Author Archive
You can’t fix what is not broken – no need to change university councils
Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, May 8th, 2012 - 23 comments
Dr Sandra Grey from the Tertiary Education Union has a look at Stephen Joyce’s proposals to changing the governance of tertiary education institutions. She suggests that he has a look at what happened in the changes to the polytechs in 2009. And also points out that his proposals don’t follow what is known about good governance for universities.
But it has been apparent to readers here that Joyce prefers to be a fiddler rather than being effective..
House Price Inflation
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, May 6th, 2012 - 59 comments
Land prices rising much faster than wages. Shares, derivatives, hedge funds or other financial instruments are designed so that banks can gamble with our money. Win or lose they always get a cut. Loss comes out of our pensions and other savings. Or, if they really stuff it up, taxpayers are expected to borrow more from them to pay for it. Banks following their own self interest and are compounding economies to oblivion. The “invisible hand” has failed..
Will Dunne heed his own poll on asset sales?
Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, April 30th, 2012 - 46 comments
United Future are polling the public about their support for partial privatisation. Will Peter Dunne heed his own poll?
The Gisborne rail line
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, April 25th, 2012 - 42 comments
Zetetic’s recent post on the Gisborne rail line generated a lot of comment. A week later a final comment was added – it deserves a wider audience…
The lucky ticket
Written By: - Date published: 2:56 pm, April 24th, 2012 - 52 comments
By popular acclaim we’re putting this comment by rosy up as a Guest Post. Rosy describes success in life by analogy to winning various divisions of lotto…
What is neoliberalism?
Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, April 23rd, 2012 - 190 comments
KJT offers a welcome refresher on the dominant economic/political ideology of our time. The one that has lead us to where we are today: Neo-Liberalism is a moral and intellectual justification for greed. A way for those few who accumulate wealth, by impoverishing many, to justify themselves, and keep those they are stealing from docile and compliant.
Ounce of prevention, pound of cure etc etc
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, April 12th, 2012 - 43 comments
Vetoing extra paid parental leave doesn’t make social sense and it doesn’t make economic sense either.
Which is why National have said they’ll do it.
King Salmon hand out
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, April 5th, 2012 - 16 comments
MrSmith looks at the massive expansion of aquaculture in the Marlborough Sounds that King Salmon is planning, aided and abetted by National’s ‘Environmental Protection’ Agency. King Salmon got a public hand-out when it was having trouble selling its product but now it wants more public property to make more salmon, the public gets no voice.
New record set in ironic racism
Written By: - Date published: 8:35 pm, April 3rd, 2012 - 100 comments
The good people of Devonport are outraged, just outraged, about the Waitangi settlement that will see Maori moving in next door.
Queen of Thorns has more…
On incompetent management
Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, April 1st, 2012 - 28 comments
Once upon a time, decades ago now, ports were run by a person called the Harbourmaster. He used to be a highly qualified and experienced Master Mariner, who had extensive knowledge of shipping and decades of experience, at sea and within the port. All this competence and experience came at a wage, at most, five times the average wage.
The real agenda at PoAL?
Written By: - Date published: 2:27 pm, March 25th, 2012 - 15 comments
Keeping PoAL workers out makes no sense industrially.
It means the port’s taking a political and PR hit without even gaining some cleared containers.
But perhaps getting the port making money isn’t the endgame for this dispute…
The real Nick Smith scandal
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, March 21st, 2012 - 15 comments
It’s a shame Nick Smith is all over the political news at the moment for his ACC botch up because he should really be all over the news for his Better Local Government proposals. Saying “Rates are too high. They keep rising. It’s outrageous” isn’t enough. Kneecapping local governments’ autonomy, and slowly bleeding them of the ability to invest money in anything cannot be unchallenged.
Speak out for the last 55 Maui’s dolphins
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, March 19th, 2012 - 30 comments
With just a few clicks of your mouse you can help send a message to the government in support of helping the world’s rarest dolphin – our own Maui’s dolphins.
King salmon, stealing our future
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, March 19th, 2012 - 26 comments
Imagine taking your children down to the park to find an overseas had set up a dairy farm in one corner. The shit builds up and flows onto the playground. You complain, but are told the farm is under no obligation to treat or retain their waste and the council has no powers to do anything about it. That’s what’s happening with aquaculture thanks to the EPA.
Lamington’s Stupidity (and why I hate the rent-a-crowd)
Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, March 10th, 2012 - 86 comments
I’m no fan of the people who threw the Lamington at Len Brown. They are the same crew who waltz into every social movement in Auckland, suck the life out of it and move on. But the only winner out of this lamington incident was the Port’s board and the (I’m sure) the self-image of the egotistical morons who threw it. It cost the Maritime Union. It belittled those of us who are infuriated at the Mayor’s response. And it was just plain stupid.
Labour’s diminishing vision
Written By: - Date published: 1:04 pm, March 9th, 2012 - 90 comments
Our Labour activist guest poster asks where the coherence is in Labour’s communications strategy. Having a look at the lack of narrative across the Labour parties here, in Australia, and in the UK; he points to a place where narrative is done well in left politics – it is in the USA.
