Search Results

  1. Does Key know why he replaced Roy with Boscawen?

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:58 am, August 18th, 2010 -  31 comments
    Categories: john key, national/act government, rodney hide
    Tags: ,

    We’re in a depressingly familiar position under this Key government: We don’t know why one of our government’s ministers was forced to resign yesterday. It’s not good enough in this age of supposedly open and transparent government. The really scary thing this time is it appears the Prime Minister doesn’t know either.

  2. Bill English: making it up as he goes along

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 8:20 am, August 18th, 2010 -  28 comments
    Categories: bill english, Economy, making shit up, wages
    Tags:

    Parliament erupted in laughter yesterday as Bill English made up more ‘facts’ to attack Labour’s economic performance. Even if his accusations against Labour’s record were true, he doesn’t have any solutions himself. Indeed, the reason he is spending so much time trying to smear Labour’s record is he is desperate to make is own record look less appalling by comparison.

  3. Boscawen new ACT deputy

    Written By:  Zetetic -  Date published: 1:55 pm, August 17th, 2010 -  38 comments
    Categories: act, Satire
    Tags:

    Clad in traditional climate change denier headwear, John Boscawen today assumed the role of ACT Deputy Leader, vowing to use his new powers to launch a crusade against NIWA. Standing beside him, Rodney Hide told reporters “Don’t give me that look. At least he’s not David Garrett”

  4. Jobless, Homeless, Clueless

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 1:40 pm, August 17th, 2010 -  25 comments
    Categories: Economy, housing, jobs
    Tags:

    In the last seven days a triple-conjunction of political portents has publicly demonstrated just how bankrupt of imagination and policy this current government truly is. The lack of direction and paucity of creative ideas is breath-taking. A “caretaker-government” would be a polite euphemism in this context.

  5. Sacked. No reason given

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 6:37 pm, August 16th, 2010 -  68 comments
    Categories: workers' rights
    Tags:

    Key said put up or shut up.

    The CTU and some gutsy workers are putting up.

    Will Key have the guts to answer them?

  6. Coalitions and Movements and Democracy

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 11:21 am, August 15th, 2010 -  22 comments
    Categories: economy, political alternatives
    Tags:

    More often than not we discuss politics and the economy only within the boundaries of current political structures.

    But these structures can only offer limited democratic participation.

    Perhaps the answer for the left is to embrace movement politics.

  7. The age of recession sharpens class war

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 12:00 pm, August 13th, 2010 -  23 comments
    Categories: capitalism, class war, Economy
    Tags:

    So, it looks like we’re heading back into recession. We’re going to have to get used to the idea that we can’t depend on perpetual economic growth to deliver rising living standards to all. We could make nearly everyone wealthier with a fairer distribution of wealth but the opposite is happening. This is simply class war; a battle over shares of a diminishing prize. And we’re letting the rich win.

  8. Unions launch name and shame

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 7:09 am, August 13th, 2010 -  144 comments
    Categories: business, class war, jobs, john key, Unions
    Tags: , , ,

    John Key challenged the unions to “put up or shut up”. So they’re going to put up. The CTU has launched a campaign to name and shame businesses that are abusing the fire at will (90 day probation) bill. It’s a campaign based around personal stories. Heather Smith tells the first of many…

  9. Today’s Inequality Report

    Written By:  Bunji -  Date published: 3:36 pm, August 12th, 2010 -  3 comments
    Categories: equality
    Tags:

    A quick vid from The Equality Trust

  10. Holmes truths on useless Nats

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 11:54 am, August 11th, 2010 -  38 comments
    Categories: economy, national
    Tags: ,

    In his own surreal and ultra-privileged way Paul Holmes has discovered the recession. And it seems to have shaken him up a bit. Paul cuts loose with some Holmes truths about the useless Nat government. But in claiming that there is no alternative Holmes reveals nothing but his own lack of vision…

  11. All hail honourable leader’s birthday

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:25 am, August 10th, 2010 -  30 comments
    Categories: john key, Media, Satire
    Tags:

    Rapturous crowds of workers from the People’s Information Services spontaneously gathered in the Beehive theatrette yesterday to praise Beloved Leader of People’s Constitutional Monarchy of New Zealand, Honourable John Key, on the anniversary of his birth. “Comrades! I thank you!” said Honourable Key to the sighs of the crowd. One young cadre presented Beloved Leader with a birthday card.

