Search Results

  1. Help the Campaign for MMP, they’re Internet illiterates

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 12:11 am, May 9th, 2010 -  53 comments
    Categories: election 2011, First Past the Post, humour, interweb, MMP, political education, referendum, Supplementary Member
    Tags:

    One thing that the election in Britain brought home to me, was how much I’m grateful for having Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) representation here. I didn’t start that way. Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate the gradual progress and stability offered by MMP. However the people at the Campaign for MMP could do with a little help in the Internet age. They’re operating like it was 1993.

  2. Brits look to NZ for coalition know-how

    Written By:  Michael Foxglove -  Date published: 12:52 pm, May 8th, 2010 -  45 comments
    Categories: International, uk politics
    Tags:

    In the wake of an uncertain UK election outcome, the BBC’s Nick Bryant writes that Britain could learn from New Zealand in the art of forming coalition governments. “[T]he common-heard message from New Zealand in the event that the UK election produces no clear winner is curiously British: Stay calm and carry on.”

  3. Aussies build trains “for a living” – that’s why their standard is better than ours

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 9:00 pm, May 4th, 2010 -  33 comments
    Categories: Economy, jobs, public transport
    Tags: , ,

    Steven Joyce has virtually ruled out Kiwirail building its new trains here in New Zealand. The Aussies have a completely different view about government purchasing, as I learnt from my years on the Industrial Supplies Office management committee in the 1990’s. They believe in Australian jobs for Australian money.

  4. My cellphone isn’t made of gold

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 9:59 am, May 4th, 2010 -  7 comments
    Categories: Conservation, Economy, Mining, science
    Tags:

    The Nats and miners have this weird freeloader argument. ‘Those protesters are hypocrites. Their cell phones and ipods and cars all use mined products. They should support us mining’. They won’t be mining needed industrial minerals. But what’s under Paparoa? Dirty coal. What’s under Coromandel and Barrier? Gold. which is nearly all used for jewellery and ‘investment’.

  5. Tax hike but why no display ban?

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:10 am, April 29th, 2010 -  48 comments
    Categories: health, tax
    Tags:

    I’m not against rising the excise on tobacco but everyone knows that if this government was serious about reducing the harm from tobacco this isn’t the best way to go about it. The best thing to do would be to ban tobacco displays. Upping the excise takes more money out of the pockets of the poor but it has only a minor effect on reducing smoking.

  6. Nats tie themselves in knots over mining

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 8:43 am, April 29th, 2010 -  10 comments
    Categories: Conservation, Mining
    Tags: , ,

    Mr Brownlee, I have to confess, you’ve got me scratching my head. You’re saying that anyone can already prospect and even, to use your words, “dig to their heart’s content” on Schedule 4 land while your leader is saying we can’t mine or even know what is under the land until it is removed from Schedule 4. Which is it? Do.. do any of you clowns actually know?

  7. Dead even in Auckland

    Written By:  Sam Cash -  Date published: 9:22 am, April 27th, 2010 -  11 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, john banks, len brown, local body elections
    Tags: , ,

    Sam Cash takes a look at John Banks’ latest poll and doesn’t find too much to crow about for the Mayor for Remuera – noting he has only managed to draw even with Len Brown in spite of the huge profile lead he has over his challenger.

  8. Stewart vs. Fox

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 3:02 pm, April 22nd, 2010 -  19 comments
    Categories: humour, news, us politics
    Tags: ,

    When will conservative commentators stop picking fights with Jon Stewart? It never ends well for them.

  9. More on Crosby-Textor, mining, and the Nats

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 6:53 am, April 22nd, 2010 -  18 comments
    Categories: capitalism, crosby textor, Mining, national
    Tags:

    We all know that long before John Key got into the gold and uranium mining industry, Crosby Textor Chairman, Robert J Champion de Crespigny was pushing the mining industry’s cause in New Zealand. So, who is this CT man who has been called Australia’s ‘Mr Gold’, a “mining magnate”, a “resource-sector heavyweight” and “a legend”?

  10. Volcanoes and climate change

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:00 am, April 19th, 2010 -  90 comments
    Categories: climate change, science
    Tags: ,

    The eruption of the volcano under Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland is an example of what we can expect more of due to climate change. Vulcanism is expected to increase as ice caps and glaciers melt. An eruption has a cooling effect, due to the sulfur dioxide thrown into the air and, in Eyjafjallajokull’s case, all the grounded planes. But don’t count on volcanoes to save us from ourselves.

