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The shame of homelessness
Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, January 18th, 2017 - 54 comments
A rich old white idiot, who would only be amused at our anger, has vented about the homeless, in a piece that shouldn’t be rewarded with our clicks.
Screwing more out of Auckland renters
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, January 10th, 2017 - 12 comments
Already sky-high Auckland rents are set to rise further.
Hacking Schmacking
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, January 7th, 2017 - 155 comments
In all seriousness. Apparently.
Rudman on Nats’ total housing fail
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, December 21st, 2016 - 196 comments
Rudman: “The Prime Minister, in his role in charge of Housing New Zealand, and Smith have spectacularly failed to solve Auckland’s housing crisis over several years.”
What Paula is proud of
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 17th, 2016 - 76 comments
Apparently it’s “getting homeless people into homes”. Given the ongoing explosion of homelessness, just think how much scope she has to make herself proud next year…
“Social bonds” fail – blame the officials!
Written By: - Date published: 3:09 pm, December 16th, 2016 - 31 comments
A scapegoat for the failure of the Nats’ first “social bonds” programme has been found. Turns out it was the fault of government officials! Shocker!
A cutting review of National’s lineup
Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, December 15th, 2016 - 240 comments
Jay Kuten writing in the Wanganui Chronicle: “Most of these folks couldn’t reliably run a bath.”
Charter schools fiddling their results
Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, December 9th, 2016 - 110 comments
Charter schools are fiddling their results. Just another example of the way that education for profit is all about profit, with education hardly getting a look in. All of National’s ideological interventions in education are failures.
Massive education fail
Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, November 30th, 2016 - 45 comments
Thanks National: “NZ kids worst at maths in English-speaking world”.
Todd Barclay faces Clutha-Southland selection challenge
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, November 29th, 2016 - 47 comments
Todd Barclay is one of National’s worst MP’s, who made a mess of the party apparatus he inherited from Bill English. No surprise that he is facing a selection challenge. Ex Philip Morris tobacco vs. Merrill Lynch banker – lucky Clutha-Southland!
Treasury predictions – not good
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, November 27th, 2016 - 66 comments
Brian Fallow in The Herald summarises the take-home messages from the latest Treasury report. National have us on track to disaster.
Sale of Key’s old house a powerful symbol
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, November 25th, 2016 - 11 comments
English admits that the government has done a poor job of maintaining state houses, and uses it as an excuse for privatisation – its by design. The attempted sale in Christchurch, incuding Key’s childhood home, is a powerful symbol of the way this government likes pulling up the ladder that they used behind them.
Nothing’s Going to Happen.
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, October 11th, 2016 - 104 comments
A wee reflection on our psychological fuck-edness.
HoliPay fiasco – 1 in 3 workers robbed
Written By: - Date published: 6:51 am, September 26th, 2016 - 48 comments
Do you work irregular shifts (even only occasionally)? Overtime? Sometimes on Public Holidays?
Then you’re probably part of the 1 in 3 workers owed more than $2 billion lost thru incorrect calculations of holiday pay.
Thanks Steven Joyce.
Nats cut police resources then demand the impossible
Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, August 30th, 2016 - 46 comments
We have had years of systematic under funding of the police and front-line numbers are falling. None the less police are now expected to attend every burglary. For the sake of this exercise in public perception other areas of police wrok will suffer.
Land banking – National gives up on housing crisis
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, August 29th, 2016 - 29 comments
As the average Auckland house price hits $1 Million, the Special Housing Areas fail, and Real Estate agents openly promote land banking, what does National do? Why, they give up, of course.
Toby Morris: TA’s Story
Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, August 28th, 2016 - 10 comments
Illustrator and commentator Toby Morris has animated TA’s story: “What do you want most in the world,” John Campbell asks TA, who has been living in a van with her family since February. “A library.”
Hollowing out the regions
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, August 28th, 2016 - 44 comments
The closure of 19 mostly rural Westpac branches is indicative of the ongoing hollowing out the regions. Neglecting Northland cost the Nats the last by election. Neglecting regional NZ as a whole might cost them the next general.
