national
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- same old national (1,617)
Finlayson losing it
Written By: - Date published: 7:08 am, November 17th, 2010 - 92 comments
Is the interminable tangled mess of the foreshore and seabed issue getting to Chris Finlayson? Something certainly is, because he’s clearly losing it. For the Treaty Negotiations Minister to tell a group of Maori protesters to “go to hell” is about as idiotic as it gets.
Criminal procedure bill
Written By: - Date published: 7:32 am, November 16th, 2010 - 65 comments
Simon Power yesterday introduced the new “Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill” to Parliament, touting it as “the biggest change to the criminal justice system in 50 years”. It certainly is that. It proposes doing away with trial by jury for a significant range of offences. It proposes allowing a trial to go ahead without the defendant present. In other words, it looks like yet another attack on fundamental rights…
Worse than I imagined
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 pm, November 15th, 2010 - 98 comments
We learn from rort-buster Pete Hodgson that Pansy Wong and her husband have been running private companies out of her taxpayer-funded electorate office. I don’t see how she can remain in Parliament now. Who set and enforced the standards that have seen so many ministers involved in rorts? There’s only one person to point the finger at: Key
Hard core drunk drivers
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, November 15th, 2010 - 32 comments
The Key government doesn’t want to act on advice that would reduce deaths due to drunk drivers. The latest tactic is an attempt to divert attention to the worst “hard core” offenders. This is “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” foolishness. Why wait until we have problem drunk drivers and then try and pick up the pieces? Wouldn’t it be better to try and prevent people from becoming problem drivers in the first place?
Captain Potty Mouth
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, November 11th, 2010 - 27 comments
The PM’s Chief Press Secretary Kevin Taylor thinks he’s above those who are actually elected. So much so he feels free to tell journalists that an elected Member, who represents the people of New Zealand who voted for him, is a “fuckwit” and that they can “quote him”. Or perhaps “Captain Panic Pants” will claim that it’s just the pressure getting to him.
Nats bullying schools again
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, November 11th, 2010 - 61 comments
The latest Nat campaign to stifle those who speak out against them is in full swing. A report that a “Third of rebel schools appear to soften stance on standards” goes on to note the bullying tactics being used against schools to achieve this “compliance”. These tactics have already caused a senior Ministry official in the Auckland region to refuse to participate in the harassment of schools in protest.
The other great tax lie
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, November 10th, 2010 - 11 comments
The Budget 2010 tax cuts for the rich were supposed to be paid for by magical extra growth. But the growth isn’t happening and the government now has a $2.2 billion shortfall in income. So the tax cuts aren’t “broadly neutral” at all. We’re paying for them with borrowing. Is that “Ambitious for New Zealand”?
National – No Friend to Women
Written By: - Date published: 2:44 pm, November 9th, 2010 - 45 comments
The gender pay gap is increasing by about 1 percentage point each year under Pansy Wong’s watch – it’s now 13%. And a new report out shows women’s level of participation in key leadership areas is static or falling. Female unemployment had passed 7 percent for the first time in 12 years. National’s policies equate to an attack on women.
Brave whistleblower in Ministry of Education
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, November 9th, 2010 - 73 comments
An education blog reports a revolt in the Ministry of Education, with a senior official in the Auckland region refusing to bully schools over national standards. That is well and bravely done. So much easier to keep your head down and “just follow orders”. But these orders are very very wrong.
Children bigger than politics
Written By: - Date published: 7:21 am, November 8th, 2010 - 35 comments
The Google poll
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, November 7th, 2010 - 23 comments
It seems that in American elections there is an almost perfect correspondence between some candidates’ opinion polling and their current search volume on Google. Can we do away with political opinion polls? Sounds interesting doesn’t it. A quick check shows that the relative frequency of searches for “National party” and “Labour party” predicted the result of the 2008 election. What other tricks can we try?
Game over Tolley
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, November 5th, 2010 - 161 comments
Anne Tolley has lost the debate on national standards. The boycott looks set to gather strength, and even The Herald has come out against them. The empirical evidence, academic consensus and weight of professional opinion has always been against standards. The only ones still defending them are hacks and shills pushing a political agenda.
National’s Privatisation Agenda Continues
Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, November 4th, 2010 - 25 comments
National are continuing their privatisation by stealth. Hospitals services and a new prison are the current targets. Tony Ryall, Judith Collins and Bill English are the ministers currently pushing their ideology in their respective areas.
Labour and Greens lead on transparency
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 12 comments
Last week Speaker Lockwood Smith rolled back transparency on MPs expenses, by making travel spending secret again. John Key came out “against” the move. Yesterday Labour and the Greens called his bluff by releasing their details. Over to you John, once again you’re too late to lead, but you can still follow…
Broadband deal illegal?
Written By: - Date published: 7:08 pm, November 1st, 2010 - 10 comments
Are Joyce’s plans for a regulatory holiday on the proposed ultra-fast fibre broadband network a violation of international legal commitments? InternetNZ says yes. Joyce says no. Labour’s Clare Curren accuses the Nats of “disregard for NZ law, legal trade obligations and public scrutiny”.
