Search Results

1. 

   O Winston I love you

   Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 9:25 am, October 18th, 2020 -  50 comments
   Categories: nz first, uncategorized, winston peters
   Tags:

   Some reasons for us to miss Winston’s exit from politics.

2. 

   Backbench National MP proposes radical new tax to address deficit *

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 6:23 pm, October 14th, 2020 -  29 comments
   Categories: Economy, election 2020, national, same old national, tax, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uncategorized
   Tags: david bennett

   * but I am not sure that all of his caucus colleagues would be happy with the proposal.

3. 

   Greens: will push for more climate action to match the scale of the crisis

   Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 10:39 am, October 14th, 2020 -  12 comments
   Categories: climate change, election 2020, greens
   Tags:

   “The Green Party welcomes Labour’s commitment to reduce climate emissions in the next term of Government, but would go further and faster to address the true scale of the crisis.”

4. 

   Regenerative economies: $100,000 growing permaculture kale

   Written By:  weka -  Date published: 6:05 am, October 11th, 2020 -  56 comments
   Categories: economy, farming
   Tags: country calendar, food security, jeanette fitzsimons, regenag, regenerative agriculture, what is this regenerative agriculture thing anyway?, yotam and niva kay

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

5. 

   Trump’s not so bad: the holding our breath edition

   Written By:  weka -  Date published: 11:17 am, October 4th, 2020 -  79 comments
   Categories: covid-19, Donald Trump, us politics
   Tags: authoritarianism, fascism, trumps not so bad

   An occasional series

6. 

   POTUS, Covid and the New Zealand election

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:01 am, October 3rd, 2020 -  122 comments
   Categories: covid-19, Donald Trump, election 2020, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, labour, national, same old national, uncategorized
   Tags:

   News that Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid will have a significant effect on the US election as well as our local election.  It raises the issue who will you trust to lead the country against this most agile yet deadly virus?

7. 

   Judith Collins, Nicky Hager and Dirty Politics

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:16 pm, September 29th, 2020 -  55 comments
   Categories: Dirty Politics, Judith Collins, national, same old national
   Tags: nicky hager

   Judith Collins has said about Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager that he “still needs to meet his maker.”  What did she mean by this?  And why does she harbour such dark thoughts about Hager?

8. 

   Mood of the Boardroom: National is toast

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 11:07 am, September 28th, 2020 -  45 comments
   Categories: business, grant robertson, national, paul goldsmith
   Tags:

   The NZ Herald Mood of the Boardroom finance election debate should be for National what it is like attending a Living Wage campaign meeting for Labour.  They should be at home and the participants should be solidly behind them.  But not this year.

9. 

   The Covid Court Case

   Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:18 am, August 20th, 2020 -  30 comments
   Categories: covid-19, david parker, human rights, jacinda ardern, uncategorized
   Tags:

   The High Court has ruled that for technical reasons during the first nine days of the lockdown statements that New Zealanders were legally required to remain at home were incorrect.

10. 

    Let them have gardening leave…

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 6:59 pm, August 17th, 2020 -  25 comments
    Categories: election 2020, Politics
    Tags:

    “A bunch of retired MPs will now have to come back to work as well, which they will no doubt hate. But at least with current border restrictions, they are unlikely to have fled the country.”. Uh – why exactly? They are almost a sixth of the current parliament. They’re out the door, and there is no substantive work for them to do. I’m sure that puritans of thought will think otherwise – but I think gardening leave is appropiate.

11. 

    The top seven things Covid has changed

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 7:45 am, August 14th, 2020 -  47 comments
    Categories: climate change, covid-19, economy, health, immigration, internet, interweb, uncategorized
    Tags:

    Covid has fundamentally changed society for the better in surprising ways.

12. 

    Biden/Harris

    Written By:  te reo putake -  Date published: 8:50 am, August 12th, 2020 -  53 comments
    Categories: Donald Trump, election 2020, International, Joe Biden, Politics, us politics
    Tags: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, USA

    Joe Biden announces his VP pick.

