Written By: r0b - Date published: 8:45 am, April 14th, 2010 - 44 comments
Smacking and the reform of Section 59 was one of the big political issues of the last few years. Key’s position on facing down the appallingly worded “smacking referendum” remains one of the very few things that I can respect and applaud him on. Key will not want to revisit this issue, but the evidence from a new study suggests that he should…
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 4:06 pm, August 24th, 2009 - 63 comments
John Key thinks there’s no need to change the law in the wake of the smacking referendum, but he does think there’s a need for ‘increased safeguards’ to prevent parents who mete out ‘inconsequential’ smacks from being prosecuted. He’s also stated that he agrees with the result of the referendum, stating that it is ‘totally […]
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:16 pm, June 25th, 2009 - 38 comments
Tuesday’s post, A Rankin headache started: There must be an automatic recoil on the Government benches when Christine Rankin’s name is mentioned. In the comments, “gobsmacked” makes the observation [abridged]: John Key has decided to respond by indulging in some very nasty mud-slinging. This what he said in the House on Tuesday: ‘When National was in […]
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:39 am, June 18th, 2009 - 23 comments
It’s hard to argue with the idea of referenda. What could be more democratic than citizens deciding precisely what issues the New Zealand public should consider, and taking a vote on them? Won’t that process get people thinking, encourage participation in the democratic process and make politics more accessible? Isn’t it the kind of democracy […]
Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 12:05 pm, July 2nd, 2008 - 13 comments
TVNZ7 have some great content. Looks like some serious effort’s going into their advertising as well. Here’s one that caught my attention the other day. If your eyesight’s anything like mine you might want to click for a larger version.
Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 12:45 pm, April 29th, 2008 - 95 comments
Family First’s petition for a referendum on reversing the amendment to s59 of the Crimes Act that removed the defence of reasonable force for assault on a child (try saying that three times fast) has failed to get enough signatures. It needed 280,275 signatures and seemed to have enough but the Office of the Clerk […]
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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