National’s Broken Promises
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, November 1st, 2010 - 18 comments
National are a land of broken promises – from GST rises and tax cuts to falling wages and attacks on education. Here’s my list – help me with any I’ve forgotten.
Going backwards with National
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, October 29th, 2010 - 34 comments
It takes a lot to screw up a great country like New Zealand. It can’t be done overnight. But if you’re really negligent, anti-worker, and focused on hand outs to the rich, you can start to make things worse pretty quickly. Let’s look at the key measures of National’s performance, according to their own criteria:
Tolley twisting on education
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, October 29th, 2010 - 26 comments
According to a recent piece in The Herald: “Education Minister Anne Tolley said a recognition that New Zealand’s education was the best in the world did not rule out reform.” Reform may not be ruled out. But charging ahead with untested, unwanted, and probably damaging national standards certainly is. Where is the case for them, if our education system is so good?
The best country money can buy
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, October 28th, 2010 - 97 comments
Today, the Hobbit Enabling Act will be slammed through Parliament by National removing the right of employees working in the film industry to get employment rights if their contract calls them a contractor. It’s the latest in a series of anti-democratic laws that show National is the party of big business, not democracy and ordinary Kiwis.
Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 am, October 22nd, 2010 - 30 comments
Things are quickly turning to custard for National. The economy is going south fast and Key’s Teflon-coating is so damaged the mainstream media is openly saying we deserve better than a ‘smile and wave’ PM. The Nats’ strategy – try to convince us nothing is wrong – is really bad. It makes them look either duplicitous or out of touch.
Why the Right is worried 4: Polls
Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, October 21st, 2010 - 41 comments
The trend is quite clear now. The Right’s support peaked and the Left’s support reached is nadir last year. The gap has been gradually closing ever since. From a 24.5% gap between National and ACT a year ago, the gap in the latest Roy Morgan has fallen to 5.5%. About quarter of a million Kiwis have switched their support to the Left in a single year.
The deaf and dumb government
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, October 21st, 2010 - 11 comments
In just two years, we’ve had three protests eclipsing anything we saw under Labour. What will the next year bring? What would a second term see as the public reacts to an agenda of privatisation and public service cuts that go well beyond the ‘back office’? Will this deaf and dumb government ever wake up and hear the concerns of New Zealanders?
Key’s economic bravado now reduced to whining
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, October 21st, 2010 - 25 comments
In three short years John Key and National have gone from economic bravado, to failure, to lies, excuses and whining. As the economy languishes they will have nothing to offer except more lies and excuses.
This is a time for fresh thinking, both globally and locally. But we won’t get it from National.
Gordon Campbell: Central vs Local Government
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, October 21st, 2010 - 12 comments
Gordon Campbell on central government’s reaction to the local government elections. Campbell argues that National has a vested interest in the failure of both Len Brown in Auckland and Celia Wade-Brown in Wellington, and that voters have rejected the “1980s model of political leadership”.
Keith Ng: Nat bullshit on inflation and earnings
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, October 20th, 2010 - 44 comments
National have been running some fine lines of bullshit lately. Keith Ng’s recent post at Public Address calls them out on two of them. The first, National is trying to claim credit for low inflation. The Second, National is trying to claim that recent wage increases have been better than the previous 9 years. Keith takes the bullshit apart – dirty work, but someone has to do it.
National’s anti-Public Transport message
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, October 19th, 2010 - 16 comments
Different voice, same message: instead of Stephen Joyce or John Key, we now have Bill English saying that they don’t have any money for Public Transport. Just money for roads. They’ve been forced to commit to $1.5 billion of ongoing Auckland rail projects, and that’s all it’s going to get, thank-you.
Nats’ war on education: cutting wages
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, October 19th, 2010 - 87 comments
For some reason, the Nats hate public education. Even an elitist fool should be able to see that a well-educated workforce is valuable and public education is the cheapest way to achieve it. Yet National is attacking education at every level. The latest ‘offer’ to the secondary teachers would see them take 2 years of after-inflation pay cuts.
Discontent within National
Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, October 18th, 2010 - 25 comments
The Sunday Star Times had an interesting piece quoting a National MP on growing discontent within the party. Discontent at the public perception of National as a “one man band”, and the way that the party has been reduced to “The John Key Show”. With National’s failure on the economy growing ever more evident, is the power of brand Key enough to carry the Nats to a win in 2011?
It’s the economy, stupid
Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, October 16th, 2010 - 11 comments
John Armstrong is at his insightful best today. He’s hit on the emerging change in the political discourse – the economy is going to crap and that’s what really matters, not the meltdowns of minor MPs and racist TV monkeys. And this do nothing government doesn’t care and has no solutions. This is Labour’s chance to offer a real alternative:
ACT – one law for all?
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, October 15th, 2010 - 19 comments
Hillary Calvert introduced an amendment this week to change the Marine and Coastal Act. In keeping with Act’s philosophy of One Rule For All it denies Maori the right to charge for access to beaches, whilst allowing current private owners to (continue to) charge access fees.
What should National do?
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, October 14th, 2010 - 36 comments
What should Labour do? One of our regular commenters steps up and answers the question. What more can we add? And, my challenge to the right wingers, can you come up with a similarly broad, coherent and principled summary of what you think National stands for? What should National do?
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