Scott at Imperator Fish kindly allows us to syndicate his material - the original for this is here. I originally posted this back in September 2013. The passage of time is relentless, but some things, and people, don’t ever seem to change. Gee I’m a bit…
Porcupine farm has a 'real" front page of the Herald - what they'd like to publish if they only could. See also Frankly speaking: When the mainstream media go feral: A tale of two holidays The Jackal: Vacuous ravings in the Herald
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Nick Smith's got it wrong - again. In a severe insult to irony he threatened bully-boy legal action against anyone who might call him a bully. And he did try and bully Fish and Game out of their statutory obligations - the papers released to…
The National Party list is as it ever was - far too many white men with old-hat ideas. Apparently it's that they're "so democratic" that more than half the population can't get good representation. Methinks there's a flaw in their democracy. When their apologisers run…
Typical Nick Smith... Conservation Minister threatens legal action against Fish and Game Conservation Minister Nick Smith is threatening legal action against Fish and Game council members who accused him of trying to gag the organisation. The defense rests, Your Honour.
Reposted from Local Bodies. The National led Government are desperate to present the good news stories to promote the success of the past six years of their governance. They have increased the budget and the numbers of their spin doctors to ensure that it is…
John Armstrong 28 July: The 'gotcha politics' disease is afflicting all It sure ain't pretty. It sure ain't enlightening. It is most definitely insidious. It is a creeping cancer of the New Zealand body politic. [...] "Gotcha politics" is all about focusing voters' attention on…
Reposted from Polity. National has all-but confirmed today that there no deal for Colin Craig in East Coast Bays, or for any other Conservative. This was the right thing for them to do, for one simple reason. I posted back in December 2013 that this decision came down…
We are entering an interesting phase of the election campaign and a number of recent events may have a critical effect on the eventual outcome. Firstly nothing is more important in politics than momentum. The latest Colmar Brunton poll result 1 suggests that Labour may…
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In the late 1980's I worked on the establishment of the Meat Industry Tradesmens Agreement, bringing eight old awards into one. It was a difficult negotiation, but one lasting memory is now the meat companies hated each other more than they hated the unions, and…
Funny or Die has Kristen Bell (from Veronica Mars) playing a perfect Mary Poppins quitting because she isn't being paid enough to survive on. Mary Poppins Quits with Kristen Bell from Funny Or Die I guess the peasants just aren't prepared to starve as blindly…
Today's Sunday Star Times has an article on a "mum and dad investor" who somehow managed to purchase $1.6 million worth of shares in Genesis Energy when it was floated at the same time as ordinary mum and dad investors had their shareholding purchases capped at…
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Serial trougher Claudette Hauiti - whose only noted attribute between replacing the arrogant Aaron Gilmore and last week was illegally employing her partner as her electoral assistant - can't even tell you how much she ripped the taxpayer off. John Key doesn't care enough about it to…
Sue Bradford's PhD thesis went online this week. I have had a skim through it, and it looks to me like it will be a valuable resource for left wing activism in Aotearoa/NZ for some time to come. I aim to read it in full.…
Much focus has been on the Labour Party objections to Mike Hosking being selected as moderator for the significant TVNZ Leaders election debates. There has been a lot of attention to Hosking because of his known National-leaning, and anti-Labour bias. Less media attention has been…
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From the Herald today: What Jonathan Coleman said on Monday: "Ministers had absolutely no knowledge of any pending FBI-NZ Police investigation." What Immigration NZ said on Wednesday: "The general information about the FBI was passed to Mr Bickle who then passed it to the Minister."…
The Standard promotes itself as the voice of the New Zealand labour movement. We certainly heard one such voice in Parliament last night, with Darien Fenton's powerful valedictory speech, followed by the waiata "There is power in the union" from the Speaker's Gallery. Darien was…
This week the Green Party has been continuing it's election focus on reducing poverty and inequalities (with a strong focus on its impact on children), and developing sustainable communities. This brings into focus two current crises that we need to put every effort into tackling:…
The Electoral Commission has released enrolment figures as at June 30. The figures are not good. Overall 88.6% of the population is enrolled but amongst 18 to 24 year olds the figure is only 68.9%. The figures then gradually increase until they max out at…
The Rugby News's latest cover features John Key wearing an All Black jersey and being proclaimed as the All Black's number one supporter. My first response was amazement at the lengths National will go to win this election. The timing is extraordinary. I wondered at the cooperation of…
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What should Labour do about Gerry's Airport security breach? Nothing. It was a mistake. There are more important things to discuss like child poverty, unemployment, our polluted rivers, our malfunctioning ETS, the loss of civil and political freedoms, our appalling domestic violence statistics, burgeoning crown…
I’m not sure it really warranted being front-page news (Gaza? MH17? Anyone?) but the announcement of Mike Hosking as the anointed moderator for TVNZ’s political leaders’ debates was always going to lead to a bit of head-scratching. Hosking’s political leanings are pretty clear, and very…
There is a story developing which is much more important than the colour of scarves that David Cunliffe wears. It involves the potential gross misuse of public funds and the refusal of John Key to tell us or even to find out how much is…
David Cunliffe has announced Labour's ICT Connectivity policy. The digital revolution presents huge economic opportunities for New Zealand, but too many New Zealanders are being left behind. One in five Kiwis doesn’t have regular access to the internet. That’s not good enough for the 21st…
Reposted from Polity. Andrea Vance at Stuff reports: The Labour Party is in a standoff with TVNZ over plans to use presenter Mike Hosking to moderate the live televised leaders' debates. The state broadcaster is refusing to budge, declaring: "Mike is our man." Leader David…