Author Archive

Winston takes Northland

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 pm, March 28th, 2015 - 310 comments

Is anyone else experiencing a bit of political shellshock?

Woodhouse: tough on bad employers?

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, March 26th, 2015 - 22 comments

Michael Woodhouse is talking tough on bad employers … but what does it really mean, coming from this government?

On poverty, parenting, and Paula

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 24th, 2015 - 67 comments

In times of trouble for the National Party, you can always rely on them to raise the rallying cry of “Personal responsibility!!!”

Cottoning on to new ways of exploiting workers

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, March 24th, 2015 - 67 comments

Cotton On has become the first employer in the news for trying to take away its workers’ rest breaks.

Who said it? Shane Reti vs. Aaron Gilmore

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, March 19th, 2015 - 45 comments

All these National backbenchers with delusions of grandeur sound the same to me …

Key admits he’s using our troops as vote-bait

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 18th, 2015 - 30 comments

Yesterday the mask slipped and John Key admitted the real reason our deployment to Iraq is only for two years: so he can win an election.

International travel perks for the people who got us into this mess?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, March 16th, 2015 - 81 comments

The blogosphere leads the way in breaking a story about yet another sack of cash for MPs …

John Key’s weird “gotcha” moment on ACC

Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, March 10th, 2015 - 41 comments

John Key and his MPs were acting like they’d scored a real hit on Andrew Little in Question Time. The reality is … not so impressive.

Save our kauri!

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, March 9th, 2015 - 100 comments

The clash between those who value our natural environment and those who think money is king is playing out in Titirangi this morning.

Little: ACC levies need to come down

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, March 8th, 2015 - 30 comments

A National government which loves to cut taxs + workers and business being overcharged ACC levies = levy cuts, right? Wrong!

What has Michael Woodhouse actually got right about employment relations?

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, March 5th, 2015 - 17 comments

For someone responsible for managing employment relations in New Zealand, Michael Woodhouse doesn’t seem to understand what “employment relations” means.

Political donations and conflicts of interest

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, March 2nd, 2015 - 53 comments

Whether it’s about election donations or portfolios, some people do seem to think MPs should always get the benefit of the doubt.

The price of the club?

Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, February 24th, 2015 - 105 comments

Back in 2003, John Key had an interesting take on whether it was appropriate to send troops to Iraq.

Tory “charity”

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, February 18th, 2015 - 42 comments

The Government is planning to make charities pay for police background checks. You can’t make this stuff up!

The right to strike

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, February 17th, 2015 - 54 comments

Celebrate International Right to Strike Day on 18 February by sending a message to Kiwi employers: stop undermining our right to strike!

Labour takes a stand against zero-hour contracts

Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, February 12th, 2015 - 92 comments

Zero-hour contracts are the perfect illustration of when “flexibility” in employment relations goes all one way.

How does #nzpol do on Facebook?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, February 10th, 2015 - 19 comments

Feinstein Doak has a post up with the Top Political Facebook Posts of 2014, and the results are interesting.

The lie about productivity and wages

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, February 5th, 2015 - 49 comments

The Productivity Commission has a new report out which looks at changes in the labour income share, or LIS, from 1978 to 2010. The labour income share is described in the report’s summary as: The labour income share (LIS) measures the split of national income between workers who supply labour and the owners of capital. […]

The Northland by-election

Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, January 30th, 2015 - 163 comments

A by-election is imminent – so how does Labour win in a safe National seat?

Who texts the PM?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, January 16th, 2015 - 87 comments

The latest excuse for John Key deleting his texts wholesale is wafer-thin.

The meaning of dirty politics

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 7th, 2015 - 171 comments

One of the strategies of the right is to take any complaint levelled against them and reduce it down until it’s meaningless. Now they’re doing it to Dirty Politics.

WANTED: new ideas on child poverty

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 24th, 2014 - 88 comments

It’s great to see John Key taking a sudden interest in addressing child poverty in New Zealand. But why the change of heart?

The lurch to the right begins

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, September 22nd, 2014 - 129 comments

Expect to see a lot of drastic rightwing policies this term as John Key redefines the term “centre ground.”

Three more years

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 21st, 2014 - 141 comments

This election result is not the end of the world for me – because I am very, very lucky.

Vote Key, get Colin

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 18th, 2014 - 97 comments

With the latest poll results it’s basically a coin-toss whether a vote for National gets you Colin Craig and his extremist mates at the Cabinet table.

NZ Inc: Frightening the invisible horses of the market

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, September 16th, 2014 - 15 comments

The Herald is scathing of Labour’s NZ Inc policy, which defies all logic and reason by assuming that there are better ways to build our economy than flogging off profitable assets, built by New Zealanders, to foreign investors.

The cost of a bowl of Weet-Bix

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, September 16th, 2014 - 197 comments

One of the most dishonest arguments the right ever put forward on the subject of poverty is around one of the simplest things in life: a bowl of Weet-Bix.

Get clean politics into the Herald

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 13th, 2014 - 22 comments

Action Station want to run a full-page ad in the Herald calling on politicians to clean up NZ politics. (Update: only $580 needed! Let’s do it!)

A clear Cunliffe win

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, September 10th, 2014 - 141 comments

David Cunliffe’s performance in tonight’s head-to-head with John Key was exactly what I wanted to see from the next Labour Prime Minister of NZ.

The only way National know to grow the economy

Written By: - Date published: 5:15 pm, September 10th, 2014 - 19 comments

On Firstline this morning, John Key tried to compare National’s and Labour’s policies by saying “You can’t grow the economy when you restrict labour laws.” It’s nonsense, and it’s scary.

What kind of government would National lead?

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, September 8th, 2014 - 112 comments

The choice for NZ voters is becoming clearer in the last days of the 2014 election. The irony is that after John Key’s scaremongering, our options are a three-headed coalition of natural allies versus a five-or-six headed hydra of extremists and sworn enemies.

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.