Failures of leadership: English, Hide, and Harawira
I know this point/counterpoint series of posts on Hone Harawira maybe getting a bit tiresome but I have to disagree with the assertion […]
Marty G
Greens greenwashing for anti-environment govt
The Greens have announced the collapse of the cornerstone of their Memorandum of Understanding with National. With Gerry Brownlee as Minister for Energy, National […]
More jobs and pay bad – JPMorgan
I was sent a press release from financiers JPMorgan in Australia. There’s a line in it that reveals much about how the capitalist […]
Harawira offensive & dumb. No excuses
Frankly, I don’t appreciate being called a white motherf**ker, by Buddy Mikaere and Hone Harawira. Before you start, that’s not to deny that Pakeha stole vast […]
The resistance
A very well-produced youtube vid on National’s distortions over ACC The clever thing National has done is set up ACC as the agent […]
Wages fall, except for union members
The Labour Cost Index tells us that most workers this year failed to get pay rises to match inflation in the past year. […]
Spin cycle finally into 1st gear
I’m all for cycle-ways but excuse me if I don’t get all silly over John Key knocking a post in the ground in […]
To [insert region here] or not [insert region here]
Looks like Nicky Wagner’s having the same trouble* as Jackie Blue: …the National-led Government is committed to helping more children take part in organised […]
Jackie Blue: Committed to [insert region here]
An alert reader who, for reasons one can only wonder about, was on Jackie Blue’s website spotted this: Tuesday, November 3. 2009 Launch […]
Farrar vs the facts
I’ve never quite understood why David Farrar, who is after all paid to do statistical work, insists on performing transparent statistical tricks on […]
Tolley: national standards could be disaster
The man National credits with coming up with the idea of national standards has warned the incompetence of Education Minister Anne Tolley could […]
Unemployment up, productivity up
Like here in New Zealand, unemployment continues to climb in America. And one of the results is soaring productivity. (sources: 1,2) But wait, […]
Not walking the talk
I’m not against Prime Ministers making limited use of Airforce aircraft when necessary – when commercial flights or (better) surface travel aren’t practical. […]
Hide slammed for telling the truth on Key
Some pretty damning pieces on on Hide today from John Armstrong, Tracy Watkins, and Fran O’Sullivan. They compare him to Winston Peters and […]
OIA docs confirm English wrote propaganda ad script
Documents that the government was forced to release under the Official Information Act reveal that Bill English exercised extensive control and sign-off over […]
The myth of upward mobility
Yesterday, we looked at what a vastly unfair and unequal system capitalism is. The control of the fruits of production by the few […]
Herald scathing of Tolley
The Herald was just about as damning as they get of National on Tuesday, with Claire Trevett’s piece on Anne Tolley. Of course, […]
16,000 more jobs lost
The number of employed people fell from 2,170,000 to 2,154,000 in the three months to September*. There are 54,000 fewer people in jobs […]
Is this as good as it gets?
Most of the wealth in New Zealand is owned by a tiny fraction of the people because our political/economic system makes it that […]
Key & English lose us $21mil in 3 months
Back in February, former currency speculator John Key and former Treasury adviser Bill English started talking about suspending contributions to the Cullen Fund, […]
A good reform, but a minor one
I watched Terminator 3 last night. It’s the worst in the series but that’s still better than watching another Guyon-National lovefest*. Which is […]
Kiwis should be free-riders – NZIER
A nice attempt at wedge politics from rightwing economic think-tank NZIER today. They say we should be concentrating on water quality, air quality, […]
Granny’s waterworks
I think Granny Herald must have shares in Infratil, based on her rubbish editorial today: Particular fervour is reserved for private-sector participation in […]
English’s strange priorities
Talk about bereft of ideas, the currency is yo-yoing, the housing bubble is re-inflating, wages are falling, jobs are still being lost in […]
Exchange rates, Kiwisaver, breaking promises, & the art of doing nothing
A range of interesting political/economic comment today in the Herald: Fran O’Sullivan joins the left-wing and groups like Federated Farmers in calling on […]
Key OK with ministers’ backdoor perk
I’m sure you noticed Hide’s latest shenanigans – getting his partner taxpayer subsidised international flights despite Key’s directive not to. Key (surprise, surprise) is ‘comfortable’ with […]
Treasury provides cover for Nats’ rightwing agenda
National’s favourite public servant (who got himself a nice pay rise), John Whitehead, has been offering dire warnings of the future. $2 trillion […]
Nats flying high, on your dime
Why is our agriculture minister spending as much as the Prime Minister on international travel? David Carter has spent $72,000 on international travel […]
Myth-busting: ACC and injuries
One of the Right’s silly myths, never backed up by any facts, is that not privatising ACC leads to more injuries. The logic […]
What’s so urgent?
As we endure the 6th consecutive week of National putting Parliament into urgency, new stats show that this government is abusing urgency to […]
Remember who they’re fighting for
This memo was sent by the Insurance Council to its members in 2005 but it may as well have been sent this week. […]
RBNZ chickens out on vital new rules
What a shame that the Reserve Bank has backed down on new the prudential liquidity rules that require the banks to raise a higher percentage […]
Big business demands to pillage state
Fran O’Sullivan runs up some more big business proposals today unsubtly reminding Key that big business, which put up the cash to get […]
Right by accident?
We’ve been pretty hard, although justifiably so, on Colin Espiner recently and I’m loath to do it again. He does put himself out […]
The urgency of love
One thing about love is that what you abhor or hate in others you tolerate, even admire, in the object of your affection. […]
National announces ACC privatisation
National is going to privatise ACC. As part of the deal for support on its ACC cuts and levy hikes from the Maori […]