Author Archive

Farewell Michael

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:29 am, May 1st, 2009 - 23 comments

Well the other shoe has dropped, and Michael Cullen has now left parliament. His valedictory speech is classic Cullen – best line (re his new role at NZ Post) “When I attacked National last year for swallowing so many dead rats little did I think that some might see me as one of them.” Anticipating […]

The Obama of the South Seas

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 4:00 pm, April 30th, 2009 - 30 comments

The bizarre project to try to portray John Key as the Obama of the South Seas continues. Garth George today writes: “The new politics is being generated by two relatively young leaders, Prime Minister John Key and President Barack Obama, both of whom overcame less than desirable childhoods to succeed in business.” “succeed in business”… […]

Public holidays

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:30 am, April 30th, 2009 - 50 comments

If a Public Holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, we should get the day off on the following Monday instead, like other countries. In 2011, Easter Sunday and ANZAC day will be the same day. Dumb. If Anzac Day coincides with another public holiday, the day off should be moved to the next […]

Jarring

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:03 pm, April 29th, 2009 - 49 comments

Today Phil Goff’s question to Key is: “Does he agree with the statements in the House by his Minister of Finance on 16 December 2008 that ‘Yes, I can confirm that National will not be going back on any of those promises, as we fully costed and funded them’?” His angle is obviously going to […]

As bad as it gets

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:44 am, April 29th, 2009 - 48 comments

Clare Trevett grow up. You write a piece congratulating Key on making diversionary statements when he is asked serious questions about the supercity? I know your employer is chief propagandist for Key and the supercity but don’t you have any professional pride? You should be the one asking the questions, not cheering when the PM […]

It’s good enough for Wanganui

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:21 am, April 29th, 2009 - 11 comments

Rodney Hide refuses to give Aucklanders their referendum on the supercity and one of the excuses he offers is the cost: “The difficulty with a referendum is it would cost a million dollars” So what kind of things do councils find it worthwhile holding referenda on? Here’s what the people of Wanganui got to vote […]

Focused on what matters

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:36 pm, April 28th, 2009 - 60 comments

So John Key has set his taxpayer paid researchers onto David Shearer. The best they can come up with is that 11 years ago Shearer advocated using regulated mercenaries on UN peacekeeping missions because nations like the US are often unwilling to commit their own troops. If Key, who is clearly obsessed with winning Mt Albert, (he made […]

Random media comments

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:45 am, April 28th, 2009 - 20 comments

Is there any point reading the NBR now Ben Thomas has left? Losing New Zealand’s most promising young journalist and getting Hooton, it’s like trying to replace a talking parrot that’s died with a slug – well it’s scarcely a replacement is it? Does the Trans-Tasman daydream about marrying Key? Because they sure do love […]

Don’t fear the reaper

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:05 pm, April 27th, 2009 - 20 comments

The Government’s response to the recession so far has been to curl up in a ball and hope it will go away. Incredibly, while the economy is shrinking, the Government is destimulating it further by cutting public services. The excuse they give is that if the Government doesn’t reduce its borrowing, the credit ratings agencies […]

Right’s excuses fall flat

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:56 pm, April 26th, 2009 - 40 comments

David Farrar, head of the Free Speech Coalition and renowned democracy fighter, has outlined the Right’s reasons for opposing letting the people of Auckland decide whether they want the Government’s proposed supercity. The post contains a bizarre level of personal abuse against Phil Goff but all that does is highlight the weakness of the actual […]

Hide says no to referendum

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:59 am, April 25th, 2009 - 18 comments

Rodney Hide says Aucklanders shouldn’t have a vote on whether or not they want his supercity. He uses one of the weaker arguments the righties have been running in our comment threads “it’s not just a `yes’ or `no’ question” Yes it is. The question of how a super-city should be structured is not a ‘yes’ […]

Bouncing from cloud to idiot cloud

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:01 am, April 24th, 2009 - 21 comments

Check out this piece on TV3. Key first talks about the “9-week fortnight” and doesn’t even catch his mistake. Then, trying to justify not offering 9-day fortnights for the public sector (which Germany etc are doing), he says “well, the public sector has different issues at the moment, you know, we’re, you know, undergoing some […]

Solution

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:31 am, April 23rd, 2009 - 12 comments

Keeping with the topics of the day thus far – Air New Zealand and pay packets – a solution to the Zeal320 dispute occurs to me. There are about 240 flight attendants striking for fairer pay (they want pay parity with flight attendants doing the same job but employed directly by AirNZ eventually but at this […]

About time

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:26 am, April 22nd, 2009 - 14 comments

It’s good that Labour has rejoined good leftwing principles over the foreshore and seabed. Labour was spooked by the popularity of National’s race baiting into emulating them. They should never have denied iwi the right to go to court to try to establish their customary rights to sections of the foreshore and seabed. There are […]

High quality government spending

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:29 am, April 21st, 2009 - 4 comments

I suppose the Herald means for us to recoil in horror at the headline “$325,000 bill to save 57 jobs” but I’m fine with it. Look at the alternative – 57 families taking a major hit to their incomes, with all the consequences for health, education, crime, and family stability that we know unemployment brings. Think […]

Leaping into inaction

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:32 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 12 comments