13. 

    Should the government replace sex data with gender (identity) data?

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 10:07 am, August 11th, 2020 -  110 comments
    Categories: feminism, sexism
    Tags: gender, sex, stats nz, transgender

    Stats NZ want to use gender rather than sex as the default for data collection. But they’ve neglected to ask women about that.

14. 

    The strange tale of the Auckland Central selection and Merv from Manurewa

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:01 am, August 11th, 2020 -  57 comments
    Categories: Abuse of power, Dirty Politics, national, Politics, same old national, twitter, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags: merv from manurewa, roger bridge

    News has emerged that a senior National Party figure rang talkback radio and made derogatory comments about National’s only Sri Lankan candidate in an apparent attempt to reduce her chance of being selected as National’s Auckland Central candidate.

15. 

    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: abortion law reform, homelessness, jacinda ardern, KiwiBuild, nick kelly, nz first, NZ General Election 2020, NZLP, The Green Party, winston peters

    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.

16. 

    Covid recovery and bouncing forward

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:05 am, August 10th, 2020 -  21 comments
    Categories: climate change, community democracy, covid-19, Economy, sustainability
    Tags: bounce forward, post carbon institute, regenerative economics, resilience, rob hopkins, transition towns

    Central to the Transition movement from the outset has been the idea of resilience. Usually framed as the ability to ‘bounce back’, it is seen in the Transition movement as being better imagined as the capacity to ‘bounce forward’, i.e. to use it as the opportunity to move forward to something better. How then to ‘bounce forward’ from COVID-19 in such a way that we also move to a way of doing things consistent with the scale of the climate crisis?

17. 

    July 2020 Roy Morgan Poll

    Written By:  te reo putake -  Date published: 7:11 pm, August 8th, 2020 -  45 comments
    Categories: act, class war, Dirty Politics, greens, Judith Collins, labour, MMP, nz first, political parties, Politics, same old national, vote smart
    Tags: judith collins, national, Roy Morgan poll

    The latest Roy Morgan poll is out.

    Crusher?

    Crushed!

18. 

    The test of MMP

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 12:20 pm, August 5th, 2020 -  123 comments
    Categories: election 2020, greens, labour, MMP, national, nz first, winston peters
    Tags: how change happens

    With the left’s political fortunes having changed greatly in the past three years, and with more change on the way, does the left still want MMP?

19. 

    Taxpayers’ Union promoting Green Party policy

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:10 am, August 4th, 2020 -  26 comments
    Categories: greens, Satire
    Tags: nz taxpayers union, taxpayers onion

    Learning to love the tax.

20. 

    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.

21. 

    Mea culpa

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 12:48 pm, August 2nd, 2020 -  33 comments
    Categories: Andrew Little, election 2020, greens, jacinda ardern, labour, national, Politics, Simon Bridges, todd muller, uncategorized
    Tags: micheal cullen

    Back in 2017 I was upset, we had a leadership vote only in caucus – just before the election. I didn’t realise at the time that Andrew Little was actually stepping down in favour of Jacinda Ardern. She’d had the potential, but I hadn’t realised that Little thought she was up for the task. I’m delighted with the result. Thank you Andrew.

22. 

    Hong Kong principles

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 9:49 pm, July 28th, 2020 -  38 comments
    Categories: afghanistan, China, democratic participation, exports, Free Trade, iraq, jacinda ardern, law and "order", Propaganda, socialism, Spying, surveillance, terrorism, us politics, war, winston peters
    Tags:

    According to our Prime Minister, today’s announcement that New Zealand is suspending extradition arrangements with Hong Kong is because of our principles. But it is not immediately clear what these principles are, other than falling into line with our Five Eyes spying partners. Some history is important.

23. 

