Flag it, more important things to do
I’m just trying to understand this Maori flag thing. The Crown (in the guise of Minister Pita Sharples) has decided that Maori will […]
Marty G
Recession’s ‘rough edges’ hit families – no help from govt
Labour leader Phil Goff has called for a temporary relaxation of the rules for getting the dole. Too many Kiwis on low and […]
The Salesman
One of the stories from John Key’s days as a currency trader is that he was always more of a salesman than an […]
Farewell, Walter
Friday saw the death of Walter Cronkite, greatest of the great generation of TV news-people. He is perhaps remembered most for the broadcast in […]
None so blind
I read Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard’s speech on Tuesday with great interest. It’s an informative, if very mainstream review of the recession […]
Credit outlook cut but it’s not a credit rating downgrade
So, Fitch, the third of the big three sovereign credit ratings agencies, has moved the Government’s rating from a stable outlook to a negative […]
Fire at Will: abuses, no new jobs
The Key Government decided not to monitor the implementation of its Fire at Will law. It probably feared embarrassment. Fortunately, the EMA and CTU have […]
The danger of Key’s low wage economy
As you know, things are tough in the job market at the moment. The firm figures won’t be out until later this month […]
EEC votes ‘No’ on should-a.com
should-a.com, the site that lets you write your own parody of the upcoming referendum question, has been issued with a takedown notice by […]
Big dreams, no delivery
Tv1 has revealed that our daydreamer PM had much much bigger plans for the cycleway. Like excited schoolkids, he and good mate Mark […]
Another new left blog
Elsewoman. We’ve been remiss in not getting this on the blogroll earlier. Anne’s been giving us hassles. And rightly so, her blog is […]
New left blog
Mars 2 Earth is one of the vanishingly few blogs written from a Maori perspective (with quite a bit of environmentalism thrown in). Muscular […]
Political violence
A Nelson man attempted to buy a gun to shoot Nick Smith. Details are scant. What could have been a nasty situation looks […]
Good news for care workers
It’s good news that carers for people with intellectual disabilities are getting more recognition. A court decision has found that sleep-over shifts are […]
‘Frontline’ cut for phantom savings
MAF Biosecurity is set to cut 60 jobs – 30 of them filled. It claims the fall in imports means it’s over budget […]
Oil’s well that ends well?
Now days everybody wanna talk, like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch […]
What goes up
There’s a lot of empty, over-optimistic talk around at the moment about ‘green-shoots’ in the economy. Supposedly, these are little early signs of […]
Double strength spin from Armstrong
Former journalist John Armstrong runs National’s line on health today: The Cabinet’s loosening of rules on district health boards farming out non-urgent surgical […]
Time for Labour to listen
I have to disagree with my comrade ayb on his post calling for Labour to come up with a more detailed program. Though […]
Labour lolz
I reckon Red Alert, the Labour MPs’ blog, has been a huge success. It’s great to see MPs unscripted and it’s good for […]
Excuses excuses
First, it was ‘we’re going to do everything we can to keep Kiwis in jobs’ Next, it was ‘yeah, OK, we haven’t done […]
When spin goes wrong
Richard Long, the main man behind Don Brash’s racist Owera speech is just about the poorest propagandist you get: “Why only two to […]
Nats give ticket-clipper to private hospitals
The government has changed the rules so that DHBs can make standing contracts for private hospitals to perform public elective surgeries. If DHBs […]
Two birds with one stone
In 2007, in election mode, John Key was talking up National’s commitment to the environment and the Enviroschools programme: Without a trace of […]
Nats ignored Treasury’s warnings on cancelling Cullen Fund payments
In the newly released Budget papers Treasury acknowledges that cancelling the Cullen Fund contributions would only reduce debt by 5% (more than offset […]
Tax cuts, one-off payment, or something better?
Budget papers just released reveal that Treasury recommended a package of measures to reduce debt including an 8-year suspension of the Cullen fund […]
Change of tune
A couple of weeks ago, David Farrar was all for investigating MPs’ expenses here. He was covering the UK scandal in depth. He […]
What, me worry?
Apparently, Minister for Unemployment Paula Bennett doesn’t like reading too much, She prefers to have things explained to her with whiteboards, charts, and […]
1 million Aussies? Don’t get too excited
So 1,001,880 Australians visited New Zealand in the year to May, up 3.7% over the last May year despite the recession Yay? Well […]
Treasury on swine flu
Here’s the key part of Treasury’s report on the impact of swine flu, released on Friday: Typically Treasury, it’s more interested in GDP […]
Unedifying
The Herald reports Pita Sharples has backed down on his demand to ‘open’ the universities to Maori. Now he says: “he wants Maori […]
Who pays for swine flu?
A lot of people (like a million people or more according to the experts) are set to get sick from swine flu or […]
Still voting yes
I fully understand the political reasons for both Key and Goff not voting in the upcoming referendum. Neither want to have an official […]
Swine flu information pack
It’s appalling that if you go to the Ministry of Health or Beehive websites there is nothing easy to find about how we […]
Perspective
National’s line is that they are doing ‘everything possible save jobs and keep people in employment’. Are they living up to the promise? […]
Key’s surprise for Aucklanders
Analysis by Rhema Vaithianathan, which hasn’t itself been critiqued but has seen her subjected to the typical vicious personal attacks from National, shows […]