“Rock-star economy” is a catch-phrase that has served very well to persuade us that we are doing well in economic terms. But “chickens coming home to roost” and “living in a fool’s paradise” may be nearer the truth about our economic performance.
When did New Zealanders become convinced that the care of the most vulnerable in our society, and particularly of those suffering mental illness and disability, should be treated as an opportunity to make a profit rather than as a community responsibility?
Twenty five dollars a week can’t be bad, can it? For families on the breadline, it’s surely better than nothing and every little […]
So, the much-touted and long-awaited government surplus looks unlikely to arrive this year. Is that a surprise? No. Does it matter? Not much. […]
The pre-election, headline-grabbing, so-called “rock-star economy” may be less in evidence today, but there is still a good deal of self-congratulation about an […]
The Christchurch earthquake was a catastrophe that was national in its impact and significance but that required the people of Christchurch to pay […]
The scale of the housing affordability crisis, particularly in Auckland, is now unmistakable. Not only do individual families suffer as home ownership increasingly […]
The evidence is surely mounting that the remedies to recession proposed by orthodox policy have failed.
The whole basis of monetarist policy is revealed to be a charade.
Andrew Little has wasted no time in making his mark, not just on the Labour Party but on New Zealand politics. What is […]
Slater holds John Key’s place in that history in the palm of his hand. If Slater calls the Prime Minister, of course that frightened man will jump to it.
The Latest News Bulletin from CNN “Concern is mounting in New Zealand over the whereabouts of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Key. […]
No one should begrudge John Key and the National party the right to celebrate an impressive election victory. It is little consolation to […]
Win or lose, there are never any final battles in politics. A defeat simply means the firing of the starting gun for the […]
One of the few journalists to do his job properly over the course of the dirty politics scandal has been Guyon Espiner. He […]
The latest instalment in the saga of John Key’s struggle to maintain his image as someone above suspicion has produced the amazing spectacle […]
Nothing so clearly demonstrates John Key’s contempt for the New Zealand voter as his confidence that we will believe whatever he tells us. […]
I have today sent an open letter to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security to ask why Mr Key is not required to attend her inquiry and to give evidence under oath. The letter is attached.
“There can surely be no more important issue than the fitness to govern of some of these pretending to office. What could be more serious than the abuse of power – its use, not to serve the interests of the country, but to discredit and destroy, in an unfair, vicious and underhand way, those whom the government sees as its opponents?”
The Prime Minister has so far managed, by the skin of his teeth, to avoid censure by claiming that he was not personally involved in the disreputable behaviour about the SIS OIA that has come to light. But he has been able to do so because we have been asking the wrong question.
It is one of the wonders of the modern world that the democracy that past generations fought and died for is regarded as […]
Swearing is not often a major factor in the political debate. Yet John Key’s alleged use of the “f-word” seems to have assumed considerable significance in the run-up to election day in the light of the Slater debarcle. National has a lot invested in John Key’s nice guy facade.
As a young MP in the British House of Commons in the late 1970s, I rapidly became aware that half the political stories […]
Voter turnout has been falling steadily across the western world in recent decades, and not least in New Zealand. We have a proud […]