  12. I’m So Dizzy

    Written By:  Bunji -  Date published: 8:00 am, August 9th, 2010 -  44 comments
    Categories: economy, employment, gst, spin, unemployment, wages, workers' rights
    Tags:

    The rate at which National have been spinning of late is giving me nausea. It can’t be long until they get to the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide scenario of declaring black to be white and getting run over on the nearest zebra crossing.

  13. Armstrong slams National’s “disgraceful” arrogance

    Written By:  Michael Foxglove -  Date published: 7:58 am, August 7th, 2010 -  41 comments
    Categories: democracy under attack, Parliament
    Tags: ,

    Herald political editor John Armstrong has slammed National’s “arrogant” behaviour in Parliament saying it verges on “being a disgrace to itself and the institution”. This is incredibly strong language from a senior journalist. It is the result of a government which is undermining democratic accountability in Parliament by lying and obfuscating in answer to opposition questions.

  14. National admits 90 day period not a choice

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 10:17 am, August 6th, 2010 -  280 comments
    Categories: labour, national, workers' rights
    Tags: ,

    When National rammed through the first version of the 90 day fire at will law it claimed the period would be a ‘choice’ negotiated fairly between employees and employers.

    Now employers are advertising it as a precondition in job ads, with the Minister backing them all the way.

  15. National Drunk at the Wheel

    Written By:  Bunji -  Date published: 7:00 am, August 4th, 2010 -  32 comments
    Categories: alcohol, transport
    Tags:

    So National are to kick lowering the legal blood-alcohol level into the long grass by having 2 years of “research”.  This whilst telling us that the government spends too much on policy advice.  Whilst that’s generally rubbish – and Blinglish’s suggestion that they can just google other governments’ research laughable – here is one case […]

  16. Victory within reach, if they’ll grab for it

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:07 am, August 2nd, 2010 -  48 comments
    Categories: election 2011, polls
    Tags:

    Labour has, to date, failed to give the people who voted for it 3 of the last 4 elections a reason to come back. But that doesn’t mean all is lost. The Left is not just Labour. A 5% shift in the polls, the same scale as the shift that has already happened this past year, would be all it takes to get those numbers even and make the Maori Party – or maybe Winston – kingmaker.

  17. Can Labour win in 2011?

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 9:00 am, August 1st, 2010 -  82 comments
    Categories: john key, labour, national, phil goff
    Tags:

    Chris Carter’s bumbling attempt at a coup has pushed the question onto the tip of everyone’s tongue – can Labour win the 2011 election? And can Phil Goff be the one to lead them to victory? But 24 hours can be a long time in politics, and a year is a very long time indeed. The biggest mistake Labour could make now would be to get into leadership battles.

  18. Labour can win led by Phil Goff

    Written By:  Mike Smith -  Date published: 5:28 pm, July 31st, 2010 -  146 comments
    Categories: election 2011, labour, phil goff, Politics
    Tags:

    Chris Carter is wrong. Labour can win the next election led by Phil Goff. The objective conditions make it possible, and there is enough time. That’s true even if Key calls an early election to gain the financial benefits of National’s new electoral law, as some have predicted on this site. First the objective conditions. […]

  19. Just plain stupidity

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 5:28 pm, July 29th, 2010 -  242 comments
    Categories: labour, phil goff
    Tags:

    It sounds like Chris Carter has shot himself in the foot, or rather in the handwriting.

    Phil Goff and the caucus look like they have taken the required quick and decisive action.

  20. Wage gap $40 a week wider under Nats

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 11:39 am, July 28th, 2010 -  95 comments
    Categories: national, wages, workers' rights
    Tags: , ,

    Closing the wage gap with Australia was one of National’s key promises in the leadup to the 2008 election, but the Dom Post reports today that the wage gap has grown by another $40 a week under National’s watch.

    Can we stop pretending now that National ever really had a plan to close the wage gap?

  21. The original justification or no justification at all?

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 8:41 am, July 28th, 2010 -  3 comments
    Categories: Economy, election 2008, employment, national, same old national
    Tags:

    During the election the National Party packaged up its policies so as not to scare voters. The 90 day probationary period was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses. Either the original justifications still hold true, hence undermining any argument to extend the scheme, or the original justifications were rubbish from the very start.

