Author Archive

Guest post – Who is David Cunliffe?

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, March 10th, 2014 - 182 comments

A guest post on the enigma that is David Cunliffe by David Craig.

Guest Post – Labour Candidate Deborah Russell

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, February 25th, 2014 - 48 comments

In the first of what may be a series of posts by candidates this year Deborah Russell, Labour’s candidate for the seat of Rangitikei, was invited to provide a guest post on her world view and why she is standing for office.

It’s not stolen – I just borrowed it without asking

Written By: - Date published: 3:23 pm, February 23rd, 2014 - 51 comments

One of the areas of concern in the current Blomfield vs Slater defamation case was the theft and copying of documents and stored data owned by Blomfield. Slater is covering for the source of this material by claiming he is a journalist. However this guest post argues that clearly his possession of the material in itself constitutes a number of crimes under the Crimes Act. Which makes the police’s refusal to charge Slater without a valid legal explanation rather peculiar.

Tale of two Irelands

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, February 20th, 2014 - 42 comments

Tracey recounts the rise and fall of the `financial genius` John Key’s pet financial hub for NZ to emulate the paragon economies that tried it. Like Ireland – the home of the jobless and deserted housing projects.

Fortunately he was somehow prevented from stuffing NZ in this way. However he did put in some legislation of dubious value to allow NZ to be used as a haven for hot money fleeing taxes…

Muddying the Waters

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, February 13th, 2014 - 62 comments

Dave Hansford contrasts the way that France handles its usage of waterways by farmers with the unsustainable degradation of NZ farmers. For that matter with the way that farming in the France is targeted at high value rather than commodity factory farming.  Let’s have the really tough conversation: is a low-value, mass-market business model really the best we can do? Are cheap, anonymous, industrial commodities our finest work? And are they worth the hidden cost to farmers, taxpayers and the environment?

Australian hissy fit at supermarkets

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 pm, February 5th, 2014 - 135 comments

Australia again. I wish they would adopt an honourable and fair stance to New Zealand instead of using us whenever they want to gain advantage for themselves or throw a hissy fit. Now they are discriminating against our food exports in two large supermarkets, one of which has a large store ownership here.

No details, please, we’re gallery hacks

Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, January 31st, 2014 - 175 comments

Blue has a look at the the gallery hacks and what they’re looking for from a politician. The answer is – not much. Political journalists do not require any special qualifications. They go to journalism school to learn how to structure an article and avoid being sued. There is no test you must pass to become a Gallery hack proving that you understand policy, economics or statistics. Their job is write ‘colour’ pieces about the ‘cut and thrust’ of politics….

What do you value?

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 pm, January 30th, 2014 - 54 comments

Tim Watkins has written a piece on Labour’s Best Start policy.

Down in the comments were the most incredible remarks I have read in support of the policies.

On Best Start

Written By: - Date published: 10:06 pm, January 28th, 2014 - 95 comments

So Labour has launched the Best start policy and the criticism from National and its followers has been swift and well coordinated. And, like the bulk of National’s attacks on it opponents, it also has no basis in reality.

Herald massaging a message

Written By: - Date published: 5:19 pm, January 23rd, 2014 - 23 comments

The Herald continues its tabloid-style vendetta against Len Brown by serving up non-news in a shock-horror frame to make the mayor look bad. With a combination of the delicate removal/rewriting of what was said and a a senile loss of memory about the chains imposed on Auckland by National, Act and Rodney Hide – the Granny Herald continues its downward slide into irrelevance.

Local govt is on the move

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, January 6th, 2014 - 51 comments

The Local Government Commission is currently proposing to crush a number of local bodies together into the same kind of mess that the Auckland super city has been suffering. Undemocratic and divorced from anything local because only a wealthy few can consider standing and those few can ignore any local wishes from the token local boards. The only defense that citizens have against the LGC is to force binding poll. Be ready to do so for Northland and Hastings/Napier.

Josie Pagani replies

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, January 3rd, 2014 - 127 comments

Josie Pagani objected to mickysavage’s post objecting to her post at Pundit, and wanted to publish this as a right of reply. That is something that doesn’t exist on this or any blog. After all there is always another site to put content up on. However the ongoing debate going on here about how the left and the labour movement should operate and communicate (from many different angles) makes it of interest.

Judith Collins: The obnoxious right

Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, December 11th, 2013 - 31 comments

Seems that Collins likes to call others bullies, but doesn’t mind being simply abusive and derogatory in her own language.  Let’s call it what it is:  more insults fly from the obnoxious right who like to play the man and not the ball, especially when the facts are inconvenient. It’s not surprising that the Collins faction has been associated with Cameron Slater.

A more equitable society

Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, December 11th, 2013 - 53 comments

Welfare benefits and how you provide for the disadvantaged is one of the primary distinguishing features of the difference between the left and right of the political spectrum. Here is a proposal on how to make sure that the wealth of society is better distributed. It would require consensus from most people to implement as it would fundamentally change the fabric of society.

