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Will Sandy decide the election?
Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, October 30th, 2012 - 53 comments
The US Presidential election is close. Really close. The political futures markets favour Obama about 2 to 1 but polls of the nationwide popular vote and the polls in key states, such as Ohio and Virginia, are essentially tied. Enter the October surprise – Sandy, the latest ever recorded Atlantic storm, now coming ashore and pounding key battleground states.
Bugger the environment
Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, October 29th, 2012 - 62 comments
Bugger the environment – who needs it? That’s the message from National, both domestically and internationally.
Earthquake Red Flags
Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, October 19th, 2012 - 9 comments
Two years on and the chief executive of the Canterbury District health board David Meates has started to see some worrying trends showing up in Christchurch/Canterbury. People are failing to take their meds. Binge drinking and other dangerous behaviours are on the increase. Government is adding to the problem, not fixing it.
Pike River: New video footage proves Key made the promise he denies
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, October 17th, 2012 - 62 comments
Key denied promising the Pike River families that the bodies of their loved ones would be retrieved. Now that his faulty account has been corrected by new video evidence, he owes it more than ever to the families to do the right thing. Key made the promise – he should honour it.
On Planet Key, the market always provides
Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, October 1st, 2012 - 16 comments
We’re told 36,000 workers are needed for the Christchurch rebuild. But since the earthquakes began 2 years ago, 9,000 people with the skills needed for the rebuild have left New Zealand. We’re making no effort to keep the skilled workers we have but the Government thinks those 36,000 workers will just magically appear when needed.
The cost of doing nothing
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, September 28th, 2012 - 34 comments
Another report confirms the findings of the 2006 Stern Report. The future economic costs of doing nothing far outweigh the current costs of taking action on climate change. But National is taking us backwards…
Extinction on Key’s watch?
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 44 comments
Clean green 100% pure New Zealand?
Or the only nation in the world to vote against measures to stop the extinction of the world’s rarest dolphins?
Red zone ride
Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, September 17th, 2012 - 34 comments
Guest poster Andy-Roo reflects on a ride through the Christchurch Red Zone, the social contract, and Gerry Brownlee…
Abdicating our global responsibility
Written By: - Date published: 6:43 am, September 17th, 2012 - 175 comments
With proposed ETS changes National is abdicating our responsibility on the world stage, and sending the bill to the taxpayers. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment calls it ‘a farce’. It’s cowardly, it’s weak, and it’s shafting the working Kiwi.
NRT: Nats sit on their hands as Chch housing crisis grows
Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, September 5th, 2012 - 27 comments
There’s a major housing crisis in Christchurch. People are living in unsafe, cold houses and their health is suffering. Rents are at criminal levels. And people are still fleeing the city. So, what’s the Government doing about it? As I/S at No Right Turn reports, OIA requests show that they are doing nothing and leaving it to the market to house people after a national disaster.
Christchurch anniversary
Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, September 4th, 2012 - 52 comments
It is two years since the first big Christchurch earthquake. For far too many families the aftermath lingers on…
King Gerry ripping off the peasants
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, August 6th, 2012 - 22 comments
The design of the red-zone buy-out puts CERA first, the insurers seconds, and the earthquake victims last. Homeowners could take the 2007 valuation for their property, ignoring subsequent improvements, or the 2007 valuation for their land plus whatever their insurance company would give for the home. That generated a huge incentive for insurers to understate […]
Climate skeptic wakes up
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, August 1st, 2012 - 83 comments
There aren’t many climate skeptics whose opinions can be affected by mere evidence, so hats off to Richard Muller.
$3 Billion
Written By: - Date published: 6:47 pm, July 31st, 2012 - 21 comments
The government have $3 billion for the Christchurch rebuild burning a hole in their pockets. But at the same time they’re claiming governmental poverty is why we need to sell our productive assets… And there’s 30,000 people nearby wanting proper houses to live in.
Gerrymania
Written By: - Date published: 7:37 am, July 31st, 2012 - 80 comments
What is it with this government and convention centres? The international convention market is dying. The Nats are already doing a bargain with the cancer in the heart of Auckland called SkyCity to build one there that won’t be worth its cost to build. Now, they want to build another convention centre in Christchurch to compete for that dying market. It’s just one thing that’s wrong with Gerrymania.
