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Solidarity forever

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:23 am, August 2nd, 2017 - 65 comments

Andrew Little has stood aside for Jacinda Ardern because he thought the Labour movement needed fresh legs. Time to acknowledge him and support her.

The Catholic Church is urging its parishoners to vote

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:15 am, July 21st, 2017 - 29 comments

The catholic bishops of Aotearoa have released a pamphlet urging parishoners to vote. And apart from conservative positions on euthenasia and drug liberalisation the policies they support have a decidedly progressive bent.

Why be a public servant?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 20th, 2017 - 28 comments

Today thousands of IRD workers face the prospect of losing their jobs while two MOT workers who lost their jobs for whistle blowing are vindicated. Who would be a public servant?

Skepticism cynicism lies and hypocrisy

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:30 am, July 8th, 2017 - 17 comments

There’s a very good / depressing long read in The Guardian on the dangerous “weaponising” of cynicism by climate change deniers. One of the most interesting sections was a discussion of the way that voters are more forgiving of lies than hypocrisy.

Does the left do more of the same or does it get radical this election?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:12 am, July 7th, 2017 - 252 comments

Andrew Dean has written an opinion piece for Stuff where he suggests that to win this election Labour and the Greens have to become more radical.

Dirty Politics 2017 style

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 8th, 2017 - 27 comments

Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will need to be watched later on here.

The UK elections – Has Labour got the big mo?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:58 am, May 21st, 2017 - 66 comments

And in the United Kingdom the election that was meant to be a foregone conclusion suddenly is suddenly tightening.

Slater v Craig – battle of the has beens

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:55 am, May 21st, 2017 - 22 comments

The High Court this week has been asked to dissect the decline of the Conservative Party and of the 2014 form of dirty politics.

The looming battle over property

Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:10 am, May 15th, 2017 - 122 comments

Housing may be the issue that decides this year’s election. And if Labour wins Andrew Little will have a major crisis to deal with, one that he has to solve.

Prefigurative politics: being the change you want to see

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:30 pm, May 9th, 2017 - 10 comments

In election year, we have some choices about how to proceed.

The patriotic millionaires

Written By: advantage - Date published: 11:54 am, May 3rd, 2017 - 128 comments

In America a group of millionaires have emerged who are advocating for increased taxation for the wealthy and increased democratic rights to everyone else.

The French Presidential Runoff

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:37 am, April 26th, 2017 - 79 comments

The French Presidential run off presents worrying signs for progressives. Why is the electorate sliding to the right?

Utopian Musings: Companionship, Community, Compassion, Passion

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:57 am, April 25th, 2017 - 43 comments

Incognito muses on the state of society, and that despite many of us feel relatively happy & content there seems to be an increasing feeling of ‘unease’, that something is not quite right in/with our society and where things might be heading. Rather than the ideologies and buzzwords, Incognito focuses on the factors that make humans happy in community.

Monbiot on the embedded economy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:54 am, April 14th, 2017 - 10 comments

A model for a sustainable economy. Something to ponder on a wet holiday weekend.

The neoliberal revolution

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 1:31 pm, April 1st, 2017 - 31 comments

Thirty years old today – the longest April Fool’s joke in history?

When right-wing hacks confess the damage that they do

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:11 am, March 26th, 2017 - 20 comments

Some right-wing hacks (like Glenn Beck) are recanting their rants and apologising for the damage that they’ve done. I reckon a few more should follow their brave lead.

Nicky Hager announces new book release

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:08 am, March 20th, 2017 - 160 comments

Nicky Hager’s latest book is to be launched this Tuesday at Unity Books in Wellington.

International Women’s Day, 47 years on, how far have we come?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:22 pm, March 8th, 2017 - 50 comments

Test of a speech given by feminist icon Sandra Coney on the state of the feminist movement in 2017

Slightly smug about MMP

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, March 4th, 2017 - 22 comments

2017 will be New Zealand’s eighth election under MMP, over 22 years. With very strong democratically elected governments appearing right across the world digging in for the long term, it’s useful to take a moment for MMP.

Is this the impossibility turning point?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:11 am, February 14th, 2017 - 49 comments

There’s a wonderful fiction still propelling the world that the 21st century will bring an ever-expanding arc of freedom and prosperity to the vast majority of humanity but the reality seems to be anything but.

How do we increase voter participation?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:02 am, January 17th, 2017 - 218 comments

Fewer people, particularly young people, are voting. How do we turn this around?

The CIA Director confirmation hearings

Written By: advantage - Date published: 11:03 am, January 10th, 2017 - 17 comments

Mike Pompey is Donald Trump’s chosen head for the CIA. He is someone who believes in the mass collection of all metadata and combining it with all publicly available information. Are we going to see the unprecedented destruction of rights of privacy?

Refining that dog whistle

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, January 10th, 2017 - 71 comments

Bill English has used a proposal for timing of his Waitangi speech to wrongly claim that he is being silenced. And most of the media bought it.

I have an idea

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:30 am, December 25th, 2016 - 12 comments

Advantage muses on the meaning of Christmas and how our response to it says a lot about who we are.

America’s broken democratic system

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:20 am, November 27th, 2016 - 92 comments

Through partisan control of the electoral system and continuing attempts to suppress votes America’s electoral system is in clear need of an overhaul.

Kindness

Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:38 pm, November 17th, 2016 - 13 comments

It has been a terrible year. People should think about being kind to each other and looking after each other.

Democracy can be refined

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, November 15th, 2016 - 125 comments

Democracy is difficult. Government is far too complex and ordinary people have neither the time nor the inclination to spend time to understand it properly. So what are the alternatives?