Nick Smith commits to raising average wage to $250,000
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, August 27th, 2016 - 37 comments
Great news everyone! On The Nation this morning Nick Smith committed to raising average NZ wage to $250,000!
The Spinoff: Housing crisis costing Nats
Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, August 27th, 2016 - 14 comments
The Spinoff: “Lose the top of your party vote in Auckland, with Labour making ground, and the picture for the general election in 2017 looks like, walks like and quacks like a crisis.”
Chart of the day: The “building boom”
Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, August 26th, 2016 - 119 comments
Homeless crisis – Nats in full denial
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, August 26th, 2016 - 82 comments
New research on homelessness from Otago University sheds light on the depth and breadth of the problem. Naturally Paula Bennett says she doesn’t believe it, and that she won’t read it. Because of course.
Key vs science on water quality
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, August 24th, 2016 - 60 comments
Nats push stupidest education plan ever
Written By: - Date published: 2:26 pm, August 23rd, 2016 - 218 comments
It’s not April 1st, so I’m forced to conclude that this is a genuine announcement: Students to learn online from home instead of at school under major education reform.
America bails on private prisons
Written By: - Date published: 3:49 pm, August 19th, 2016 - 19 comments
America is bailing on private prisons because they don’t work. What’s the bet that National is ‘too proud and arrogant’ to follow suit.
Tents warehouses and driveways
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, August 19th, 2016 - 64 comments
Tents and warehouses have been considered as emergency housing. Working people sleeping in cars are looking for driveways to rent. Say – has anyone seen John Key lately?
UNICEF call for action on NZ poverty
Written By: - Date published: 7:08 am, August 18th, 2016 - 165 comments
Once again this country under National is rightly shamed in the international media.
Affordable housing fail – we can’t rely on the private sector
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, August 17th, 2016 - 55 comments
To the complete surprise of no one, private sector developers have largely waited out the “affordable houses” requirement in the special housing areas. Another National failure.
Nats contradicting each other on panicked infrastructure policy
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, August 8th, 2016 - 29 comments
From Newshub:
Fewer police, more crime
Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, August 5th, 2016 - 39 comments
The number of police (per head of population) is falling, and crime figures are rising. But no doubt National will play the “tough on crime” card again next year.
Government puts 15% tax on foreign house buyers
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, August 4th, 2016 - 32 comments
No, not our government. Though as the average NZ house price just hit $600,000, and Auckland just short of $1m, they really should.
- If Treasury forecasts are right, it could be a decade before Australia is ‘back in black’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra After two successive surpluses, the federal budget will be back in deficit in 2024–25, according to the much-anticipated budget update released on Wednesday. Known as the Mid-Year Economic ...5 days ago - Lake Alice Payments Discriminatory
“While we applaud the Govt for trying to do the right thing for Lake Alice survivors & in recognising international recommendations, why is this Govt not doing right by all other survivors and recognising domestic recommendations?” Ms Cooper and ...5 days ago - Attorney-general ‘appalled’ after Judge and former doctor verbally abuse Winston Peters ...