    National’s Internal Polling Leaked

    Written By:  te reo putake -  Date published: 6:46 pm, July 28th, 2020 -  40 comments
    Categories: act, David Farrar, Dirty Politics, election 2020, greens, labour, Politics, same old national, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags: judith collins, national party, political polls

    Yet another leak from Judith Collins’ Strong Team™. This time it’s their own polling … and it’s grim news.

24. 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: awards, CTU, employment, Graeme Clarke, helen kelly, nick kelly, zero hour contracts

    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.

25. 

    Never argue immorality with a Tory *

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:01 am, July 24th, 2020 -  53 comments
    Categories: Dirty Politics, Iain Lees-Galloway, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, uncategorized
    Tags: andrew falloon, covid-19

    *they will drag you down to their level and beat you through experience.

26. 

    Winston Peters Names Alleged Super Leaker

    Written By:  te reo putake -  Date published: 4:44 pm, July 22nd, 2020 -  87 comments
    Categories: Abuse of power, accountability, act, class war, david seymour, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, election 2020, national/act government, Politics, same old national, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, winston peters, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags: David Seymour, leak, rachel morton, superannuation, winston peters

    Winston Peters has named the person he says leaked his super details. Has ACT joined National in doing Dirty Politics?

27. 

    Unthinkable Things

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 8:41 am, July 22nd, 2020 -  29 comments
    Categories: australian politics, China, Deep stuff, Economy, economy, exports, Globalisation, International, jacinda ardern, labour, Politics, uncategorized, us politics
    Tags:

    With the government clearly watching the unravelling of Australia’s Covid-19 response and putting in place $14 billion in preparation for a second infection wave, we are clearly now in a history-in-making territory of the highest instability outside a world war.

28. Local Government: crucial and undervalued

    Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 12:27 am, July 11th, 2020 -  4 comments
    Categories: Living Wage, Privatisation, Unions, wages, workers' rights
    Tags: local government, nick kelly, paul eagle, privatisation, Public Libraries, The Living Wage, wellington city council

    On the day of the council vote, we organised for the effected Citi-Ops workers to sit in the public gallery in the Council rooms wearing their High Viz’s and work gear. I was one of three speakers for the union, expressing opposition to axing these jobs. The Council debated the issue for about 30 minutes. Those councillors in favour of making the workers redundant argued that they should not interfere with management decisions. Those against the decision felt that management did not have the mandate to make this decision. The vote ended up being 7-7, so Green Party Mayor Celia Wade-Brown used her casting vote to uphold management’s decision to outsource these workers jobs. The Citi Operations staff were sitting in the room, so Celia and the councillors were looking at these workers as they made them redundant.

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: Chris Laidlaw, Chris Morley, fran wilde, go wellington, Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), nick kelly, nz bus, Paul Swain, public transport, Unions, Wellington Tramways Union

    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. 

    National’s “intelligence unit” kicks into gear

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:01 am, July 5th, 2020 -  120 comments
    Categories: Dirty Politics, jacinda ardern, labour, national, same old national, uncategorized
    Tags: tova o'brien

    A month ago a leak from National’s caucus said that they had set up an intelligence unit designed to dig up dirt on opponents.  Yesterday Newshub ran a story based on a candidate’s seven year old tweets.  It looks like the intelligence unit has been busy.

31. 

    The 2008 Go Wellington Bus Lockout

    Written By:  nickkelly -  Date published: 5:44 am, July 3rd, 2020 -  6 comments
    Categories: blogs, class war, local government, Privatisation, Unions, workers' rights
    Tags: bus drivers, council of trade unions, go wellington, Go Wellington driver lockout 2008, Graeme Clarke, nick kelly, nz bus, Trade Unionism, tramways union, Wellington Tramways Union

    20 days after being elected President of the Wellington Tramways and Public Passenger Transport Employees Union (we just called it Tramways), drivers at Go Wellington were locked out. The City nearly ground to a halt with thousands unable to get to work and traffic congestion a nightmare. Certain journalists were quick to call this a communist conspiracy.