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Open mike 18/05/2012
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Archives · 2012-05-01 to 2012-05-31 · Page 4
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Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 91–120 of 200
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Poor people NIMBY
John Key is doing his best to keep poor people from coming to his electorate. Whilst it's not like he visits there often himself, he's still aiming to keep poor people committing the "economic vandalism" of living in a nice suburb - where apparently only…
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NRT: Will parliament hold its own to account?
No Right Turn on the latest case of Banks failing to declare donations. Will Parliament hold its own to account? Parliament is less than six months old, and already we've had the first case of an MP falsifying their pecuniary interest declaration, with John Banks failing…
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Emmerson: Is Key mum enough?
Brilliant Emmerson cartoon in The Herald (if you're missing the reference, see this controversial Time front page):
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Performance pay for ministers to be introduced
In a surprising pre-Budget u-turn, Prime Minister John Key has announced the Government will drop its policy of incrementally introducing performance pay for teachers and, instead, introduce it for ministers. "Listening to Hekia Parata fluff her way through her spin lines on the teacher cuts,…
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Talley’s Group: Arsehole managers – bad faith and bullshit
The characteristic signature of a Talley's Group company spin that I've observed over the last five years on this site has to do with their worker relationships. They lie, prevaricate, and fracture the truth whenever it comes to the welfare of their workers. They appear to be…
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Pride cometh
Judith Collins has finally filed defamation action against Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little. She's waited until close to the Budget so that the story would be quickly overshadowed and then forgotten. You see, Collins had foolishly got herself between a rock and a hard place.…
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Nats to cut 500 teachers
If there was any doubt that National has an anti-teacher, anti-education agenda, it's gone. Increasing class sizes will 'save' $43m a year by reducing the number of teachers that would otherwise be required by 500. National standards will be used for performance pay. It's a…
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Open mike 17/05/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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The smell of corruption
The Jackal raised the question of corruption in relation to John Banks in a comment on Eddie's "met or meet" post, and has written more about it on his blog. It was based on Dave Fisher's revelations in today's Herald. DotCom's bodyguard reported that in July…
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Countdown: 36 days to go
There are 72 days to the Olympics, which is what many people are counting down to - but the planet will be much more interested in the Rio+20 conference in 36 days. This is the chance for world leaders to put global society on a…
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Why we should save TVNZ7
TVNZ7, in its current form, will stop broadcasting on the 30th of June and will be changed to a plus one channel along the same lines as TV3 Plus One. Now I don’t know about you, but I could live without seeing another repeat of…
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Emails reveal Key & Banks’ Dotcom links
John Key will be regretting his moan about the media yesterday. His reward has been to be shown to be lying in the banks.com affair. Key has previously claimed he first heard of Dotcom (a flamboyant multi-millionaire living in the most expensive house in the…
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Better late than never
His policies (such that they are) aren't working, his government is now being questioned, his economy is stuck in the doldrums, so naturally Key is looking for someone to blame: Key: Media 'aggressive and hostile' toward Govt Mr Key on Newstalk ZB this morning responded…
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Open mike 16/05/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Brooks charged with perverting justice
Rebekah and Charlie Brooks have been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the News International phone-hacking affair. Others to be charged are Mrs Brooks's former PA Cheryl Carter, the company's head of security Mark Hanna, News International chauffeur Paul Edwards and…
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Much ado about nothing
So, Cunliffe was invited on The Nation. He said, yup but not if leadership nonsense is raised. Garner agreed. Then the leader office said it should be Parker as Finance spokesperson this close to the Budget. Cunliffe agreed. And this is meant to be some…
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Life is what happens
Creating a life is a uniquely pleasant experience. There is nothing like it. Not just at the time of conception. So, having deliberately conceived children, then watched them grow and finally “leave the nest”, go out and conquer the world then form their own family,…
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Wage cuts for doing your job?
Sometimes during union bargaining that has hit a wall, workers will vote to 'work to rule' - ie not do extras beyond the terms of you contract. It's perfectly legal. In fact, it should be what we all do every day. Working beyond rule is…
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Brighter future (still) just around the corner
Unemployment's up, wages are flat, retail and export prices in freefall. Last week, the government didn't get enough bids on its debt issue - usually it gets bids totaling 3 or 4 times what its issuing. Last budget National promised 4% this year - it's…
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I’d love to see wages drop
Remember when John Key said he'd love to see wages drop? Yep. How about when Bill English claimed our low wages were our competitive advantage. Uh-huh. Well the changes they're bringing in to undermine working Kiwis' bargaining power will do exactly that. In particular the…
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The only growth industry
For all that we give the Nats a hard time here at The Standard, we're also careful to give credit where it's due. So I guess we should give credit to National, in this time of economic stagnation, for the one and only growth industry…
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Open mike 15/05/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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True ‘cost’ of Mondayisation deliberately hidden
An interesting press release from David Clark, sponsor of the "Mondayisation" bill: True ‘cost’ of Mondayisation deliberately hidden John Key’s calculations around the cost of Mondayising public holidays read like Maths 101 gone wrong, says Labour MP David Clark. The Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day…
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Why are you leaving for Aussie?
1 in 80 New Zealanders left for Australia last 12 months. Emigration so far this year is 15% higher than the same months in 2011. 6,000 people attended the 3rd Aussie jobs expo in Auckland in 18 months this weekend. The question is becoming not…
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Gay marriage – what is wrong with us
Gay marriage. There's been plenty of coverage in the American media, with echoes here in NZ. As reported by 3 News last night, it looks set to become a "key election issue" in the Obama vs Romney presidential contest. How utterly depressing. There are major…
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$2 billion borrowed for tax cuts, so far
Remember National's 'fiscally neutral' tax cuts? Turns out they've cost $2 billion in their first 18 months (previously, we only knew they had cost $1.1 billion in their first 9 months). Without those reckless tax cuts, we wouldn't be facing zero budgets. Now, the Right's…
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The zero growth agenda
I chuckled to read Fran O'Shillivan on Sunday: "John Key has made a strategic decision to burn some political capital and front-foot major Government decisions" - yeah, all those major decisions: $1m for contraception, 'tackling cyber-bullying', a petty pokies for convention centre deal, even their…
benefits corruption Economy law and "order" privatisation workers' rights
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Open mike 14/05/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Warming to Shearer
The recent beat-up over an imaginary challenge to Shearer's leadership is well and truly behind us. Recent coverage has been quite positive, such as this anonymous editorial from a couple of weeks back: Editorial: Labour leader shaping up as quiet achiever They say Leader of…