Search Results

  1. Lawyers, guns and money

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:05 am, November 9th, 2020 -  51 comments
    Categories: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, uncategorized, us politics
    Tags:

    Over in the United States of America the country is descending into chaos. But so far the farcical type of chaos as opposed to the violent type of chaos and this is a good thing.

  2. US Election 2020

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:36 pm, November 3rd, 2020 -  137 comments
    Categories: us politics
    Tags:

    General discussion page for the US Elections 2020.

  3. Labour’s new Oceans Ministry

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:19 am, November 3rd, 2020 -  23 comments
    Categories: climate change, Conservation, david parker, Environment, food, global warming, jacinda ardern, science, Shane Jones, stuart nash, sustainability
    Tags:

    Jacinda Ardern’s decision to rename the Fisheries Ministery to “Oceans and Fisheries” and install David Parker instead of Stuart Nash shows a welcome desire to protect this most precious of resources.

  4. The Covid crisis

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 11:43 am, November 1st, 2020 -  51 comments
    Categories: boris johnson, covid-19, Donald Trump, Europe, uk politics
    Tags:

    A surge in Covid infections in Europe and in the United States is raising the specter that the most pessimistic predictions about the disease and its effect on the health system may occur.   And right wing governments appear to be spectacularly unable to deal with the crisis.

  5. Less buzz and more cooperative governing

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 10:45 am, November 1st, 2020 -  49 comments
    Categories: act, Dirty Politics, greens, labour, national, nz first, political parties, Politics, same old national
    Tags: ,

    I liked the process for the Greens and Labour agreement. From Labour’s side after this election it was logically completely unnecessary, except maybe under some weird scenarios. But it is cooperative and that is clearly something that voters reward these days. Politics isn’t about buzz. It is about effective governance.

  6. The reeferendum fails

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 2:46 pm, October 30th, 2020 -  207 comments
    Categories: democratic participation, drugs, election 2020, referendum, Social issues, uncategorized
    Tags:

    The referendum seeking to decriminalise cannabis appears to have failed narrowly although special votes are still to be counted.

  7. On the US election.

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 9:42 am, October 30th, 2020 -  30 comments
    Categories: Donald Trump, International, Joe Biden, us politics
    Tags:

    This year forecasting the U.S. election has an interesting additional element, with Trump and the Republican Party gearing up to steal the election if it is not a landslide for their opponents. It is going to be difficult with Joe Biden currently estimated at a 89% probability of winning the electoral college.

  8. Aotearoa New Zealand is a hell hole paradise dystopian democracy

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:09 am, October 29th, 2020 -  55 comments
    Categories: covid-19, election 2020, health, jacinda ardern, making shit up, spin, uncategorized, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    Fox News has seized upon a four month old video of Jacinda Ardern to suggest that New Zealand has a terrifying new response to the disease and are throwing people into quarantine camps.

  9. Later Jami-Lee

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 11:21 am, October 19th, 2020 -  43 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags: ,

    It appears that this election will be the swan song of Jami-Lee Ross’s political career with his final political act being eviscerated publicly by Tova O’Brien in an interview.

  10. About the Greens…

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 11:05 am, October 15th, 2020 -  74 comments
    Categories: benefits, climate change, election 2020, greens, Metiria Turei, welfare
    Tags:

    Here’s the thing about the Greens. They want change. They want change more than they want power. I think that they fully understand that we are out of time on climate, poverty, the environment and now is the time to act boldly.

  11. National’s 2020 election campaign in billboards

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 4:51 pm, October 11th, 2020 -  24 comments
    Categories: Judith Collins, national, Nikki Kaye, same old national, todd muller
    Tags:

    A review of National’s billboards used this year shows what an utter disaster the campaign has been for them.

  12. Regenerative economies: $100,000 growing permaculture kale

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 6:05 am, October 11th, 2020 -  56 comments
    Categories: economy, farming
    Tags: , , , , , ,

    A Thames couple are showing how to make a living from small scale market gardening, and leading the way in regenerative horticulture.

  13. National leaks again

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:33 am, October 6th, 2020 -  62 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, election 2020, Judith Collins, national, supercity, uncategorized
    Tags:

    A highly critical email about Judith Collins written by National Maungakiekie MP Denise Lee has been leaked and indicates that National’s Auckland policy was made on the hoof and without reference to the person in caucus with actual responsibility for the subject.

  14. New Zealand, Biden, Trump, and Australia

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 3:47 pm, October 5th, 2020 -  6 comments
    Categories: australian politics, Donald Trump, International, us politics
    Tags:

    If Donald Trump is re-elected in 30 days’ time, he will be vindicated and emboldened.  What will the implications be for New Zealand?

  15. So much for the climate change consensus

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 10:50 am, September 25th, 2020 -  39 comments
    Categories: climate change, election 2020, Environment, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, national, same old national, science, Simon Bridges
    Tags:

    Ten months ago National supported the Zero Carbon Bill and called for a consensus between the major political parties on the overall framework through which climate change issues are addressed.  This week National trashed all of that to try and shore up its sagging support.

  16. Assange’s torture and the death of journalism

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 9:28 pm, September 6th, 2020 -  60 comments
    Categories: Abuse of power, activism, censorship, democracy under attack, journalism, Media, Spying, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uk politics, us politics
    Tags: ,

    On the eve of Assange’s extradition hearing in London, award-winning freelancer Jonathan Cook has written a scathing indictment of corporate journalism’s collusion in ignoring his official torture. I posted an example of that here last year, where Richard Harman denied Assange was a journalist at a panel convened at Parliament by the British High Commissioner.

