Fisking Farrar’s fisking
Yesterday David Farrar presented us with his analysis of Labour’s electoral finance submission. There is a lot of ‘Nya Nya I Told You […]
Guest post
No use playing Canute
I noted with obvious interest on Stuff today that News Ltd CEO John Hartigan is having a go at bloggers and blogs. “In […]
Privatising the high country
According to Forest and Bird, John Key’s government has found a nice quiet way of hocking off New Zealand’s most prized assets to […]
The productivity shell-game
Is he named for the great economist John Maynard Keynes or Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan? Either way, he speaks a lot of sense: […]
Shouting into the void
Pop quiz – did you know that earlier this week the UN released a major report on the “Green Economy”? Here is a […]
The price of fear
It’s hardly controversial to comment that our media peddle fear. Nor uncontroversial to comment that a cowed individual is a controllable individual. Many […]
Six years – for what?
Six years ago the Neocon Bush administration invaded Iraq, on the pretence of looking for “weapons of mass destruction” (that were never there). […]
No more Mr Nice Guy
John Key has a carefully constructed image as a “nice guy”, with a self professed “sunny nature” no less. There is ample reason […]
Crossing the line
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 […]
Electoral finance part deux: have your say!
Guest post by Rob Salmond It is almost time for you to send your submissions on the government’s issues document on electoral finance. […]
Rhetoric & Reality 4: Tertiary Education
National sure does talk a good game before an election. This time we’re looking at their rhetoric on education, especially tertiary education: Key: […]
One hand giveth, the other taketh away
Last night at the Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards the New Zealand Police and Porirua City Council won the Prime Ministers Award for […]
Do citizens-initiated referenda hamper democracy?
It’s hard to argue with the idea of referenda. What could be more democratic than citizens deciding precisely what issues the New Zealand […]
‘Crusher’ running scared
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Clayton Cosgrove, but he’s sure got ‘Crusher’ Collins running scared on her cuts to police vehicles. […]
How to write a submission on election finances
The National-led government repealed much of Labour’s Electoral Finance Act and is now asking the public what should be in a new law […]
A bribe is not a plan
As recently posted here, there is a vast gulf between National’s rhetoric and the reality on tax cuts. Before the election National sold […]
After the shake-up
Ever growing numbers of workers aren’t playing the old game any more. Shawn Hattingh has a good piece over at znet documenting some […]
Political capital
John Key invested a lot of political capital in Melissa Lee. She was his hand picked candidate for the showcase Mt Albert by-election […]
Let’s avoid an expenses side-show
Most people with an interest in politics will have heard about the expenses scandal in the UK. Their system allowed rorts of all […]
National: targeting the victim
So National’s latest tactic in the Richard Worth affair appears to have been to leak the identity of the first complainant against Richard […]
Why the Herald’s polls are stupid
Kneecapped
Until now, Melissa Lee’s only remaining selling point in this train wreck of a campaign has been that the party she’s standing for […]
Cataclysm
Six Degrees Could Change the World This is a documentary detailing the possible effects as temperatures rise throughout the world degree by degree. […]
Rhetoric & Reality 3: Crime
One of the most tedious and predictable right wing electoral tactics is to try and whip up a frenzy of fear about crime, […]
Rhetoric & Reality 2: Jobs
Before the election National’s “Employment & Workplace Relations” policy set out the principle of “building opportunity for all”, and the need to “Expand […]
General Election in 2010?
National promised to do a lot of things in their first term such as: Not selling state assets. Keeping WFF and other entitlements […]
Nat discovers the virtues of listening
Here’s an exert from Nick Smith’s speech to the 2009 New Zealand Planning Institute Conference: I acknowledge, that while the bulk of submissions […]
Rhetoric and reality
Tax cuts are the right wing’s favourite answer to every question. Before the election, National were promising us that tax cuts were the […]
Quote competition
So, in the light of yesterday’s budget, I propose a quote competition. Post your favourite Nat quotes! We could start with two categories. […]
The Debt Bogey Returns
Seems this op-ed was off-message for one of our larger media outlets, we’re happy to run it: _______________________________________ Alan Blinder, Professor of Public […]
Broken promises
National have already broken lots of pre-election promises and policies. Their policy to consult on local government and Auckland has been contemptuously ignored. […]
How much is that doggie in the window?
It’s a disgrace that the supercity agenda is being foisted on Auckland undemocratically, and it is an additional disgrace that it is being […]
Abolishing equity
National has belatedly woken up to the fact that not all Kiwis are middle aged white males, and has been trying to make […]
Any comment would be superfluous
Select committee charade
John Armstrong seems to be shaking off his Key honeymoon, and has written a detailed and interesting piece on Carter’s role chairing the […]
Key: Govt “on track”
Prime Minister John Key today announced that he was ecstatic with his government’s performance and was “on track” to making his the most […]