  22. (blink)FREE movie download!(/blink)

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 10:44 am, July 27th, 2010 -  10 comments
    Categories: activism, Politics
    Tags: , ,

    The Yes Men have become famous for impersonating people and organisations in an effort to make political points. They’re now being sued by the US Department of Justice for one of their latest stunts. Unable to release the version of their latest movie containing the offending footage, “The Yes Men Fix the World”, they’ve instead […]

  23. Truth out on wars

    Written By:  r0b -  Date published: 7:04 am, July 27th, 2010 -  13 comments
    Categories: afghanistan, iraq, john key, uk politics, us politics, war
    Tags: ,

    Deputy PM and leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, caused a bit of a sensation last week when he pronounced Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war illegal. And yesterday Wikileaks published a massive cache of American military files exposing the truth about the war in Afghanistan. Not a good week for warmongers.

  24. Why Socialism? – Albert Einstein

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:53 am, July 24th, 2010 -  42 comments
    Categories: Deep stuff, socialism
    Tags:

    Albert Einstein’s essay “Why Socialism?”, originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).

  25. I’d phone a friend but they’re all Young Nats too

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 12:30 pm, July 23rd, 2010 -  123 comments
    Categories: activism, Media, Politics, tv
    Tags: , , ,

    Halfcaste interviews a selection of Young Nats at their recent conference. Interviewer: “What’s your favourite tribe?” Young Nat: “To be honest I don’t have a favourite Maori tribe” Interviewer: “Top three?” Young Nat: “Ahh… I don’t think I know…” Interviewer: “Don’t know any Maori tribes?” Young Nat: “Noooo… No, hang on, Maori tribes… no sorry…” […]

  26. I Owe My Soul….to the Company Store

    Written By:  RedLogix -  Date published: 7:35 am, July 23rd, 2010 -  66 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    The words of this old song date back to the 1800’s when dominant and rapacious employers in small company towns would require their employees to purchase essentials from a ‘company store’. And because the employee was so badly paid, inevitably they would run up steep tab simply to keep their family fed and clothed. In […]

  27. Brownlee’s power reforms hurt national interest

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 9:00 am, July 22nd, 2010 -  23 comments
    Categories: energy
    Tags: , , ,

    We’ve seen the last minute back down on mining after tens of thousands of Kiwis stood up, we’re seeing a growing tide of anger as Kiwis realise that all our work rights and wages are for the chop.. but one policy that has avoided public criticism on the level it is getting from within the industry is Gerry Brownlee’s mad electricity reforms.

  28. The changing excuses for Fire at Will

    Written By:  Guest post -  Date published: 9:33 am, July 21st, 2010 -  7 comments
    Categories: class war, workers' rights
    Tags:

    In the 2008 election campaign, National carefully packaged up its policies in such a manner as not to scare voters. One of the policies John Key was very careful to frame was the 90 day probationary period for new workers, rightly called Fire at Will. This removal of rights for working people, he explained to us, was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses (less than 20 workers).

  29. Key caught out again on 90 day law

    Written By:  Eddie -  Date published: 7:12 am, July 21st, 2010 -  29 comments
    Categories: john key, national, workers' rights
    Tags:

    Good to see John Key’s lies over the 90 day fire at will law are starting to catch up with him. An employment specialist has come out contradicting Key’s smug assurances that even though his fire at will law will explicitly remove our right to even be given a reason why we’re getting the sack, somehow good faith provisions would still require the employer the give one.

  30. Key tells Maori Party to shove off

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 1:09 pm, July 19th, 2010 -  25 comments
    Categories: john key, maori party, national
    Tags:

    The Maori Party’s support has been a vital element of the sheep’s clothing this rightwing government has worn until now. It has been the fig leaf behind which the true nature of the rightwing agenda of the National Party has hidden. Key’s speech shows, National will no longer be willing to compromise to gain its support and does not particularly want it.

  31. Natonomics and Fire at Will

    Written By:  Marty G -  Date published: 7:03 am, July 19th, 2010 -  157 comments
    Categories: class war, Economy, workers' rights
    Tags:

    Extending Fire at Will and attacking union access to worksites undermines workers’ rights and is simply economic vandalism. Weaker work rights will tend to lead to lower wages (already falling under John Key’s watch), low wages lead to underinvestment and poor economic performance, and lack of work rights increases the risk in changing jobs making labour allocation less efficient.

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