  17. Will our cities revive?

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 7:00 am, September 5th, 2020 -  43 comments
    Categories: auckland supercity, covid-19, Environment, health, public transport, sustainability, transport, uncategorized, welfare
    Tags:

    Our cities are the nation’s lungs; they recycle and accelerate external goods and transform them internally into faster circulation. Auckland and Christchurch have had tens of billions invested in them over successive local and central governments, but has this improved our strength or wealth as a country at all?

  18. US v China: new Cold War or new Opium War?

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 10:27 am, August 25th, 2020 -  23 comments
    Categories: australian politics, China, colonialism, Donald Trump, Free Trade, International, Joe Biden, us politics, war
    Tags:

    The Trump administration has declared war on China, and there is much speculation in the punditry as to whether or not this is a new Cold War similar to that waged post World War 2 against Russia. In my opinion, the 19th century Opium Wars may offer a more appropriate analogy, albeit with a likely different outcome.

  19. The election campaign and the sponsored Herald article

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:42 am, August 25th, 2020 -  58 comments
    Categories: covid-19, election 2020, health, Media, national
    Tags:

    Radius Chair and NBR rich lister Brien Cree has a sponsored article in the Herald this morning that is critical of the Government’s Covid response.

  20. Will National politicise the new Covid outbreak? *

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:38 pm, August 12th, 2020 -  182 comments
    Categories: covid-19, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, national, same old national
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    *Rhetorical question. Of course they will.

  21. Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government: Style over substance or a guiding light for progressive politics?

    Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 8:42 am, August 10th, 2020 -  33 comments
    Categories: abortion, bill english, Christchurch Attack, education, election 2020, electoral systems, First Past the Post, greens, housing, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, labour, law, law and "order", leadership, MMP, national, nz first, polls, terrorism, tertiary education
    Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

    Critics have dismissed the Jacinda Ardern government as being one of style over substance. This is unfair given the challenges this government has faced and the policy achievements it has had. However, it is a government that has much work to do if it wins a second term. And its over-reliance on Jacinda as party leader is a huge strategic risk, especially when the governments front bench is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be lightweight.

  22. IT doESN’t aDD up

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:49 am, August 10th, 2020 -  57 comments
    Categories: covid-19, Gerry Brownlee, making shit up, national, spin, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    For a few days now Gerry Brownlee has been peddling this dog whistle conspiracy campaign that the Government is hiding bad news about Covid and we should all be really concerned.

  23. The Covid election

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:40 am, August 6th, 2020 -  73 comments
    Categories: brand key, covid-19, jacinda ardern, john key, labour, national
    Tags: ,

    I normally do not do this, tempting fate and all that.  But the forces behind this election are so strong that it would take a really dramatic event to change current momentum.

  24. National’s week from hell

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 6:01 pm, August 2nd, 2020 -  34 comments
    Categories: Amy Adams, Judith Collins, national, Nikki Kaye, polls, prisons, same old national, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uncategorized
    Tags:

    A review of National’s week which is as bad as any week I can remember.

  25. How do you tell when Judith is saying something that is not true?

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:59 pm, July 28th, 2020 -  56 comments
    Categories: Judith Collins, making shit up, Minister for International Embarrassment, national, same old national, spin, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    Judith Collins has backed away from telling a mistruth about escape statistics during her time as Minister of Corrections by claiming that her eyebrow was raised and this is evidence that what she was saying was a joke.

  26. Trade Unionism: Does it have a future

    Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 10:36 pm, July 27th, 2020 -  19 comments
    Categories: health and safety, Living Wage, minimum wage, Unions, workers' rights
    Tags: , , , , , ,

    There is no blueprint for building a stronger more effective trade union movement. There are many, who each and every day wake up and do exactly that.

  27. National’s next Auckland Central candidate?

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:58 am, July 17th, 2020 -  38 comments
    Categories: election 2020, Judith Collins, national, same old national, Satire
    Tags:

    With Nikki Kaye’s shock retirement announcement National urgently needs a new candidate.  One name springs to mind.

  28. The Christian Right and the 2020 election

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 11:29 am, July 12th, 2020 -  90 comments
    Categories: conservative party, election 2020, hone harawira, national, new conservatives, uncategorized
    Tags: ,

    A variety of Christian parties have attempted to gain a place in Parliament.  What are the chances in 2020 of a conservative Christian Party succeeding in gaining seats?

  29. Wellington buses now: how a local authority harmed public transport

    Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 7:27 am, July 6th, 2020 -  15 comments
    Categories: employment, public transport, transport, Unions, wages
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

    Sure to form, Paul Swain along with Regional Council Chair and another former Labour MP Fran Wilde proposed tearing down the trolleybus wire and increasing the city’s carbon emission. This was to then promptly followed by re-tendering all the bus routes having redesigned all the bus network so that bus companies could then compete over routes and undercut each other. At one council meeting in mid-2016 Swain was questioned about the possibility of protecting drivers jobs and employment conditions. After a few questions, he lost patience, slammed in hand on the table and ended the meeting. This was the extent to which Swain and the Greater Wellington Regional Council considered supporting bus drivers during this process.

  30. We don’t know how lucky we are

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 10:59 am, June 24th, 2020 -  32 comments
    Categories: business, Economy, Media, Politics, Social issues
    Tags:

    Looking at the rises in covid-19 infections worldwide is just damn depressing. Looking at the media and Nat supporters, the world, and covid-19 -ll I can say is thank you for the internet. And the kiwis who aren’t listening to the whining about here because they can see the slow disaster unfolding elsewhere with incompetent governments.

  31. National is relentlessly negative about the country’s Covid response

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 10:03 am, June 24th, 2020 -  95 comments
    Categories: national, Nikki Kaye, same old national, todd muller
    Tags: , ,

    You would think in the midst of a world pandemic that is threatening established countries everywhere that National would do the responsible thing and work constructively to resolve all of government issues. If you do think this you are wrong.