The ‘Rankin Effect’
Why is the National government delaying its announcement of the Supercity transitional agency? The Rankin Effect. That’s the flinch you get when your […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Teflon off: Key gets a mauling at Press Conference
John Key’s performance at this afternoon’s 4pm Press Conference was impressive. I’ve never heard so many, ‘don’t knows’, denials, ‘I can’t tell yous’, […]
Transition Agency knocked back
Stuff is reporting that cabinet has failed to approve the make up of the Auckland Supercity transition agency. In case you’re out of […]
Rodneytactics, Rogernomics and dog-whistle DonKey
The tactics used by Rodney Hide to ram through the Auckland SuperCity legislation without reference to a select committee or referendum should not […]
No credible argument against referendum
This morning Radio NZ ran a report on the increasing grassroots opposition to the Government’s supercity plans. In the interview that followed it […]
Direct action against SH20 motorway begins
Protesters calling for the Government to abandon its plans to drive an above-ground motorway through the middle of Mt Albert disrupted the opening […]
1600 Dead Again
Each year and every year, around 1600 New Zealanders die prematurely because we live in cold damp houses. This “excess winter death rate” […]
Bake a cake for the LWR workers
A great initiative from the National Distribution Union: With the bank (Westpac) leaving Lane Walker Rudkin workers out in the cold without their […]
McCarten hits the mark
Matt McCarten makes some very valid points about the lack of democracy within political parties in his Herald column today. Using the Lee […]
NACT prefer to have a filibuster
The ongoing filibuster is highlighting the intransigent nature of the NACT government. NACT ministers are getting annoyed by having to remain at the […]
The Maori Party’s commitment to democracy
In an epic last-ditch defence of Aucklanders’ right to be consulted on the removal of their democracy, Labour and the Greens are currently […]
One of these things is not like the other V
One of these things is not like the other One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one […]
Ratepayers to fork out lots for super-city
In the absence of any numbers about transition costs from Rodney or NACT on the super-city, Phil Twyford over at Red Alert has […]
The Green New Deal
The Greens have released their Green New Deal (PDF), which they hope the Government will pick up in part or in whole. It looks […]
Has anyone asked them what they think now?
Moana Mackey has been looking at old Hansards in a post on Red Alert. The topic was the Local Government Act changes in […]
The real apology
The PM’s office Melissa Lee has released an apology for her ‘crims on the motorway’ comments. Well, not a genuine apology – ‘it was […]
On filibustering and public political meetings
Labour is filibustering in the house on the Auckland super-city enabling legislation. The would-be dictator of Auckland’s future for the next year and […]
The racist tory edition
In his blog, Colin Espiner asked: “But my question is this: National has known for months it was going to torpedo the tunnels. […]
Few sandwiches short of a picnic
This, I swear, is a complete and unedited press release from Roger Douglas. A Recipe To Grow The Economic Cake -Hon Sir Roger […]
Kiwibob-each-way on Melissa’s video
Interesting comment on Melissa from Kiwiblog’s Farrar: There is also the issue of the video produced by her before the election, placed on […]
I can see South Auckland from my house! An interview with Melissa Lee
Did your company use NZ On Air money to produce a National Party promotional video? Look, I didn’t keep records of who was […]
“An indecent assault on numeracy”
Over at Public Address Keith Ng has a great post up on Labour and National’s tax regimes. Pretty graphs, accessible analysis and a […]
Classic
From the Herald’s Your Views on Waterview: HammerHead (Wellington City): No they should replace it with a cycleway. This would prevent criminals coming […]
Ravi back in the running?
Over at Red Alert, the Labour MPs’ blog, Trevor Mallard points out that nominations for the Mt Albert by-election don’t close until next […]
Drinking Liberally WTGN tonight
Just in from the Wellington DL crew: For our next Drinking Liberally we are honoured to have Prof. Philippa Howden-Chapman speaking on “Healthy […]
Stand up for pay equity
Green MP Catherine Delahunty is running an e-card campaign to support public sector pay equity after National announced it would be cancelling pay […]
Will your house get bulldozed?
Labour’s just launched an interactive Google map showing National’s plans for the Waterview connection. Click the map below to check it out.
Lee down, under; about to be reborn
Melissa Lee’s recent interviews on Q+A, TV1, TV3 and RNZ proved once and for all that being able to read an autocue doesn’t mean […]
Lee implodes
And the ticking timebomb goes off. From Not PC on last night’s Mt Albert candidates’ debate: Most of what every mainstream candidate had to […]
Why so afraid?
Labour asked for an urgent debate in the House today on the Waterview announcement. Smith denied it because the announcement hadn’t then taken […]
Melissa keeps on digging
Here’s Melissa Lee explaining on Checkpoint how her staff volunteered their time to produce a video for National Party list candidates: LEE: Well […]
Going Backwards II
A recent piece in the New York Times highlights the absurdity of going backwards with the apparent reorganisation of the Families Commission around […]
The Nats’ campaign vid that you and I paid for
I figure the very least the Nats could do after spending our money on their asian-voter campaign video is to share it with […]
Melissa’s election expenses returned?
An interesting story on TV3 last night about potential for conflict of interest relating to Asia Down Under, a broadcasting company owned by […]
Worth the while?
We got a guest post a fortnight ago that we keep meaning to put up with the title “Worth fails to cock-up for […]
“We have got a problem with Maori”
Now before you start thinking the Standard has started spruiking for the National Front I should make it clear that the title quote […]