Documenting Act
One of the things I’ve been following in the last few weeks and keep meaning to post about is Bryce Edwards’ series on […]
IrishBill
The idiocy of “glorious defeat”
Chris Trotter has decided to take umbrage at my post about the 1951 lockout. I wouldn’t usually reply to such criticism but this […]
Stupid and mean
Today marks the first time in over a decade that workers’ rights have got weaker. From today new workers in small businesses will […]
Just saying
Let me just say I’m not against public spending on things like conferences. But I feel obliged to point out the job summit […]
Granny’s little fit
The crazy right-wing antics of today’s Herald would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact it’s the main paper in New Zealand’s […]
Nineteen fifty one
Today marks the anniversary of Holland’s deployment of the army to break the waterfront union in 1951. The documentary produced for the dispute’s […]
Herald: “we’ll dig our way out of this hole”
The Herald is again demonstrating its economic ignorance with its call for spending cuts in today’s editorial: Something has to give. If National […]
Act MP caught out
Rethinking Crime and Punishment Director, Kim Workman, has caught Act MP David Garrett being less than honest about how many extra prisoners his […]
Flashback from way back
Anyone else read Audrey Young’s interview of Bill English in the New Zealand Herald and get a massive feeling of deja vu? Here’s […]
Web/community
I spent a very fruitful day at webstock in Wellington today listening to some heavy hitters from the US and UK talk about […]
Sold out
According to the Dom Post Judith Collins is preparing legislation to reintroduce private prisons into New Zealand’s corrections system. The arguments against privatisation […]
Faking it
It’s a bit late but I thought I’d draw people’s attention to the work Pundit’s Tim Watkin has been doing on the government’s […]
Left to the market
Two Pennsylvania Judges have been accused of taking bribes from private prison operators to ensure a reliable stream of prisoners. To quote Associated […]
Now with a little perspective
I was going through some of my 2008 files yesterday and got a sudden reminder of just how nuts the right was getting […]
Less a kickstart than a wee nudge with a soft shoe
The kickstart package is out and it seems to be a mixture of work that was already going to happen and stuff that […]
Sockpuppet of the right
After yesterday’s early release of Roger Douglas’ Orewa speech set for 6pm this evening one of our (bafflingly tenacious) readers has sent us […]
Ironically, nothing ever goes right for Roger
Roger Douglas has his big debut speech tomorrow night in Orewa. He’s been working hard and sucking the (tax payer funded) parliamentary library […]
Control group
I’ve got to admit there are days I wonder whether the National Party really have swung leftward. I mean I know they are […]
Who cares if it’s just PR?
There is a rumour in the Dom Post and the Herald that the minimum wage will be announced today and the Nats are […]
Lest we forget
The New Republic has a good article on Keynes that points out the tendency for governments (specifically in the US) to flock toward […]
Blogger ethics
I see that over at Kiwiblog DPF is hawking an Air New Zealand viral advertisement. Now DPF has had at least one junket […]
Fingers burned
Word is Tony Ryall is feeling a bit burned over the herceptin funding. Turns out the private specialists needed to administer the treatment […]
Standard writer in shock agreement with KBR!
Over at Kiwiblog David and his rabid followers are screaming over the HoS’s treatment of National’s Social Development Minister Paula Bennett and the […]
Stop the auction
The tragic shooting death of Halatau Kianamanu Naitoko on the motorway today was not National’s fault. In fact it was nothing to do […]
A pointless symbolic distraction. At best.
I’m the last person who’d criticise freezing the pay of our MPs but John Key’s cynical opportunism is at best a piece of […]
Let’s see the options
Over at the Dim Post Danyl is complaining about our complaining again. In a classic piece of sophistry he seems to have decided […]
A little help
Oddly the Standard hasn’t received its invite to the “job summit” yet. I’m sure this is just an administrative error but just in […]
Fox to guard the henhouse
The National/Act government has announced its chair for the “job summit” and it’s stock exchange boss Mark Weldon. I may be missing something […]
ETS submissions open
Submissions for the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme have opened but will close on the 13th of February. Given the time of […]
Payback?
National’s decision to allow a 40% increase in endangered Sea Lion kill-quota for the squid fishing industry is old news but I haven’t […]
For richer
I’ve spent the last week touring around the provinces and catching up with old friends and family I haven’t seen for years and […]
Debt
A couple of good but not quite satisfying articles today. The first is Brian Gaynor’s analysis of the economy in which he lays […]
Homegrown
At the end of my post a couple of days ago I touched on the notion of a new Zealand identity and a […]
No Xmas
And before anyone calls sour grapes I have to say even John deserves some xmas cheer but this was just too funny not […]
A real alternative
One of Bruce Jesson’s constant bugbears during the New Right revolution of the 80’s and 90’s was that the Left allowed itself to […]
“Newspaper of record”
A friend just flicked me an article from the Nation which shows just how the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia was misrepresented by […]