Attorney-general Judith Collins said she was aware of what happened and was "appalled by it". ...5 days ago - Why Vanuatu should brace for even more aftershocks after this week’s deadly quakes: a seismologist...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Rescue services working in Port Vila, December 18 2024. Vanuatu Police Force/Facebook The death toll from Vanuatu’s earthquake disaster continues to rise, with international search and rescue operations underway to help people hit by the initial ...5 days ago
- Lake Alice survivor realises house bus dream with redress payment
Robyn Dandy plans to use her $150K payment to go on a South Island roadtrip with her pets in honour of the grandson she's lost. ...5 days ago
- Cabinet sets aside $22.6m for survivors tortured at Lake Alice
Analysis: More than 50 years after the first children were tortured at Lake Alice, the Government has announced redress, which includes either a rapid payment of $150,000 or an uncapped personalised payment.The Prime Minister set expectations that redress for Lake Alice survivors would be announced before the end of the ...5 days ago - Final decisions on TVNZ restructure to be announced in coming days
TVNZ's chief executive Jodi O'Donnell appeared before MPs at select committee on Wednesday for its annual review and outlined the big costs for the company. ...5 days ago
- Let’s take the boat out! 5 tips on staying safe on the water if you fancy a drink
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney View Apart/Shutterstock Australia is a nation of boaters, with one of the world’s highest rates of boat ownership. There are about one million ...5 days ago
- A bitter rivalry is emerging in the Middle East between two old adversaries over the future of Syria
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Conversation; Mohammed Badra (EPA), Maxim Shemetov (Reuters Pool/EPA), Stoyan Nenov (Reuters Pool/AP) The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has opened a new front for ...5 days ago
- Flying this holiday season? Here’s why air travel makes us so cranky – and what to do about it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Risk & Resilience, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The holidays are coming, airports are packed and emotions are running high. You’ve probably seen it or even been part of it: that tense moment when a passenger snaps ...5 days ago
- Minister Needs To Listen To The Evidence On Engineered Stone Ban
“We need to follow Australia’s example and implement a total ban of engineered stone, a dangerous product that is killing workers,” said Polaczuk. ...5 days ago
- How to not hug people you don’t want to hug this holiday season
You dread it, but they love it: here’s how to tell your family you’re hoping for a no-contact Christmas before they wrap their unwanted arms around you. There is nothing like Christmas to bring the blow of family obligation hurtling through your otherwise enjoyable life like a wrecking ball. And ...5 days ago - MPs Should Take A Break & Reject Easter Trading Bill
We reject any liberalisation of Easter trading laws and also Anzac and Christmas days because workers deserve this special annual break to spend time with their families. ...5 days ago
- Watch: Lake Alice survivors to get $150,000 each in redress
Erica Stanford has unveiled the government's redress plan for those tortured at the psychiatric hospital. ...5 days ago
- Peters considers legal action over judge’s ‘verbal attack’
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is considering legal action after a district court judge and a celebrity doctor “verbally attacked” him and other party members at a Christmas function.On Wednesday, The Post reported District Court judge Ema Aitken and intensive care specialist David Galler had apologised after their actions ...5 days ago
- A return to balanced budgets is a decade away, mid-year update says
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The federal budget is headed for a deficit of $26.9 billion this financial year – $1.3 billion better than the estimate in May – but in the following three years the budget is forecast to ...5 days ago
- Labor and Albanese end 2024 in worst poll position this term
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll , conducted December 11–15 from a sample of 1,151, gave the Coalition a 48–47 lead including undecided, unchanged ...5 days ago
- How feelings of disconnection and lack of control fuel conspiracy beliefs – new research
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elianne Albath, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Social Psychology, University of Basel Conspiracy theories have always been a part of society, offering explanations – sometimes simple, often elaborate – for complex events. Some have uncovered genuine conspiracies, such as the Watergate scandal. ...5 days ago
- Watch live: Lake Alice survivors to get $150,000 each in redress
Erica Stanford has unveiled the government's redress plan for those tortured at the psychiatric hospital. ...5 days ago
- The Spinoff’s favourite music of 2024
From Eden Park stepping up to rappers stepping each other out, we look back at the best of music this year. Read The Spinoff’s favourite TV shows of 2024. We’re a very small team here at The Spinoff, but we’ve tried our best to up our music coverage this year. ...5 days ago
- Vanuatu quake: Missing MFAT staff found safe, NZ offers search and rescue help
There are 58 New Zealanders registered as being in Vanuatu, though MFAT expects there are more who are not registered. ...5 days ago
- Government consults on engineered stone benchtop ban
Australia banned its use and manufacture in July. ...5 days ago
- Chris Penk rejects bid to change Petone’s name to Pito One
Chris Penk has said no to the change after it received backing from the . ...5 days ago
- How the Fast-track Approvals Bill became law
The contentious Fast-track Approvals Bill is now law - but it hit a few speed bumps on the way. ...5 days ago
- In six hours, everything changed: Watching Korea’s political turmoil from afar
In the aftermath of Yoon Suk-Yeol’s attempted insurrection, South Koreans around the world have been making their voices heard as they defend their homeland’s democratic institutions. Aotearoa is no exception, explains Rebekah Jaung. As we forge on ahead Those who live, follow on – from the song ‘March for Our ...5 days ago
- Kindergarten group fears rule overhaul will lower standards
Most early childhood groups backed changes to the sector's rules but Kindergartens Aotearoa said the review was focused on the needs of businesses rather than children. ...5 days ago
- Vanuatu quake: Death toll rises – 14 dead, hundreds hurt in 7.3 disaster
RNZ News The death toll from Vanuatu’s 7.3 earthquake is expected to rise because concrete buildings have collapsed with people inside in the capital Port Vila. International Federation of Red Cross Pacific head of delegation Katie Greenwood posted on X that the Vanuatu government was reporting 14 confirmed fatalities and ...5 days ago
- What happened to the Queenstown KFC road sign?
