Social issues

Categories under Social issues

Burning down the house

Written By: - Date published: 5:03 pm, October 15th, 2019 - 28 comments

Why is it that conservative politicians throughout the world engage in rhetorical attacks on laws that in many situations actually serve important purposes?

Goff returned as Super City Mayor

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, October 12th, 2019 - 30 comments

Preliminary results suggest Phil Goff has been returned as Auckland Super City mayor.

National’s extreme gang rhetoric

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, October 10th, 2019 - 39 comments

National has engaged in some extreme rhetoric concerning gangs which is not reality based.

About the $7.5 billion surplus

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, October 9th, 2019 - 37 comments

The announcement of a $7.5 billion surplus for the last fiscal year combined with a $5.5 billion surplus the year before proves once and for all that Steven Joyce’s claim of a $11.5 billion deficit in Labour’s costings was bollocks.

National’s plans to torment poor people leaked

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, October 4th, 2019 - 110 comments

National’s plans to torment poor people for political gain have been leaked.

On ‘free speech victims’.

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, October 1st, 2019 - 66 comments

Good to see that the courts upholding the right of venues to decide how they are able to use their facilities and assess risks. There is no ‘free speech right’ in our law including the Bill of Rights Act that overrides owners assessment of risk. The rights that are in the BoA are not exclusive – anyone can express their opinion peaceably – including protesters like myself at the doors of bigots.

The Government’s Economic Development Plan

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, September 30th, 2019 - 15 comments

Last week the government launched its Economic Development Plan, arguably late but with lots of useful initiatives.

Fonterra, again

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, September 29th, 2019 - 24 comments

Why New Zealand – and its government – need to engage much harder about Fonterra.

Unrelentingly negative

Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, September 26th, 2019 - 29 comments

National has chosen to attack Jacinda Ardern on her trip to New York for doing too much and not enough at the same time.  It seems to be a pattern.

Civilian offers a bleak look at our future.

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, September 26th, 2019 - 13 comments

The Civilian ‘reports’ in “Trump repeatedly asked Ardern if New Zealand gives asylum very often”. Oh shit! We need to reverse National’s large donation policy and proactively and preemptively pass a law against bolthole refugees.

The Greens on the need for rental law changes

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, September 26th, 2019 - 11 comments

Marama Davidson: renting has to be a valid way of life.

Fairy tales of eternal economic growth

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 24th, 2019 - 67 comments

Greta Thunberg has spoken at the UN Climate Change summit and has warned the world that it is stealing the dreams and hopes of young people through its failure to address climate change.

National’s rhetoric problem

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, September 21st, 2019 - 19 comments

National has displayed a concerning level of rhetoric this week involving a misrepresentation of the GDP figures and the attacking of a board appointee who cannot respond.

No Right Turn: Against facial recognition

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, September 19th, 2019 - 21 comments

“we should be outlawing this intrusive technology and the tracking it enables and entails.”

Ihumaatao must be returned to mana whenua says Kiingitanga

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, September 18th, 2019 - 149 comments

“Mana whenua agree they want their land returned, so they can make decisions about its future.”

Every day New Zealanders

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, September 18th, 2019 - 20 comments

Simon Bridges thinks that Jacinda Ardern’s international campaign to change the way that social media handles hate speech and terrorism a big talkfest that will achieve nothing, even though Facebook has as a result announced significant changes to its platform.

China, Climate Conference, and New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, September 18th, 2019 - 4 comments

At the United Nations Climate Action Summit next weekend the question may be asked what would happen if China stopped buying Australian coal?

The strange case of Oravida and the rupturing of the Ruakaka jet fuel line

Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, September 17th, 2019 - 16 comments

An independent inquiry has concluded that an Oravida associated company was most likely responsible for the rupturing of a jet fuel line in 2017.

An unfortunate rush to judgment by the media?

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, September 17th, 2019 - 124 comments

A release of information from Labour Council member Simon Mitchell has raised issues about what members of the Labour Party knew about recent sexual abuse allegations and when.

Legitimate target, daft war

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, September 16th, 2019 - 30 comments

The war that Saudi Arabia and its allies has been waging against the Houthi side in the civil war in Yemen took a interesting turn yesterday. Houthi claimed an attack on Saudi oil processing facilities using drone strikes. It is likely to significantly reduce the output of the Saudi exports for a while as the […]

How This Government Can Still Win

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 16th, 2019 - 91 comments

Some suggestions on how Labour can retain power at the next election.

National’s double standard

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, September 15th, 2019 - 100 comments

National has a rather murky past when it comes to dealing with issues relating to the behaviour of its Members of Parliament.

The biggest loser

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, September 10th, 2019 - 21 comments

Boris Johnson has lost a sixth Parliamentary vote in six days as Britain lurches into a constitutional crisis.

National attacks Labour for not cleaning up National’s mental health crisis quickly enough

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, September 9th, 2019 - 37 comments

National has complained that the Government is not fixing up the problems with the Mental Health system created by National quickly enough.

Te Whare Pounamu #3

Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, September 7th, 2019 - 3 comments

Survivor Backs Refuge.

The Civilian has a fish-hook

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, September 6th, 2019 - 2 comments

The Civilian is New Zealand’s pre-eminent source of online news, and indeed the purest form of news that you can consume without having an apoplectic seizure. Today they detail the course of a vaccination on live TV. Please put your hot drinks down before reading.

Forget Brexit

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, September 5th, 2019 - 39 comments

As Brexit fades our British parent country into a globally forgettable social embarrassment, we should remind ourselves that the only international politics of any impact on us is within Asia. There, as elsewhere, structured relationships are starting to crumble and impact upon us.  This is because Asia in the past decade has undergone remarkable transformation […]

The Free Speech Coalition goes to court

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, September 5th, 2019 - 70 comments

Jordan Williams and the Free Speech Coalition are in the High Court protecting the rights of Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux to express views the details of which Mr Williams does not know.

Te Whare Pounamu #2

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, September 5th, 2019 - 4 comments

Are congratulations in order Ang! Are you perhaps patting yourself on the back for some part you played in RNZ dropping a major story on serious issues at Te Whare Pounamu quicker than a hot potato and then seemingly propelling it to obscurity faster than a .45 bullet? Maybe not. Maybe that’s just what happens. […]

Te Whare Pounamu – Are Children Really Safe?

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, September 4th, 2019 - 7 comments

How seriously do Women’s Refuge, the Ministry of Social Development and Te Whare Pounamu management take child abuse concerns? This requires greater scrutiny. 

Head Theory

Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, September 4th, 2019 - 24 comments

The English team have reintroduced the infamous  bodyline approach to their cricket. The 20th century euphemism for it was “leg theory,” in the 21st century it is better described as “head theory.” “It isn’t cricket” used to be the Englishman’s definer for noble values. Not any more.