  11. NZ should be a proud world leader on nukes

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:54 pm, April 13th, 2010 -  49 comments
    Categories: International, us politics, war
    Tags: ,

    How wonderful it is to have a US President that rejects the evil of nuclear weapons. Finally the world is catching up with us. While the powers were locked in the stand-off of Mutually Assured Destruction, New Zealand rejected the madness of that logic and we declared ourselves nuclear-free. Our Prime Minister should be celebrating that fact and pointing to our achievement as a model for the whole world.

  12. Brownlee still spouting the same garbage on mining

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 12:23 pm, April 6th, 2010 -  34 comments
    Categories: Conservation, Environment, Mining
    Tags:

    The Government is trying to frame the mining issue as a debate between ’emotional’ environmentalists and ‘sensible’ people who want to build the economy. The reality, however, is that the Government has no clue what benefits mining on protected land could bring or the costs. How are we meant to rationally weigh the pros and cons when the Government doesn’t know what they are and has made no effort to find out? The Government just wants to dig and pray.

  13. State enforced amnesia

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 10:24 am, April 6th, 2010 -  7 comments
    Categories: accountability, national, public services
    Tags:

    John Key’s National government has, in its infinite wisdom, decided to subsume Archives New Zealand and the National Library within the Department of Internal Affairs. With typical ideological one-eyedness that necessitates a blithe disregard for constitutional values, the merger is likely to have some fairly dire consequences for anyone who considers it important that a […]

  14. Let’s not repeat Ireland’s mistakes

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 1:25 pm, March 29th, 2010 -  26 comments
    Categories: capitalism, economy, Economy, poverty
    Tags:

    The eXileD has a piece on Ireland’s woes and how they got there. The 1980s neoliberal revolution and dodgy deals for the Right’s mates are familiar. Ireland became a tax haven for bludging international financiers. It’s all come crashing down but John Key wants to copy their mistake by creating an offshore financial centre here.

  15. More Act infighting

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 3:03 pm, March 27th, 2010 -  78 comments
    Categories: act, rodney hide
    Tags: , , , ,

    It’s getting nasty in the ACT party. Rodney Hide can’t last as leader. Heather Roy, Roger Douglas, and John Boscawen each have factions backing them to replace him. Disintegration is a real possibility. The consequence of ACT’s straying from it’s economically and socially liberal roots under Douglas and Prebble to reactionism under the nihilist Hide. If a collapse does take place, Key may have to call an early election.

  16. Labour on mining. Brownlee on bullshit.

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 8:00 am, March 26th, 2010 -  33 comments
    Categories: Mining
    Tags:

    There has been considerable discussion about the message and targeting of Labours policy on mining around the conservation estate in OpenMike and some of the other blogs. This is obviously going to be a reasonable large policy platform in the upcoming election in about 18 months (how time flies). So Labour having a clear policy on it over the last decade pleases me greatly. It agrees broadly with my views of balancing the economics between exploitation of extraction and sustainable tourism.

    I’m pretty much in agreement with Lew at Kiwipolitico who said “Labour’s campaign against mining Schedule 4 land looks strong, especially at the iconographic level.”

  17. ‘Dig & hope’ – Nats’ great plan

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:30 am, March 25th, 2010 -  43 comments
    Categories: Conservation, Economy, Mining, national, spin
    Tags: , ,

    National’s mining policy is ‘dig and hope’. That’s the only conclusion one can draw after Gerry Brownlee and Nick Smith admitted National has no idea of the value of the minerals supposedly under the protected lands they want to dig up. Remember, this is National’s lynch-pin economic policy. They are we have dig up these protected lands for the sake of the economy but have no idea of what’s there.

  18. GST hike = tax cut for rich only

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:49 pm, March 14th, 2010 -  50 comments
    Categories: gst, tax
    Tags: , , ,

    The numbers of National’s tax money go round leaked to the SST. I have worked out who wins and who loses. Key claimed that no-one will be worse off and the bulk will be much better off but 10% are worse off and 80% get next to nothing (without even counting the rent hikes). The elite get $100 in net tax cuts for every $1 the typical Kiwi gets.

  19. Herald’s “democracy lockout” campaign – pick it up!

    Written By:  John A -  Date published: 5:44 pm, March 13th, 2010 -  5 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    On Monday this week the front page of the Auckland Herald’s print edition announced that the paper was going to run a campaign to fight what it called “the lockout of democracy” in the Super City. There was nothing on the Herald website all week, which seems odd if it was a real campaign. On […]

  20. Wellywood? Welly-hick, more like

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 10:36 am, March 9th, 2010 -  53 comments
    Categories: local government
    Tags: ,

    Wellingtonians like to think of themselves as more sophisticated than their rural brethren.