The iconic ‘No left turn except access to KFC’ road sign has vanished. Joel MacManus investigates. Queenstown is home to many of the world’s great natural wonders: Lake Wakatipu, The Remarkables and the only known skeleton of the New Zealand Mountain Dolphin. But all the beauty of mother nature pales ...5 days ago
- Calf’s head consommé with truffle quenelles: a history of what the royals ate for Christmas, from...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa J. Hackett, Lecturer, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England Rijksmuseum As we prepare our Christmas fare – a hot roast with all the trimmings, a seafood smorgasbord or a beach-side barbecue – it is timely to think ...5 days ago
- Astronomers’ world-first discovery: twin stars trapped in galactic black hole orbit
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Barnes, Lecturer in Physics, Western Sydney University A laser aims at the centre of our galaxy, in the heart of the brightest part of the Milky Way. G. Hüdepohl/ESO At the centre of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole ...5 days ago
- Most journalism fails Australians by failing in its reportage of Indigenous affairs. 7 changes would...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Alessia Francischiello via Unsplash Much has been written about the longstanding failings of the Australian media in its reportage of Indigenous affairs. The most recent example is the ...5 days ago
- We studied 20 places around the world and found the most common diseases linked with voluntary assis...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eliana Close, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology Ground Picture/Shutterstock More and more countries are legalising voluntary assisted dying. This lets a doctor, or sometimes a nurse practitioner, give life-ending medication to an eligible ...5 days ago
- A push to cool Australian cities may inadvertently increase our skin cancer risk, unless we act
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Stanford, Researcher Associate, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University Picture this: you’re working from home and it’s sweltering outside. You venture out for a coffee and move between patches of shade as you go. Good thing you wore your sunglasses, because ...5 days ago
- Some ancient Romans got to retire with a pension at 42, but retirement’s changed a bit over the ce...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Asher, Associate Professor in the UNSW Business School, UNSW Sydney siloto/Shutterstock This article is part of The Conversation’s “Retirement” series where experts examine issues including how much money we need to retire, retiring with debt, the psychological impact of retiring ...5 days ago
- Glam tidings of joy: how Slade made Merry Xmas Everybody a seasonal hit for the ages
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Blair, Teaching Fellow in Music, University of Otago Getty Images Are you hanging up your stocking on your wall? It’s the time that every Santa has a ball! You’ve probably just heard the 1973 Slade classic at the ...5 days ago
- The very long road to fiscal recovery
Treasury’s latest update showed only small glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund for The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...5 days ago
- Opposition accuses Nicola Willis of ‘creative accounting’
The finance minister's new indicator for measuring the budget has led to accusations of creative accounting from opposition parties. ...5 days ago
- Zombies given new life as fast-track passes into law
Ministers behind the bill say allowing certain projects to avoid extra scrutiny was a feature, not a bug, as fast-track is set for royal assent The post Zombies given new life as fast-track passes into law appeared first on Newsroom. ...5 days ago
- Waitangi trust chair urges Christopher Luxon to show up Treaty grounds
The Waitangi National Trust chair hopes Christopher Luxon makes his way to the Treaty grounds for the annual commemorations. ...5 days ago
- Early childhood education regulations ‘excessive and confusing’ – Ministry
Children in early learning are at an unacceptable risk of harm due to gaps in the way the sector is monitored, the regulatory review of early childhood education says. ...5 days ago
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