Will Key fold?
Interesting times for Key. Rodney is trying to wag the dog over Maori seats. He’s also trying it on over the “smacking referendum” […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Keep it up, Chippie and co
Good on Chris Hipkins. The other day, he wrote: “National won the last election quite comfortably. Kiwis are fair minded people and will […]
Will National cave to threats from Hide?
An email leaked to 3News suggests that Rodney Hide is holding the government to ransom over denying guaranteed Supercity representation for Maori. The […]
Phil Goff speaking on the SAS deployment
Stupi-duty and Wisharts works of political fiction
Open Parachute has a post Evidence, not lawyers about that well-known writer of political fiction, Ian Wishart, issuing a press release saying that he […]
Brian Edwards on Key
Brian Edwards gives his take on our “Photo-op PM”. Demonising Key hasn’t and isn’t likely to work for Labour. It doesn’t accord at […]
Goff’s speech on deploying the SAS
Apart from when it’s customary, at maiden speeches, valedictories, and the Budget, it’s a rare speech that warrants a standing ovation in Parliament. […]
More National sleeze
There’s been an attempt to force Peter Goodfellow, the brand new President of the National Party, to step down. The move came from […]
A question of trusts
Here is Bill English in the cocktail tapes talking about Working for Families: “the reality is if we had been the government, with […]
Subsidizing polluting industries costs taxpayers directly
An excellent post from Idiot Savant (reproduced with permission) on the cost to taxpayers of subsidizing polluting industries. I haven’t noticed the mainstream […]
A really crappy day
I hadn’t been to a protest in months. After everything I’ve been through, activist stuff tends to make me more than a little […]
Still lying, Still spying
A media release yesterday from the Justice NOW collective! shows how both police and corporate spies are still taking a major interest in […]
Not yours to sell
This video from Phil Twyford, Labour’s spokesperson on the campaign to make sure that Rodney Hide is prevented from buggering Auckland by selling […]
Eventually but not yet
John Armstrong quotes a man who ran into Phil Goff during Labour’s reconnection tour last week: “Listen, mate. You know we voted these […]
It’s Labour’s fault it didn’t rain!
One of Bill English’s favourite lines is that New Zealand entered recession ahead of the rest of the world ‘due to Labour’s mismanagement […]
New Zealand’s global shame
Well, there goes our clean, green image. After Key announced the pathetic 10-20% emissions reduction target, we were declared ‘fossil of the day’ […]
Electrical storm
Breaking up the old Electricity Corporation into a bunch of artificially competing companies has been a 15-year failure. They’ve poured heaps of money […]
Double bubble trouble
It’s a rare day that I agree with Bill English but he’s right about the danger of another housing boom. The last bubble […]
Standing up for our rights
Remember the petition to state your opposition to Paula Bennett’s attack on our privacy rights. The idea is it will be tabled in […]
Kate’s CEO talkfest
The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, is holding a meeting today with 25 top CEOs on the number of New Zealanders who are […]
Wellington fundraisers
Two cool fundraisers coming up for the Greens and Labour. The Greens are holding a screening of Kiwi ‘s The Age of Stupid, […]
Afghanistan for the Afghanistanians
It was a bit strange listening to Key’s interview on RNZ yesterday morning about deploying the SAS to Afghanistan. He kept on awkwardly […]
Those who do not learn
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. National has learned nothing from the failure of the neoliberal policies […]
Holding Bennett to account
NZPA reports: Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has confirmed she will investigate Social Development Minister Paula Bennett after the release of details of two […]
Save the climate, raise our albedo
Dark material gets warmer in sunlight than light-coloured or white material. Heat energy enters our atmosphere after light strikes the surface of the […]
Someone give Rodney a Smack
Rodney Hide is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to the government. The perception that he has created is that he will back to the […]
Time for tory charity?
Following the success of TV3’s ‘Big Night In’ Telethon which raised over $2 million for KidsCan, I was thinking there are others that […]
More questions for English
Yesterday, John Armstrong talked about the Auditor-General’s 2001 report into eligibility for a Wellington accommodation allowance: the then Auditor-General David MacDonald scrutinised allowances […]
Stick to Acting
John explains how what he said was taken out of context, and he outlines his views on climate change.
Caption Competition
Stand up for free speech, stand against Bully State
As you know, when Natasha Fuller and Jennifer Johnston spoke up against the Key government’s cancelling of the Training Incentive Allowance, Paula Bennett […]
Electoral finance – summary of submissions
The Ministry of Justice has released a summary of the submissions it got on its Electoral Finance Issues Document. They got 79. The […]
Unemployment back to English’s ‘realistic’ level
Who said this? “if we continue with National’s policies over the next three years we will be able to create another 115,000 jobs […]
What a coincidence
So there I was, just a walking down the street, and $47,000 just fell out of the sky in tax free readies, bam, […]
Which one’s true, Bill?
According to the Speaker, Bill English MP’s “primary place of residence” is in Dipton because Bill has told him it is. But according […]
English lives where Lockwood says
Allowances for MPs accommodation are made according to the Speaker’s determinations. An MP’s “primary place of residence” is where the Speaker says it […]