    But sometimes they come out with something that shows just what a bunch of hicks they are.

  21. Hartevelt on bashing the yoof

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:02 am, March 7th, 2010 -  26 comments
    Categories: education, transport
    Tags:

    A contact at the Ministry of Transport tells me that 15 year old drivers have been involved in only a handful of fatal crashes, 1 to 1.5% of the total, in recent years and they’re not all the 15 year old’s fault. But no, National’s solution is to prevent all 15 year olds from driving. Dumb. It’s a carpet-bombing approach to policy

  22. O’Sullivan and Garrett, strange bedfellows?

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:37 am, March 6th, 2010 -  6 comments
    Categories: capitalism, class war, health, racism
    Tags: , , ,

    Fran O’Sullivan is a pro-business liberal or libertarian, David Garrett is a knuckle brain conservative. But actually, they’re not so far apart. It seems both believe in freedom for the rich and control over the poor. Incredibly O’Sullivan goes into bat for Garrett over his sterilisation comments.

  23. Labour says ‘hands off Radio NZ’

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 12:29 pm, March 5th, 2010 -  5 comments
    Categories: broadcasting
    Tags:

    The campaign to save Radio New Zealand from funding cuts and commercialisation is going well. Well attended rallies have been held in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch. The Facebook group, which now has 17,800 members and is close to overtaking the John Key supporters’ group, has attracted a lot of media attention. Now Labour have put their […]

  24. GST hike boon for tax cheats

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 10:42 pm, March 2nd, 2010 -  34 comments
    Categories: gst, tax
    Tags: ,

    Some contractors and small business owners record private costs as business expenses and claim back the GST. The cheats who claim enough GST back get payments from IRD. Hiking GST puts more of our money in the pockets of these tax cheats.

  25. Rosemary McLeod on Barbarians

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 1:08 pm, February 28th, 2010 -  23 comments
    Categories: broadcasting, Media, news
    Tags: , , , , ,

    One of the best pieces I’ve seen about the idiotic minister of broadcasting Jonathon Coleman wanting to starve or bend National Radio into the level of stupidity that the NACT’s prefer. Rosemary McLeod writing “Quality radio easy target for the barbarians” in the Sunday Star Times this morning.

  26. Supercity: Who’s gonna vote?

    Written By:  Sam Cash -  Date published: 2:30 pm, February 23rd, 2010 -  21 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, john banks, len brown, local body elections
    Tags: , , , ,

    Recent polls highlight how important turnout will be at this year’s local body election.

    Sam Cash takes a look at recent history and how attitudes to the supercity and the themes of this election could increase participation.

  27. Get tough no solution

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 2:20 pm, February 23rd, 2010 -  7 comments
    Categories: crime, Media, police
    Tags:

    Crime is not, as Judith Collins seems to think, evil people doing evil things that can be repressed by ever greater state violence. Deterrence doesn’t work because crime, especially violent crime, is not a rational outcome of weighing costs and benefits. A crime policy that doesn’t reduce crime isn’t really a crime policy, it’s a con.

  28. Wee gripes: Cop attacks, whaling, dr shortage

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 1:15 pm, February 22nd, 2010 -  26 comments
    Categories: Conservation, crime, health, wages
    Tags: ,

    No chance some gang f#ckwits would be deterred by longer sentences.
    What happened to that plan of Key’s to end whaling?
    How do we get a high wage economy when National opposes each and every wage rise?

  29. A rare opportunity

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 6:26 pm, February 19th, 2010 -  6 comments
    Categories: business
    Tags: ,

    It is not often that I compliment the authors that write for No Minister. However I have to compliment SageNZ for his prescient post about Huljich Wealth Management – “Huljich funds and stock pumping”.. I noticed the post while I was scanning their site with my usual level of mild distaste (it usually feels like […]

  30. Espiner spears PM puffery

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 12:00 pm, February 16th, 2010 -  10 comments
    Categories: brand key, Media
    Tags:

    Colin Espiner: “Is that uranium I can smell on John Key’s breath? Or too much garlic in the lamb rack the prime minister cooked for his wife on Valantines Day? Go on, laugh. But both seem to be legitimate topics of journalistic interest today”

  31. Paula, John, seriously, put away the champagne

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 12:53 pm, February 6th, 2010 -  2 comments
    Categories: john key, spin, unemployment
    Tags:

    Paula Bennett and John Key have been, once again, prematurely popping the bottle of champagne to celebrate the end of rising unemployment.   In the face of the shocking 7.3% unemployment rate announced on Thursday, the pair responded by saying ‘ah, but that was December quarter things are better now.’ They pointed to the number […]

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