Author Archive

John, I am your father

Written By: Tane - Date published: 1:54 am, August 30th, 2007 - 3 comments

There’s been a bit of excitement round the traps today over this picture from Stuff.co.nz, which tries to merge Helen Clark’s face into Rob Muldoon’s. Naturally, National Party blogger David Farrar has been wallowing like a pig in shit over Mike Moore’s comments in the Herald comparing the two, and he seems to think the […]

Gateway Hotel workers still standing strong

Written By: Tane - Date published: 12:15 pm, August 29th, 2007 - Comments Off on Gateway Hotel workers still standing strong

Just got these photos in from the picket line at the Airport Gateway Hotel in Auckland, where a dozen low-paid staff have now been locked out for nearly a month for wanting a collective agreement. As you can see from the photos they’re still in high spirits, but after a month without pay they need […]

Why does John Key want to sell Air NZ?

Written By: Tane - Date published: 11:37 pm, August 28th, 2007 - 1 comment

This morning Air New Zealand announced an annual profit of $268 million. The New Zealand public owns 80% of the national carrier, which means a good chunk of that profit is ours to spend on things like health, education and family tax credits rather than filling the pockets of some overseas shareholder. So why then […]

Farrar, you’re a disgrace

Written By: Tane - Date published: 9:28 pm, August 25th, 2007 - 5 comments

Well surprise, surprise, National Party blogger David Farrar has joined in the disgraceful right-wing smear campaign currently being conducted against AUT’s curriculum leader for journalism, Dr Martin Hirst. You’ll have to forgive me if I find this all a little ironic given Farrar’s carefully scripted outrage just this morning over Labour’s supposed smears against John […]

Trouble at the Gateway Hotel

Written By: Tane - Date published: 2:58 pm, August 24th, 2007 - 3 comments

One of the worrying trends in industrial relations in recent times has been employers’ rediscovery of the lockout as a tool to break the power of organised labour and drive down wages. This is an extreme weapon, designed to starve the workforce into submitting to mangement’s demands, and is based on the brutal logic that […]

Cheney shoots himself in the face

Written By: Tane - Date published: 6:15 pm, August 22nd, 2007 - Comments Off on Cheney shoots himself in the face

Seems John Key’s not the only politician who’s had his previous statements on Iraq come back to bite him recently. Here’s Dick Cheney in 1994 explaining why the invasion and occupation of Iraq would not be the smartest course of action and would quickly become, in his own words, “a quagmire”. Interestingly, even in 2000 […]