Author Archive

Who will be to blame if a bridge collapses?

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, August 1st, 2016 - 93 comments

Who will be to blame if untested, undetected, weak steel causes the collapse of a structure?

Republican circus

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, July 19th, 2016 - 52 comments

The Republican convention circus is under way, a four day parade of ignorance and prejudice.

Borrows charged for injuring protestors

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, July 12th, 2016 - 114 comments

Nat MP Chester Borrows has been charged over injuring two women with a car during a TPP protest.

Maori health and children not a priority

Written By: - Date published: 3:20 pm, July 11th, 2016 - 77 comments

Essential reading, two pieces highlighting institutional racism today. Someone needs to ask the Maori Party how proud they are to be propping up this government.

Reserve Bank gives Key the fingers on housing crisis

Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, July 8th, 2016 - 14 comments

In The Herald Liam Dann asks – Did the Reserve Bank just give two fingers to the Prime Minister?. That would be a “yes”.

National’s strike-breaking fail

Written By: - Date published: 3:21 pm, July 5th, 2016 - 23 comments

The Police want no part of the Nats’ plan to use them as airport security. Perhaps instead of bungled attempts at strike-breaking the Nats should consider – dealing fairly with aviation security staff concerns?

Give it a rest Newshub

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, June 30th, 2016 - 47 comments

After their ridiculous Andrew Little witch-hunt blew up in their faces yesterday, Newshub still can’t let it go. Sad.

Who is knifing Nat MP Paul Foster-Bell?

Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, June 27th, 2016 - 56 comments

Foster-Bell seems to be a cross between Aaron Gilmore (vanity), Todd Barclay (people skills) and Bill English (high on the hog). No surprises there then, Nat MP, ho hum. The more interesting question is – who is out to knife him? Two hits in two days?

Dirty Politics Farrar and freedom of speech

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, June 22nd, 2016 - 119 comments

There’s a petition – Get Rid of Hosking – it’s closing in on 16K signatures. Dirty Politics Farrar is a mite agitated about it, so let’s all give the Streisand effect a big hand.

ECAN turning a blind eye

Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, June 21st, 2016 - 41 comments

Is ECAN just another typical Nat party fuckup, or are they deliberately turning a blind eye?

The strange case of the disappearance of a Stuff article critical of Lord Mike Hosking

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, June 20th, 2016 - 54 comments

Are we doing censorship to protect the government’s media assets now?

Housing policy omnishambles rolls on

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, June 16th, 2016 - 64 comments

The government that will pay you $5000 to leave Auckland and $3000 to move to Auckland has been selling state houses so recklessly that it is now considering building temporary ones. Headless chickens make more sense.

Dodgy Niue deal back in the headlines

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, June 16th, 2016 - 107 comments

As Bryan Gould put it – “In any other country, and especially in those where such deals are commonplace, no one would be in any doubt as to what had really happened. In New Zealand, however, we are naively inclined to accept the blank-eyed, slack-mouthed assurances that it was all a coincidence and that nothing untoward had happened.”

Paula Bennett leaking to smear again?

Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, June 14th, 2016 - 61 comments

Has Paula Bennett leaked details of a police investigation into Te Puea Marae’s Hurimoana Dennis?

Update: Bennett has admitted that “her office” leaked. She should resign.

Key on Pulse nightclub massacre

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, June 14th, 2016 - 83 comments

key-on-florida-pulse-lgbt-shooting

FIFY: Bennett too embarrassed to visit marae

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, June 9th, 2016 - 72 comments

bennett too busy

Why not just – build some damn houses?

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, June 2nd, 2016 - 91 comments

Today the Nats released a National Policy Statment (NPS) on housing. It formalises their recent strategy of incorrectly blaming local councils – and it doesn’t build anything.

Key’s housing plan “moronic”

Written By: - Date published: 2:51 pm, June 1st, 2016 - 25 comments

It isn’t often that you here such a blunt assessment of Nat policy. It’s moronic because it isn’t a housing policy at all, it’s a blame deflecting plan.

National party to be banned from future budget lockups

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, May 31st, 2016 - 6 comments

After a significant security leak National will be forced to ban itself from future budget lockups.

Housing policy omnishambles

Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, May 27th, 2016 - 19 comments

The Nats will pay you $3000 to move to Auckland and $5000 to leave it. This is what happens when you have no vision, no plan, and no NFI what you’re doing.

Nick Smith 0.75% successful on Auckland housing!

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, May 24th, 2016 - 27 comments

One year later Nick Smith has delivered three quarters of 1% of his promised 430 ha of new Auckland housing land. The Brighter Future strikes again.

Dodgy Niue deal back in the headlines

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, May 21st, 2016 - 200 comments

Good of the hotel to keep the Nats’ dodgy deal in the headlines. Andrew Little has called their bluff – of course.

The real reason that politicians will take no action on tax haven corruption

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, May 16th, 2016 - 22 comments

panamapapersoccupations

Random impertinent question: Why did Cameron get diversion?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, May 11th, 2016 - 32 comments

Why did the police offer Cameron Slater the soft option of diversion when he doesn’t qualify?

Random impertinent question: Did Cameron breach his own name suppression order?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, May 11th, 2016 - 7 comments

Has Cameron Slater created legal history by being a party to the breach of his own name suppression order?

Peters vs Carter

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, May 6th, 2016 - 17 comments

Winston Peters is already wielding his kingmaker powers. If National roll over over, I wonder what else Peters can get out of them over the next few months?

Key’s sloppy trust

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, May 5th, 2016 - 7 comments

An editorial in The Herald today keeps the pressure on Key. Meanwhile his “lawyer” can’t be happy, and Key hits peak condescension.

Key and McClay sorting out their lines

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, May 4th, 2016 - 16 comments

On the nobbled IRD tax haven review Key has been sorting out his lines. Then he had to feed McClay his. The concept of just telling the truth probably never occured to either of them.

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, May 3rd, 2016 - 18 comments

Key chucks his “lawyer” under a bus – Part 2.

Key chucks his “lawyer” under a bus

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, May 2nd, 2016 - 125 comments

Key has form on lying, you’d hope that his “lawyer” does not.

Rodney Hide – stupid, corrupt or both?

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, April 24th, 2016 - 60 comments

Hide’s Herald piece today is straight out of Dirty Politics Farrar’s playbook.

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