Digested Read – Spirit Level 5: Sustainability
The fifth of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post looks at how a more equal society may also be a more sustainable one.
Bunji
Tax Swindle Graph
Danyl over at DimPost has produced an excellent graph of the gains from National’s Tax Swindle. It uses the Government’s figures, it is generous in showing average rather than median incomes…
And it doesn’t look good for average kiwis.
Ed Miliband UK Labour Leader
Ed Miliband has narrowly beaten his brother David to become the new leader of Labour in the UK. They now get to move on from the Brown-Blair era and fightback against the Tories.
Super City Picks
Matt McCarten’s website for who to pick for a progressive Super City is finally up. If you’re in Auckland and haven’t voted yet – make sure to have a look.
Women majority in Swiss Cabinet
4 out of 7 of Switzerland’s cabinet are now women – a progressive surprise from a conservative country.
Digested Read – Spirit Level 4: Other Social Problems
The fourth of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post examines how inequality affects education, social mobility and teenage pregnancies.
Digested Read – Spirit Level 3: Trust & Crime
The third of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post examines how inequality affects crime and our attitudes to others.
The Smiths: Getting it Right
Lockwood and Nick did good work yesterday. So praise where praise is due: Keep it up boys.
Roads of National Party Significance Continue…
Transmission Gully: A road that makes no economic sense, that will now be forced through extra fast, with reduced consultation.
McCully’s Autocratic Cronyism
McCully doesn’t believe in the tender process. Or accountability. Cronyism? Well, that’s a different story…
John Banks: Signs I’d like to see
John Banks has gone big on billboards in his campaign for mayor. So I thought I’d show some that I’d like to see…
Depose Gerry the First!
Jeremy Harris has created a facebook group calling for the End of the Reign of Gerry Brownlee.
Join quick before he bans it.
Digested Read – Spirit Level 2: Health
The second of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post examines how inequality affects mental and physical health.
Digested Read – Spirit Level 1: The Problem
Government To Screw Health Next
Not content with destroying education to get at teachers, now National are after your health to get at doctors and nurses.
Ralston Attempts Hijack of Radio NZ SuperCity Debate
In the lecture theatre that the Radio NZ SuperCity debate was held this morning Len Brown clearly and easily won – but how did it appear on radio?
Bill Ralston and his coterie did his best to even up the perceptions…
Time for an OIA
I’m hoping that someone (a fellow Standard author perhaps?) puts in an OIA over the South Canterbury Finance bailout. And here’s what I’d […]
You’re All Racists – Minister
According to Maurice Williamson, we’re all racist. Our concern with foreign investment has nothing to do with the economy, we just hate the Chinese.
Newsflash: Nation not a Business
National don’t understand macroeconomics. As such they are inflicting massive and unnecessary harm, with high unemployment and a long time until recovery.
Unions Succeed where National Fails
National’s big election promise in 2008 was to close the wage gap with Australia. They’re failing, as our wages fall behind theirs under National’s economic mismanagement and employer-centric policies.
But there are some who are doing better than others in the pay stakes:
Union members.
Search and Survey Our Loss of Human Rights
Strip searched by the dog-control officer, your home computer hacked by the Pork Board and the Commerce Commission putting 24-hour cameras in your bedroom. It’ll all be fine once the new Search and Surveillance Bill goes through. Oh, and you lose your right to silence. And the need for a warrant is reduced. And…
Sick Of It
The Employment Relations Act Amendment (2) is coming… Be prepared to fight.
But also, be prepared to slip in an Amendment to the Amendment…
Welfare Working Group Survey
National know the first rule of government: never have an enquiry unless you know what it will say. The latest “Working Group” is […]
Income splitting – all bad?
Can income splitting be made to work? Funding people to stay at home with children isn’t such a bad idea…
Sir Peter and his DonKey
Sir Peter Gluckman wants more investment in early childhood. $1 invested in young children now gives $13 in adulthood, but his day-trader DonKey’s short-termism sees only cuts and short-change for our greatest resource.
Pakistan: Donate Now
The UN says the number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan — an estimated 20 million — could exceed the […]
Incarceration Insanity
Prison doesn’t work. It keeps people off the streets, but, as psychiatrist James Gilligan says:
The most effective way to turn a non-violent person into a violent one is to send him to prison.1
Britain’s Sickness Benefit Injustice
Britain’s turfing 75% of people off their long-term sickness benefit on an arbitrary test. Let’s hope the Welfare Working Group doesn’t get ideas.
Today’s Inequality Report
A quick vid from The Equality Trust
I’m So Dizzy
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.
Rethinking Growth
For the last several decades the over-riding mantra across western governments has been that what is important above all else is economic growth. Now is the time to question whether it should still be our main aim and guiding light.
National Drunk at the Wheel
So National are to kick lowering the legal blood-alcohol level into the long grass by having 2 years of “research”. This whilst telling […]
Vince’s Latest Cable
Over in the UK, Vince Cable, the former LibDem Deputy leader who predicted the Great Recession and the need to break up and regulate the banks, is now responsible for business and tertiary education. In the tertiary sector he has a radical new idea for funding.