Four wheels good, two wheels bad
The Government is taking nearly half a billion dollars out of public transport, cycling, walking, road maintance, and traffic policing to pay for […]
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Fox in the henhouse
The National Business Review has an interesting article online that suggests Simon Power’s recommendation of Dr Mark Berry to take over from Paula […]
Jobs rally in Nelson this Saturday
The Service and Food Workers Union is organising a rally and march in Nelson on Saturday (21 March) in support of Sealord workers […]
Third party returns
The Electoral Commission has released the third party spending returns for the 2008 election campaign and it looks like for all National and […]
Key on wages
Key’s speech to the CTU today showed an interesting inight into how he thinks you lift wages. NZPA reports: He said it was […]
National’s cargo cult mentality
Over the weekend I pointed out that National’s plans to review the Overseas Investment Act would lead to even more foreign control of […]
Ambitious for New Zealand
John Key in the NBR*: There is more chance in this decade than the last one of New Zealand moving up the OECD […]
DL Wellington – Andrew Little
Patrick’s sure got DL Wellington humming along. Next Wednesday at the Southern Cross they’ve got Andrew Little, national sec of the EPMU and […]
Healthy Homes, Healthy Kiwis
Well I’ll be, it seems Labour is finally starting to act like an opposition. They’ve set up a campaign website on home insulation […]
Jonathan Coleman on TVNZ
Jonathan Coleman on TVNZ. Parliament, 10 May 2007. Dr Jonathan Coleman When the Minister says that the Government is committed to the core […]
Starving the beast
Before the election National promised that the public service would be capped, not cut. That promise was betrayed a long time ago, but […]
Espiner on National’s use of the crisis
Sadly, I couldn’t find Colin Espiner’s excellent piece in The Press today online. It’s good. Colin’s thoughtful observations derail the government’s PR spin […]
90 axed at TVNZ
In what’s turning out to be the gift that just keeps on giving for National, the Recession Bogeyman is now being blamed for […]
National’s blitzkrieg
The government’s first hundred days are up and they’ve decided that this signals the start to a multi-pronged political offensive. They are now […]
S92A: Opportunists jumping on bandwagons
It is always interesting watching people and organizations jumping on bandwagons of popular movements. In the case of the section 92A of the […]
A bunch of clowns
Poor old Nick Smith. Not only is he stuck peddling long-disproved lies about ACC but now it seems he can’t even get a […]
A fairer 9 day fortnight
National’s 9-day fortnight will save only 2-3% of the jobs that are expected to be lost in the recession. It’s a trifling investment […]
National to increase foreign ownership
Newstalk ZB reports: The Prime Minister is keen to open the door to foreign investors. In a speech to the Act Party conference […]
See no evil
I’ve been meaning to write something about the private prisons bill for a couple of days as it’s a recipe for barbarity. But […]
Campbell on the nine day fortnight
Gordon Campbell’s pretty scathing of Key’s nine day fortnight scheme in his latest article at Scoop, describing the announcement as a sign workers […]
Doubleplusungood II
A leak reveals more words banned by National/ACT : strategy blueprint engagement socialisation collaboration co-ordination We’re destroying words – scores of them, hundreds […]
The guy’s tired already
If there’s one thing that strikes you about John Key’s post-cabinet press conference this week, it isn’t the scintillating prose or erudite diction. […]
Words fail me
A link in the comments led me to ballon juice You Have To Be Shitting Me. It refers to a article at boston.com […]
Key’s to-do list
Friday quiz
Question 1. Which of these are ‘front-line’ staff and which are ‘back office’? a) the extra staff members for National and Maori Party […]
Cutting through the spin on ACC
We’ve heard a lot of panicky comments in the last few weeks about a ‘cost blowout’ at ACC. We’re told there is $22 […]
Sealord email campaign
The Service and Food Workers Union has launched an online email campaign to urge Sealord Chairman Robin Hapi to reconsider axing 180 workers […]
Daily show vs CNBC
Last week, Jon Stewart poked fun at the media who cheer-led the housing and stockmarket bubbles and are now blaming the people who […]
Experts: National lying over ACC
The wheels are starting to come off National’s PR campaign to undermine ACC as more and more people notice the gap between their […]
Bennett’s lame excuse
Morning Report asked Paula Bennett why the public sector had been cut out of the 9 day fortnight scheme this morning and her […]
Sensible Sentencing Trust and GEO Group, a deafening silence
Yesterday Tane did an excellent post speculating on links between the Sensible Sentencing Trust and GEO Group. GEO Group derived from the notorious […]
Espiner nails it
In his blog today Colin Espiner points out how National has quickly moved a lot further to the right than they portrayed themselves […]
DL Wellington tomorrow
Just received this from the Wellington Drinking Liberalites: Just a last minute reminder, tomorrow is the third Drinking Liberally of 2009, featuring the […]
Ye olde royal titles
Brian Rudman has a good piece this morning on the Earl of Auckland’s backwards-looking decision to reinstate a “ridiculous regime of titles dating […]
Shafted
This is good. Here’s what ACC’s ads might look like once National’s had its way with it: [Hat tip: Clarke in the comments]