Overlord Brownlee’s plan
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, July 30th, 2012 - 37 comments
In April, Christchurch Council revealed its plan for the CBD rebuild following an extensive period of public consultation. The chance to rebuild the CBD of our second-largest city was a once-in-generations opportunity to fit the city for our future challenges. The Council plan had its faults but one of the good aspects was it addressed smart transport. King Gerry ripped it up immediately.
Brownlee makes tectonic plates look like speed demons
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 27th, 2012 - 23 comments
After 18 months of doing nothing to fix the insurance crisis that every man and his dog has been saying is crippling the Christchurch rebuild, Overlord Brownlee has finally acted. He’s come out with …. wait for it ….. a big whinge at insurance companies. Oh bravo, Generalissimo Gerry. That’ll get the rebuild started. Well done, oh King of Christchurch. Your belated rant has saved us all.
17 year old Kiwi addresses the UN Earth Summit
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, July 7th, 2012 - 1 comment
Well said. What a tragedy that they heard, but did not listen.
Exxon continues denier tactics
Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, July 2nd, 2012 - 37 comments
The Exxon Mobil CEO now acknowledges that the world is warming, but claims that there will be an “engineering solution”. This glib reassurance is simply the next phase of Exxon’s well funded and carefully planned denier tactics.
R.I.P Uncle Jack
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 am, June 28th, 2012 - 7 comments
My uncle Jack Fleming joined the RNZAF two weeks after his brother Andy was killed flying a biplane against Zeros in Malaya. Jack’s first and last operational flight was in a Stirling bomber shot down over Germany; only one of the crew baled out and survived. Jackwas one of the 1861 New Zealanders who did not return home. Today a memorial will be unveiled in London’s Green Park to all those brave men.
Reaching Tipping Point
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, June 8th, 2012 - 24 comments
Two major new reports out yesterday (from the UN and in Nature) show the earth is headed for a tipping point: our consumption is unsustainable, and we’re degrading the environment. Soon it will be beyond the point of return.
NRT: Breaking our word on the environment
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, May 29th, 2012 - 7 comments
No Right Turn on the World Wildlife Fund report which finds us failing to meet the major commitments agreed to at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 20 years ago.
The wheel turns
Written By: - Date published: 6:33 am, May 18th, 2012 - 11 comments
Across the country, the number of party votes National received fell in 2011, except for in Christchurch. Given turn-out fell 10%, the fact more people voted National was a sobering moment for critics of how the rebuild is being handled. Or perhaps not. Now, 87% of Press readers think the government isn’t doing enough. National just got lucky with the timing of the election.
Nats eye up Chch assets for sale
Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, May 10th, 2012 - 5 comments
Remember when John Key said that rebuilding Christchurch wasn’t just that city’s challenge, it was New Zealand’s challenge? Yeah, well, now Gerry Brownlee and Bill English are pressuring the council to sell off its assets to pay for the rebuild. Green figures show the madness of that. This is a 20-year rebuild. The dividends over that period are more valuable than one-off sale revenue.
It’s turtles all the way down
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 am, April 19th, 2012 - 8 comments
Anyone else see the irony in the ‘bureaucracy-slashing National Government‘TM reacting to delays in the Christchurch rebuilding – partly caused by lack of coordination between the local bureaucracy, the existing central government bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy National created especially to deal with the rebuild – by adding another layer of back-room bureaucracy?
Christchurch rental crisis
Written By: - Date published: 3:31 pm, April 18th, 2012 - 61 comments
According to Gerry Brownlee it isn’t happening.
Losing the debate on global warming
Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, April 15th, 2012 - 155 comments
The facts don’t seem to matter when it comes to our understanding of climate change. As the evidence grows stronger and stronger, so too, apparently, does public skepticism.
Foresight
Written By: - Date published: 11:04 am, March 20th, 2012 - 16 comments
There’s no rental properties in Christchurch. Impossible for builders to move there and for families to move while their houses are being repaired. Who warned of a mass housing shortage a year ago and called for action? What did the government provide? A few over-priced caravans and a handful of temporary houses far short of the 10,000 promised.
Let a garden grow
Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, March 5th, 2012 - 15 comments
Christchurch is changed forever and there’s no going back. Let the heart of the old city become its memorial.
Weather bomb
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, March 3rd, 2012 - 113 comments
Keep safe during the “weather bomb”. It will be good practice for the future.
Tales from Christchurch
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 23rd, 2012 - 4 comments
As a followup to the “big media” coverage of Christchurch yesterday, there are plenty of people posting on their experiences of life in the quake-ridden city. One that I follow is the blog of award winning Kiwi author Helen Lowe.
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