No Right Turn: Parliament and the pandemic
Idiot/Savant writes about what the government can and can’t do with sitting and the election.
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
The politics of gun control
National and NZ First are frustrating the passage of the Arms Legislation Bill by raising issues that may appeal to extremists but will not make the country a safer place after the Christchurch massacre.
How To Get There 08/03/20
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
What the Government has done for beneficiaries
In Parliament this week Carmel Sepuloni outlined action being taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group designed to improve the plight of beneficiaries.
The politics of hand washing
Simon Bridges thinks that getting people to wash their hands and removing unemployment stand down periods is tinkering but that National’s still unreleased economic policy will solve the crisis.
RIP Jeanette Fitzsimons
Former Greens co leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has died.
Buttigeig 2020?
Allowing for a Biden victory in the Democratic Party primary process, then come November, voters in the US will be voting on whether Buttiegieg or Trump will be the next President of the USA. That’s what I’m picking, and here’s why…
Bridges thinks the solution to Covid 19 is tax cuts
Simon Bridges thinks that tax cuts are the best way to address financial stress caused by businesses by the Covid 19 epidemic. Even though businesses under financial stress will be paying little if any tax and a tax cut would have little if any effect.
Democratic Party Encounters Cliff. Jumps.
Just like Blairites in the UK and the ABC club here…the Democratic Party elites in the US seem to be the dumber type of parasite that willfully kills their hosts.
Super Tuesday
In the US of A today is Super Tuesday. California, Texas, North Carolina and 11 other states and one territory will be voting for their preferred candidate.
Afghanistan pushes the US out
I have really no idea who to cheer for about the Afghanistan peace
agreement. If the Taliban were the answer, it was a pretty fucking
stupid question.
Starmer, Biden and Benji
Two leadership races and a General election appear to be going to conservative candidates. What does that mean for parliamentary democracy?
The trouble with MMP
The trouble with MMP is that sometimes members of minority parties court media attention by being overtly racist.
Climate change – the right schemes and the left despairs
The Australian Liberal Government has signalled a movement away from solar and wind power to untested technologies including carbon capture, hydrogen and lithium. Meanwhile the woman who led the negotiations for the Paris Agreement is calling for civil disobedience to force institutions to respond to the climate crisis.
The Herald creates a panic and Trump says Coronavirus is a hoax
If a society ever wanted to set out how to handle a pandemic the Herald’s media response and Donald Trump’s handling of the situation provide perfect examples of what not to do.
How To Get There 01/03/20
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
A Welcome Change Coming.
There’s an increasing number of progressive and conservatives who are rediscovering their moral compass in these, the final days of unfettered liberalism.
National’s new conservation policy was previously announced in 2014
National has announced a “new” policy that it previously announced in 2014. And that has already been implemented.
Do not deport your people and your problems to New Zealand
Jacinda Ardern has trashed traditional notions of how New Zealand Australia relations are conducted when making the clear point that Australia should not be exporting Australian made problems who are barely kiwis to New Zealand.
National is going low on law and order issues
Over the past week National has shown a willingness to take really base aggressive positions on law and order issues for political advantages no matter what principles are at stake. And at the same time show a complete lack of understanding of the issues that are involved.
The right politicising the coronavirus
NACT’s values are showing.
A Democrat Senate Majority
So many left-leaning people around the world are looking to the United States election in November this year. We need to pay attention to the thing that enables the Presidential winner to get things done: a Senate majority.
Someone should keep a Talley
Radio New Zealand has published details of Talley donations totalling $27,000 being made to the NZ First Foundation.
Shattering
When things fall apart, the disintegration can reach such a speed that it’s hard to keep an eye on everything that’s happening. Is liberalism on the cusp?
Postal voting – essentially dead
Stuff has an article up about last years local body elections in Auckland. As usual the interesting parts are at the end. But I have to reiterate – online voting isn’t the answer. As a programmer, I’d just call it stupid and dangerous.
The Wave Crashing In…
The race to win the most support from Democratic and Independent voters in the Democratic Primaries is over bar the shouting, but…
The real cause of New Zealand’s failing housing system
Simon Wilson has set out in a Herald article historical data which suggests that the cause of the housing crisis can be dated back to decisions made generations ago. But Steven Joyce thinks that the cure is actually the cause of the problem.
How To Get There 23/02/20
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
To Kill Democracy…
If major Democratic Party donors and ‘big business’ lobbyists wanted to monkeywrench democracy in the US, then here’s how they could go about it.
WTAF NZ First?
It has been reported that NZ First will oppose the Green’s attempt to make the country’s car fleet more sustainable and that it may hold up proposed gun law changes designed to address the problems clearly shown by the Christchurch massacre.
Sustainable NZ not so sustainable after all
It appears that National’s dream of an alternative Green party that would drive the real Green Party below the threshold is in tatters with news that Sustainable NZ is on the skids.
Pure clear water
It’s probably time to notice why Jones’ Provincial Growth Fund had to step in and provide several million of funding to patch up the water supply emergency in Northland.
Moana Jackson on Bob Jones
“You cannot have free speech, if you make some people less free”
National has nothing to be afraid of
National has absolutely nothing to worry about the prosecution of four people for carving up a donation to the National Party.
SFO: The National Party Four are Named
Name suppression has been lifted for the four National Party associates charged by the SFO.
National’s donation reporting problem
National’s recent donations returns suggest that a large total of their donations are made in the under $15,000 category, the benefit of which is that the donor’s identity does not have to be disclosed. Update: The four accused have been named.