Author Archive

Don Presland obituary

Written By: advantage - Date published: 6:30 am, October 23rd, 2017 - 23 comments

Long time Unionist and Labour supporter Don Presland died last week. Family friend Ad writes about Don’s decades of standing up for workers’ rights and in celebration of the life of a really good man.

This coming digital war

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:12 am, October 21st, 2017 - 68 comments

This is the first Labour Government of the digital age. How progressives respond to social media attacks may be crucial to its success.

China and New Zealand

Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:49 pm, October 17th, 2017 - 70 comments

Is it time for New Zealand to align itself with China rather than the United States?

Austria and Europe

Written By: advantage - Date published: 2:07 pm, October 16th, 2017 - 20 comments

Europe is showing a worrying trend to the right as anti immigration parties are voted into office. Austria provides the latest example.

The Nobel Peace Prize

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, October 13th, 2017 - 12 comments

Last week, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). This is a coalition of NGO’s from over 100 countries, which has led the charge to convince nations to outlaw nuclear weapons. The committee honored ICAN for “its work to draw attention to the catastrophic […]

Is there a Role for the Governor General in Coalition Formation?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:07 am, October 10th, 2017 - 50 comments

MMP is challenging the traditional role of the Governor General in determining who should lead the Government after an election.

Blade Runner

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, October 5th, 2017 - 17 comments

A film review on the latest Blade Runner movie.

Ten Reasons for National to do another term

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, October 5th, 2017 - 28 comments

A tongue in cheek list of reasons why it may be best for National to form the next Government.

The political strategy of Winston Peters

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:21 am, September 29th, 2017 - 13 comments

The Winston Peters interregnum provides New Zealand with the opportunity to work out what are core values and what can be the subject of compromise.

The German Elections

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, September 26th, 2017 - 40 comments

On the other side of the world another western democracy with an MMP system has recently had an election which has thrown up a complex result.

A meeting in Wanaka

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:00 am, September 13th, 2017 - 162 comments

Ad reports on a recent meeting in Wanaka where David Parker addressed farmers face to face on Labour’s water policy.

The Cost

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, September 9th, 2017 - 59 comments

Should the Greens form part of the next Government there will be huge expectations on them to perform.

Tourism and Conservation Fund policy from Labour

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:50 am, August 29th, 2017 - 7 comments

Labour has announced a Tourism and Infrastructure fund policy which will raise funds for conservation and infrastructure.

Middle East Changes

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:58 pm, August 27th, 2017 - 70 comments

If there is a change of Government what should Labour do about requests for military assistance in the Middle East?

A billion Indians

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, August 26th, 2017 - 33 comments

The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that privacy is a fundamental right to life and liberty under India’s constitution. Other countries recognise the right to privacy against the state. But commercial interest through social media have access to huge amounts of private information. Why should there be a right of privacy against the state but not corporate interests?

Political Statues

Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:16 pm, August 25th, 2017 - 42 comments

America is experiencing difficulties because of the celebration by the right of statutes of their racist heroes. Why does New Zealand not have this problem?

Labour Campaign Launch this Sunday

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:49 pm, August 19th, 2017 - 18 comments

Labour’s campaign launch is this Sunday in Auckland.

Are Government-business Think Tanks worthwhile?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:41 pm, August 17th, 2017 - 7 comments

In America Donald Trump has abandoned business think tanks that he established not that long ago. During the last Labour Government Helen Clark established the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board with mixed results. What should a Jacinda Ardern led Labour-Green coalition do?

Labour’s policies

Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:44 am, August 15th, 2017 - 65 comments

A list of Labour’s announced policies to date and an easy way to compare them to other parties’ policies.

Reviving

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, August 8th, 2017 - 45 comments

Is Jacinda Ardern’s rise to power evidence of a change of approach to political campaigning by Labour?

Labour’s Auckland Transport announcement

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:30 pm, August 6th, 2017 - 102 comments

Labour has announced its Auckland Transport policy.

The Democrats and Russia

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, July 26th, 2017 - 66 comments

The Trump presidency appears to be in a death spiral because of the Russia issue. But the Democrats are not taking advantage. Why?

Imagine the world without America

Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:00 am, July 23rd, 2017 - 63 comments

America used to be the most powerful nation in the world. But things are changing.

Why be a public servant?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 20th, 2017 - 28 comments

Today thousands of IRD workers face the prospect of losing their jobs while two MOT workers who lost their jobs for whistle blowing are vindicated. Who would be a public servant?

Waimea a good dam?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:00 am, July 14th, 2017 - 54 comments

The proposed Waimea Dam in Nelson is attracting opposition from the Green Party but support from the Labour Party. Is there such a thing as a good dam project?

The Game

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:00 am, July 9th, 2017 - 80 comments

If a Rugby series was an election campaign.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, July 4th, 2017 - 9 comments

Ad asks is the world more secure than a year ago? Is the danger of serious economic crisis higher or lower? Are the institutional arrangements and norms that resolve conflicts and enhance the prospects for international cooperation more or less robust than they were in July 2016.