Cycling is a great way to travel, so it’s great that the government is going to back more cycleways around the country to make the experience safer and more enjoyable for cycle tourists. But the new plan will only see a national network completed in “10-20” years time. That’s not going to help the recession […]

Vote Yes

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:34 am, April 20th, 2009 - 33 comments

Why are the questions in citizens-initiated referenda always written by idiots? You want people to vote for your cause, right? So frame the question so people who agree with your position tick the ‘yes’ box. Simple? But they keep getting it backwards. Remember the first one? “Should the number of professional firefighters employed full time […]

Workers stand up to exploitative bosses

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:23 am, April 19th, 2009 - 5 comments

Head of the Unite union, Matt McCarten, writes about the Synovate lockout and how foreign-owned businesses try to exploit New Zealand workers: [The] owners offer workers essentially nothing above the minimum wage then expect everyone to roll over and accept it. The normal threat is to close and go offshore. This is supposed to terrify […]

Turning a blind eye

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 4:25 pm, April 18th, 2009 - 16 comments

Unlike some of the other Standard writers, I don’t usually find Fran O-Sullivan too bad but her reporting of Key’s trip to China has been disappointing. Here’s how she describes Key’s failure to stand up for human rights: “Key is also quite pragmatic on human rights. He did not seem bothered enough on China’s record […]

So much for accountable government

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:13 am, April 17th, 2009 - 11 comments

Five months in office and ministers are already so aloof and out of touch that you can read things like this in the media almost without raising an eyebrow: The Government says it will listen to the wide range of concerns about its plans for a Super City in Auckland but whether it takes any notice is […]

Johnny’s next big idea

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:18 am, April 16th, 2009 - 13 comments

In two days, John Key will be bouncing from cloud to cloud on his way back home from China. With him on the plane will be a group of businessmen that Fran O’Sullivan (in shockingly bad taste) calls the ‘gang of seven’. These include: the guy who got a 93% pay increase to $3.1 million […]

Nats still involved in dodgy donations

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:30 am, April 16th, 2009 - 38 comments

The Herald covers some of the donations to parties and candidates before the election. One of the big donors was the Road Transport Forum, the trucking lobby, who were behind the famous ‘truck strike’. They’re getting value for money eh? National’s Transport Minister Steven Joyce has taken half a billion out of public transport and […]

As predicted

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:30 am, April 15th, 2009 - 8 comments

Last week, John Key was bouncing on a new cloud. The Australian Government had teamed up with banks to help stop homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. Key publicly mused that ‘his’ government could do the same here. We said it was only a matter of time until English quietly killed the idea. Sure enough: “The […]

Good to hear it, Phil

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:13 pm, April 13th, 2009 - 37 comments

Back during the election campaign, the Standard writers wrote a lot about the need for Labour’s leaders to talk more from their values, values that they quite happily talk about in private. Well, Phil Goff did exactly that on Q+A yesterday (video here). Here’s the best quote: PHIL Well my vision for New Zealand is […]

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:54 pm, April 12th, 2009 - 13 comments

Usually I’m working, so I don’t get to see Sunday on TVOne. Lucky me. I flicked over for the very end tonight, just in time to see whathisname with the moustache reading our viewers’ comments. There was a comment from Mary that went something like ‘the government should get tough on crime, seize offenders’ assets […]

Herald tells Kiwis to bend over

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:36 am, April 12th, 2009 - 32 comments

The Herald’s article this morning on how to ‘Future-proof your job in the recession’ tells Kiwi workers to bend over for your boss and take it; cause that’s the only way you’re gonna keep your job. No. Workers are in danger of losing their jobs because of fat greedy corporates in the first place. We […]

Chopper’s vice

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 3:57 pm, April 11th, 2009 - 6 comments

Trevor Mallard reminded us in comments of another story that illustrates Anne “Chopper” Tolley’s great intellect. Soon after she became minister, Tolley had a meeting with the Vice-Chancellors of various universities. She turned to her staff and asked something along the lines of ‘how come I’m only meeting with the vice-chancellors? I’m the minister, I […]

Dispatches from the Mirror Universe: Herald vows to fight super-council

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:18 pm, April 10th, 2009 - 36 comments

Today, The Herald relaunched it’s ‘Democracy under attack’ campaign with a front page editorial. The editorial is damning of National/ACT’s plan for an Auckland super-council. Here are the main points: “everyone, regardless of their political hue must oppose the removal of representation without consent” “the precedent is that when a merging of councils is proposed […]

Cyclewatch

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:15 am, April 9th, 2009 - 33 comments

Time: 14 days Jobs created: 0 Built (km): 0 out of 1500 Cost thus far: $0 Govt estimated cost: Not $50m this year, next year, or the year after that. Country status: In recession

Thanks, Helen

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:20 pm, April 8th, 2009 - 46 comments

There goes the best leader we’ve had in a life-time. Was she perfect? No, far from it. There are many things she might have done differently but she led governments that made New Zealand a better place in so many ways. We’ve heard her government’s achievements so many times I won’t try to list them all. They have […]

The Tolleycopter

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:36 am, April 8th, 2009 - 32 comments

Most people have focused on the utter hypocrisy of National’s Anne Tolley flying around Auckland in a helicopter looking at education buildings from the air at the same time as the government says it can’t afford to help people falling victim to the recession. I’m more worried about how the helicopter ride came about. It […]