Time to end perception of degrees for sale

Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, December 4th, 2013 - 50 comments

The All Blacks do not give out honorary test caps to the chief financial officer of insurance sponsor AIG. Politicians no longer give seats in a House of Lords to their almsgivers and patrons. Perhaps it is time to question why our most prestigious universities give away honorary doctorates to significant benefactors. A couple of […]

Chorus sings a Dirge

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, December 4th, 2013 - 36 comments

I welcomed Amy Adams independent review of Chorus’s financial claims in response to Chorus’s sad song. Not something I should say in a left leaning site but it does show an increasing awareness from government of big business endeavours to manipulate NZ to their advantage. I felt that the Minister had a gun to her […]

The Right Conservatives

Written By: - Date published: 3:24 pm, November 27th, 2013 - 98 comments

The Conservatives have a significant constituency and pose an interesting dynamic for the future of NZ politics. Their constituency will possibly letting the left in or sharing power on the right. The Conservatives are fond of saying how close they got in the previous election given how little time they had worked on it.  Colin comes out on top against Paula then be prepared for a real change in the political landscape. They are already having an impact without being in parliament.

Key and English – best of friends.

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, November 25th, 2013 - 34 comments

In a surprising development, John Key has taken to bringing “a friend” with him to serious media interviews. Key was accompanied by Bill English. Key justified the new approach stating that their unique “chemistry was obvious to all in parliament” and he wanted the public to know, just how well they got on. When questioned whether this was relevant and important in the lives of ordinary Kiwis he said “…frankly its one of the key platforms we will be contesting the 2014 election on”.

Press Release: Bob Jones offers help to police

Written By: - Date published: 3:51 pm, November 23rd, 2013 - 6 comments

Police have called on Bob’s expertise to establish if the crime actually happened. We now all know thanks to Bob’s expertise, that women don’t get raped unless they are attractive, dress sexy and go out beyond their front gate at night. Besides women can’t drive like a guy or have fun like a guy. Bob knows just how women think – at least better than the police?

Coat-tail of Many Colours

Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, November 22nd, 2013 - 72 comments

Te Reo Putake speculates on exactly what plan that National and John Key have to distort the MMP review and Iain Lee Galloway’s private members bill so that it allows them to stay in power. Most probably by gifting Crazy Colin and the Conservatives with several chances to get several partners into parliament while discarding the husks of their former coalition partners.

Why insurance should be a state monopoly

Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, November 11th, 2013 - 100 comments

The seeming purpose of having competition is to prevent monopoly pricing and excessive profits but, as Steve Keen shows, all businesses use the same pricing model with about the same level of profits. If they did use the pricing model that economists say that they should use they’d actually go broke. Having a state insurance system has a whole different economic basis.

Why the 2013 Labour Conference set course for Government in 2014

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, November 4th, 2013 - 11 comments

Ad reports on the 2013 Labour Conference and why the left should take heart for the next election.

From the Thick of It to Borgen

Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, November 1st, 2013 - 109 comments

A Guest Post by Ad.  He poses the question, is Labour willing to enter into a smart MMP relationship with the Green Party or is it still stuck in FPP culture?

BLip: The swearing of the Auckland council

Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, October 30th, 2013 - 18 comments

BLip is well known on this site for his ever-growing linked lists of the lies of John Key. But it appears he has been branching out into the role of reporter in this hilarious account of the swearing of the Auckland council last night that was picked out of Open Mike.

Note to Labour leader: Rudimentary thoughts I

Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, October 18th, 2013 - 98 comments

In a series of short opinion pieces The Black Rod examines the road to victory for Labour in 2014.

“It may upset some Labour members who position themselves to the Left in the Labour camp, but in broad terms Labour should seek to target and capture the support of those who generally consider themselves centrist. And those who would consider themselves to be an intermittent Labour voter. This is the real ground to be captured in 2014.”

Will DunnoKeyo Lead National into Next Year’s Defeat?

Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, October 1st, 2013 - 80 comments

Te Reo Putake starts speculating on when, how, and by whom John Key will be knifed in the back by. The question of if it is before or after the losing the next election. So far only Keith Holyoake has managed to retire as a leader of National, so after Labour’s tidy leadership changes we’re all looking forward to the political splatterfest that only National can provide.

Grant Robertson

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, September 7th, 2013 - 112 comments

In accordance with our general rules about candidates posting, Grant Robertson has sent in a guest post. He may be available to answer some questions on Sunday as Saturday is busy for all candidates.

The post will be fully moderated.

Shane Jones, the other contender for the historic Labour leadership primary is welcome to send in a similar post with the same rules.

David Cunliffe

Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, September 4th, 2013 - 267 comments

In accordance with our general rules about candidates posting,  David Cunliffe has sent in a guest post.  He will be available to answer some questions. The post will be fully moderated.

Other candidates for the historic Labour leadership primary are welcome to send similar posts with the same rules.

High jump and higher education – the fallacy of continuous improvement

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, August 22nd, 2013 - 12 comments

They set targets and you meet those targets, so they raise the targets. You meet them again, so they raise them again. If those targets were high jump bars, everyone watching would know you are going to miss the target at some point. That is not a failure. That is just something that is eventually beyond the very limits of your ability. However, if you are a tertiary education teacher we pretend there is no limit.

Mighty Big Gamble on Mighty Big Gift

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 pm, August 20th, 2013 - 19 comments

Hey John, how much public money are you going to pay the wealthy to “buy” our assets? (And how just desperate are you…?)

Diss Loyalty

Written By: - Date published: 6:57 pm, July 31st, 2013 - 97 comments

So, what’s with all the negativity toward the Labour Party? Why so many comments on the Standard rubbishing the leadership, running down the party’s prospects at the next election, putting the boot in to the only party with enough mass support to bring an end to the dismal Key Government? They must really love Labour?