Women kept out of the boardroom
Written By: - Date published: 7:12 pm, March 8th, 2012 - 19 comments
Stuff has a report telling us what we already know: an old boys’ network keeps women out of the boardroom in Australia and New Zealand. This clubbiness is just one of the reasons we’re such an unequal country. A small network of white middle-class males appoint each other to the boards of their companies, then set each other’s pay
A Dear Len letter
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, March 8th, 2012 - 103 comments
Len Brown gets a Dear Len over his performance over the Ports of Auckland dispute.
“I delivered your leaflets in the rain. I erected your hoardings across Auckland. I phoned and canvassed support for you. I encouraged my friends to vote for you. But it’s over. Frankly, I find your protestations that you could not help the 292 sacked wharfies asking to be able to work to live and not live to work offensive. Don’t play the victim: your salary is too big.”
Trial? Why would you bother with that?
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, March 1st, 2012 - 16 comments
No-one wants to see people who are likely to hurt people released on bail. That’s why successive governments have tightened bail rules. Now Sensible [sic] Sentencing wants every charged with a crime bearing 2 or more years locked up without bail. Not the first organisation with those initials to favour guilt upon accusation and punishment without trial. Michael Bott takes up the story.
Jobs Summit: Celebrating 3 years of success
Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, February 28th, 2012 - 34 comments
Don’t panic. It’s 3 year since the National Ltd™ “Job Summit”. I’m really looking forward to the 3000km Kaitaia-to-Bluff cycle way, the nine-day fortnight, and the $1 billion contribution from the banks plus $8 billion from government to invest in job-producing industry. Can’t be long now before we start to see jobs being created . . . John promised.
Support MUNZ workers in port dispute
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, February 24th, 2012 - 52 comments
Show your support for the MUNZ workers in the Ports of Auckland dispute, including a picket today from 10am.
Young Labour taking the lead
Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, February 20th, 2012 - 2 comments
Labour is currently undertaking a review of its organisational capabilities. It’s a process looking at what it means to be a Labour member and supporter and how Labour can better engage with our supporters. Young Labour have a website for ideas. The Labour party website still hasn’t heard about it.
A call to arms for all coders
Written By: - Date published: 7:33 pm, February 19th, 2012 - 10 comments
The Global Square “aims to be the first massive decentralized social network in the history of the Internet”. Can you help?
Brand Key, a do nothing Government & the hidden agenda
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, February 14th, 2012 - 40 comments
A number of terms are bandied about to describe both John Key and the John Key Government. Using such terms and trying to reconcile their seeming contradictions can prove confusing. Indeed, from time to time we have seen such confusion manifest itself on this blog amongst the right wing who argue how Key can indeed have a ‘hidden agenda’ whilst simultaneously being ‘smile and wave’ or ‘clueless’ and ‘doing nothing’.
TEU: Treasury’s attack on ordinary Kiwis
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, February 3rd, 2012 - 117 comments
Public education is the cornerstone of a good country and a buoyant economy. And New Zealanders have long enjoyed the benefits that come to them individually, to their families, their communities, their country, and the economy from having access to quality public education. But all this now seems under attack from a small group of Treasury officials.
WTF is a “primary” anyway?
Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, January 26th, 2012 - 36 comments
Even we political junkies have a hard time figuring out what the heck’s going on in American politics sometimes.
And it’s not like our media are any help.
Queen of Thorns takes a look…
The limits of resilience
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, January 26th, 2012 - 26 comments
Christchurch has been back in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. What’s going on behind the public narrative of a tough and resilient populace soldiering on in the face of all these obstacles?
It’s not about Race or Age or Gender or Religion…it’s about Poverty
Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, January 19th, 2012 - 16 comments
Why the acronyms PIPA and SOPA should worry Kiwis
Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, January 18th, 2012 - 9 comments
Green’s MP Gareth Hughes explains the new US internet laws that have the likes of Wikipedia upset, and why we should care: The Green Party is deeply concerned about the Stop Internet Piracy (SOPA) and PROTECT IP (PIPA) Acts currently causing quite a stir in the US and its impacts on New Zealanders access to a free and open Internet and online businesses.
Workers worried about job security
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, January 12th, 2012 - 33 comments
Employment confidence has plunged to its lowest level in 2 years, according to the latest Westpac survey. A bosses’ shill says workers are wrong to be worried about their jobs. Unfortunately, the bosses have been promising us that everything’s going to be OK for four years now, and workers have a good track record on picking the state of the job market.
No mystery over Waitakere votes
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, December 20th, 2011 - 48 comments
There was some pretty low-grade reporting on the Waitakere race that suggested some kind of organised voter fraud may have taken place. Under the title Questions over Waitakere vote, the Herald reporter said 9 dual votes had been found and 393 special votes had been cast by people not enrolled to vote. But that’s not evidence of foul play: it’s par for the course.
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