Author Archive

Can This Government Regain Power on Its Policies?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 11:46 am, January 17th, 2018 - 82 comments

The sixth Labour led Government has made a good start to its term. But what policy results will New Zealand have to vote for and campaign on in 2020?

Is it time to Nationalise Auckland?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:51 am, January 13th, 2018 - 52 comments

It has been a decade now since Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide proposed amalgamating all of Auckland’s city councils into one enormous entity by dumping much of the Royal Commission’s proposals. Well it’s time to hold its results to account.

Climate Change and the New Zealand Defence Forces

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, January 12th, 2018 - 74 comments

It’s always bugged me that our military forces are under-used in New Zealand. It’s time we invited them to protect us from climate change.

Coco

Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:00 am, January 10th, 2018 - 12 comments

Ad reviews the Children’s movie Coco and suggests there is something there for people of all ages.

Bitcoin 2018

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:51 am, January 6th, 2018 - 204 comments

Is Bitcoin something to worry about or something to embrace?

The Froth Comes off The Beer

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, January 5th, 2018 - 77 comments

Auckland appears to be following the trend set by Melbourne and Sydney of a softening in expected prices for selling houses.

Man of the year and global leader of the year

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 30th, 2017 - 50 comments

Why Donald Trump should be considered to be man of the year and why the left should be thinking about why he is succeeding.

2018 mental flossing: Power

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 28th, 2017 - 33 comments

Following the change in Government, the question is, who is in control on either side.

Ain’t Gonna Play

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 26th, 2017 - 187 comments

New Zealand musician Lorde has announced that she will respect the boycott of Israel and not perform there.

Why Christmas is good

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:32 am, December 24th, 2017 - 82 comments

Why the concept of christmas is a good thing.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 22nd, 2017 - 2 comments

Why the latest Star War movie may contain inspiration and meaning for left wing activists.

The Medicinal Marijuana Bill

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 21st, 2017 - 40 comments

Will the Medical Marijuana Bill just introduced into Parliament be as effective as proponents wish?

Germany and New Zealand Redux

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 20th, 2017 - 10 comments

New Zealand and Germany are both successful societies, with proportional democracies, strong economies, underpinned by strong public institutions and legal frameworks, and consistently believe that we are going in the right direction. But both countries rely on MMP and coalition governments. What will happen to the support parties?

The future of the USA

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 19th, 2017 - 78 comments

Left and right are used to predicting the accelerated decline of America, but are we now seeing it before our eyes and in our lifetimes?

The Minister of Finance’s Mini-Budget

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:59 am, December 14th, 2017 - 88 comments

Big day today as Labour’s mini budget is announced.

Why Malcolm Turnbull is nearly right

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, December 12th, 2017 - 27 comments

Malcolm Turnbull is proposing law changes in Australia to try and minimise the effect that China is having on Australia’s democratic system. He may not be wrong in doing so.

Economy 2018

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, December 9th, 2017 - 31 comments

It’s that time of year where we start making predictions for 2018. I see it looking not too hot, not too cold.

First year of study free launched by Prime Minister Ardern

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:09 pm, December 5th, 2017 - 83 comments

Jacinda Ardern has formally launched the Government’s free tertiary education policy.

Progress from the Labour led government

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:04 am, November 30th, 2017 - 44 comments

Just over one month in the new Labour led Government and it is time to measure progress.

Can a Labour led Government win the tax debate?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:58 am, November 28th, 2017 - 48 comments

Why National is currently winning the debate about tax and what Labour needs to do to change this.

Appalling men and great art

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:32 pm, November 27th, 2017 - 49 comments

There have been some great artists face some appalling allegations. Would they have been as successful if their great crimes had been exposed?

Social Democracy is still alive

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:30 am, November 24th, 2017 - 49 comments

With socialist governments in rapid decline right across the world, and just a very few social democrat governments re-emerging after many years out of power, it’s useful to remind ourselves of what governmental combinations are working well.

Queensland State Election and Coal

Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:22 am, November 22nd, 2017 - 9 comments

The Queensland election is turning into one of those rare and weird ones in which a large-scale environment-versus-economy fight looms largest.

Bourgeoise meth

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:44 am, November 21st, 2017 - 157 comments

The release of new valuation figures yesterday reinforced how addicted householders are to increasing real estate valuations, no matter what the cost.

Tampa, Ardern and positioning small countries

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, November 16th, 2017 - 41 comments

There are major similarities between Helen Clark’s decision to accept into New Zealand refugees from the Tampa boat and Jacinda Ardern’s pushing for New Zealand to accept refugees based on Manus Island.

Election autopsies

Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:31 pm, November 13th, 2017 - 29 comments

US democratic activists have conducted a number of reviews on what went wrong at the last election. The conclusions they have reached could helpfully inform New Zealand political activists on what to do in 2020.

Labour and rural voters

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, November 6th, 2017 - 94 comments

In recent years Labour has allowed National to dominate rural politics. Maybe it is time for Labour to think about reaching out to rural voters and suggest to them that a progressive vote is in their interests.

Let’s do this

Written By: advantage - Date published: 2:42 pm, November 3rd, 2017 - 11 comments

With a change of Government it is a time for a change in the public entities that run New Zealand.

Jacinda Ardern, Donald Trump and political manners

Written By: advantage - Date published: 2:42 pm, November 2nd, 2017 - 12 comments

In terms of style and approach Jacinda Ardern is radically different to Donald Trump.

Climate Change and the Actual Challenge to This New Government

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:49 pm, October 30th, 2017 - 10 comments

A new report from the Deep South National Science Challenge highlights the infrastructure issues and that adaptation could require significant and expensive changes to stormwater and wastewater networks.