicians like cats?

Written By: - Date published: 12:50 am, April 5th, 2009 - 6 comments

For some reason the convolutions in this video reminded me of the twin comedy act of Worth and Grosser this week. Not to mention Key doing a weak-kneed ‘bollocking’ in a direct contrast to his expectations of what Labour should have done last term. This video is one of the best (and earliest) funny cat […]

The server has moved (finally).

Written By: - Date published: 3:16 am, April 3rd, 2009 - 20 comments

The Standard has moved the server to an off-shore site. There are many reasons for this. I can get equivalent or better service offshore for about a tenth of the local price. To be precise, I paid for a year of hosting on a better system, it cost slightly more than I was paying for […]

Comparing freedom of information

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, March 30th, 2009 - 3 comments

Idiot/Savant has a great post in an aussie blog Larvatus Prodeo on the legal and operational differences between our Official Information Act 1982 compared to the Australian Freedom Of Information Act. Journalists, academics, lobby groups, opposition politicians and ordinary troublemakers like me are routinely given sensitive documents they would never be allowed to see in […]

Paul Henry defends his right to act like a child

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, March 30th, 2009 - 31 comments

Anna at The Handmirror has written a good post on Paul Henry and his obnoxious glee in denigrating someone for their appearance. I’m going to quote it in full for wider attention. TVNZ has received a number of complaints about Paul Henry, following his making fun of Greenpeace’s Stephanie Mills for her facial hair. But […]

House prices pop.

Written By: - Date published: 5:13 pm, March 25th, 2009 - 12 comments

First they go up, and then they come down. The Economist has an interesting table on the housing bubble. Those figures from the US just look outright scary. The result of the sub-prime mortgage and its consequent effects. There is also an interesting article in the Economist on the effect that increasing home ownership in […]

The government gets a headline, we get potholes

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, March 25th, 2009 - 9 comments

No Right Turn puts the farce of the governments spin into perspective in Public relations replaces policy II. I’m just going to quote it… Earlier in the month the government announced that they were spending $1 billion on state highways. It was apparent from the original press release that this was purely an exercise in […]

Sunday conspiracy humour

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 pm, March 22nd, 2009 - 17 comments

Barnsley Bill* has discovered (updated to here**) that Alexa reckons 11% of our visits come from India. Apparently BB thinks this means we are paying someone in India to fake our stats. This has ignited another round of hysteria among the rightwing nutters (commonly known as wingnuts) about The Standard. There has been a recurring […]

An idiots* guide to what happens when the CO2 affects the WAIS

Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, March 20th, 2009 - 61 comments

The preliminary results of a drill by the ANDRILL (Antarctic Geological Drilling) were published in the print edition of Nature this week. It has shown a history of the previous retreat and collapses of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The WAIS melt with its vast stores of solid water, and even more in the […]

S92A: Opportunists jumping on bandwagons

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, March 16th, 2009 - 78 comments

It is always interesting watching people and organizations jumping on bandwagons of popular movements. In the case of the section 92A of the new Copyright Act, there was a genuine movement by the denizens of the local net and artist communities that we participated in. Over the weekend Disk Smith Electronics did exactly that by […]

Words fail me

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, March 13th, 2009 - 8 comments

A link in the comments led me to ballon juice You Have To Be Shitting Me. It refers to a article at boston.com Now-needy FDIC collected little in premiums WASHINGTON – The federal agency that insures bank deposits, which is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks, […]

Sensible Sentencing Trust and GEO Group, a deafening silence

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 11th, 2009 - 33 comments

Yesterday Tane did an excellent post speculating on links between the Sensible Sentencing Trust and GEO Group. GEO Group derived from the notorious Wackenhut Corrections and it now wants to run privately run and publically funded prisons in NZ. In the US, the GEO Group supports organizations preaching almost exactly the messages as the SST […]

Pasifika Festival going ahead

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 11th, 2009 - 5 comments

The opening night of the Pasifika festival at Western Springs in Auckland will be proceeding. After a funding shortfall the Auckland City Council cancelled the traditional Pasifika opening night. But the Pacific Islands Board Auckland City (PIBAC) and the Pacific community rallied together and last week announced that they would be funding the opening night […]

Drinking Liberally Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 pm, March 10th, 2009 - 3 comments

Just a reminder that Drinking Liberally is on in Auckland again after a hiatus of 5 months. It is just the thing to warm you up now that the Fiji weather has departed. REMINDER: Drinking Liberally is on 7pm tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Speaker is Rod Oram on global economic crisis. London Bar, corner Queen & […]

Melting point

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, March 10th, 2009 - 5 comments

The Ecologist Film Unit’s second release documents how espionage, news manipulation, legal threats and even violence have become the knee-jerk response of Government and big business to the increasingly vocal concerns of environmental protesters in the UK. Ahead of next month’s Climate Camp at Kingsnorth power station, this exclusive and powerful film exposes the extraordinary […]