Building constituencies
On Tuesday, both Sue Kedgley and Sue Moroney tabled petitions in Parliament with over 15,000 signatures, on food standards in schools and pay […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Banning smoking
I have a lot of respect for Hone Harawira. The voting for a Tory government thing has lessened it but his hatred for the […]
Get it in writing
Watching the Maori Party get done over by National is getting painful. The MP thought they had a good faith dialogue on the […]
Wee gripes: Bad looks
Espiner the Younger wrote: Hutch’s biggest mistake wasn’t reading and driving, in my opinion. It was reading and driving in a sign-written car […]
Yes, we’re screwed
On Monday, New Yorkers discovered their free rightwing rag, the New York Post, had suddenly come over all green. The front-page was typical […]
John and Bill cost us $7 million in two months
You’ll remember that in the Budget National decided to suspend payments to the Cullen Fund, which is designed to help fund the future […]
Billy and the Baroness
In an extraordinary coincidence, the Attorney-General in the UK is about to lose her job for pretty much the same rort as Bill […]
Double standards for Double Dipton?
Our readers pointed out some interesting quotes in yesterday’s thread on Bill English’s attempt to bully journalists into silence over his housing allowance rort. […]
Understanding political behaviour
It seems political scientists could learn a thing or two from anthropologists after all. “Neanderthals were not the gentle, almost-human creatures portrayed in […]
The story Bill English doesn’t want you to see
On Wednesday last week, Labour released new information on Bill English’s housing allowance rort. Naturally, the media raised the issues with English. TVOne […]
Bullying the media
National are up to their old tricks again – bullying the media to try and shut down critical comment. This time the culprit […]
The entertainer
It’s kind of funny how in a year we’ve gone from expecting a Prime Minister to be hugely competent and across the details […]
Nats’ ETS a polluters’ charter
Rod Oram, as usual, has set the standard in commentary with his piece on the National-Maori Party ETS. The full article is here […]
A long time between drinks
The latest Roy Morgan poll puts National down 5% and Labour up 4%. Still a big gap, but it seems at last New […]
English owes us disclosure
I’ve posted before on “mainstream” media editorials, their variable quality and the paradox (in this world of blogging) of their anonymity. Every now […]
One of these things is not like the other VII
One of these things is not the other, One of these things is not quite the same… Can you guess which one is […]
Lyndon on ACT
Found this gem at Fighting Talk. Lyndon Hood examines the act of leaking. Lyndon Hood: Act Doesn’t Feel Climate Heat Click to enlarge […]
Nick Smith’s dirty dealing
Labour’s Charles Chauvel has released the paper records of Labour’s attempts to agree a bi-partisan ETS with National. In total, Labour presented three […]
“What else can I do?”, asks Blinky Bill.
We told him here months ago – acknowledge what everybody knows: that he lives in Wellington with his family, and he should claim […]
After Edge of Darkness
I just read that the Troy Kennedy Martin, the screenwriter responsible for Edge of Darkness died earlier this week. I wanted to mark […]
Lhaws: ‘look at me! I crave your attention’
Lhaws puts on his usual prima donna act over the H which is set to leave Whanganui an uninhabitable, post-apocalyptic wasteland: “I have […]
Breaking English
Bill English is not holding up well to the persistent questions put to him in Parliament about shuffling around his financial appearance to […]
It isn’t a game
People who treat politics as a game annoy me. People who see it all in terms of power and cliques and scoring points […]
Wee gripes: It’s not easy being green
Westpac has this ad campaign about how they’re doing their bit to reduce their environmental impact. The dumb thing is they make begin […]
Whanganui
Here’s something to look forward to New Zealand. Another round of that trumped up little egotist stirring racist populism to get himself in […]
The bigots beneath
Last night, Sandra Goudie, the big-mouth of the National Party caucus, said the words out loud that the Nats usually keep in their […]
Contempt for democracy
Gerry Brownlee in Question Time yesterday. He’s asked a question, just sits there and refuses to answer. Doesn’t even open his mouth, just […]
English’s story disintegrating
Pete Hodgson is continuing to chip away at English’s ministerial allowance story. English looks very uncomfortable as Brownlee and Key cover for him. […]
I don’t know if it hurts my eyes or my heart more
WTF is this? I mean look at it. It’s got to be the worst website I have ever seen and I’ve been around […]
Short term thinkers
It never ceases to amaze me what short term thinkers National are. The plan (with the Maori Party) to gut the ETS highlights […]
Nats attack democracy on two fronts
Again, National has put the House into urgency to slam through unpopular legislation. This time, it’s the Supercity legislation. National whinges that it […]
Lockout at Bridgeman Concrete
Last week I wrote: We’re seeing a new pattern in work relations emerging. The big employers, emboldened by having their party in power […]
Taxpayer shafted again
National seems to be making a bit of a habit of shafting the taxpayer. Before the election we were promised significant tax cuts, […]
Labour Grasps Nettle: Nettles Usually Sting
By Rob Salmond It sounds like Phil G did a great job at Labour’s conference setting out where the party should go from […]
No deal
Hot Topic has obtained a copy of a draft memorandum of understanding for a meeting on the ETS that was meant to take place […]
A hollow gesture
Some good comments from CTU president Helen Kelly in the Dom today on the Government’s posturing over MP pay increases. “The Government is […]