Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, July 8th, 2013 - 18 comments
The Government is planning to spend up to $100 million from the sale of one SOE, Mighty River Power, to prop up another SOE, Solid Energy. And the Prime Minister thinks one day that it definitely isn’t and the next day it may but it probably won’t and it is all too complex. Confused?
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 7th, 2013 - 121 comments
The MSM coverage of the Labour Party remit, led by right wing propagandists, is riddled with sexism and the same traditional masculinist values that marginalise the poor and those with least power. I repeat my post that critiques a speech on gender & politics at the 2012 Labour Party Conference.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, July 5th, 2013 - 61 comments
Bill English diverts attention from questions about Key’s prior knowledge of Dotcom, saying it is not a BIG ISSUE. Trustworthiness, undermining democracy, misuse of GCSB surveillance in collaboration with foreign powers, blurring commercial cyber-security with national security – just some of the BIG ISSUES covered in the GCSB hearings.
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, July 3rd, 2013 - 233 comments
This afternoon Kim Dotcom is making a submission to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee, which is chaired by John Key (starting 3:30pm). 3 News is livestreaming the session.
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, July 3rd, 2013 - 115 comments
Key is clearly getting nervous about the implosion of his possible electoral partners in 2014. He’s running the “largest party has a moral mandate to govern line” again. It’s destabilising, and it’s rubbish, here’s why…
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, July 3rd, 2013 - 43 comments
Norman criticises John Key for showing complete disdain for democracy at yesterday’s public hearing on the GCSB Bill. Kim Dotcom is expected to provide a challenge today. Paul Buchanan is critical and argues for a full inquiry. Gordon Campbell proposes some questions. [update]: TV3 Livestream 3.30 pm [update] Dotcom -Key knew about him prior to GCSB spying on him TV3.
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, July 2nd, 2013 - 35 comments
Good to see that Key is so keenly focused on what matters. His image.
Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, July 2nd, 2013 - 18 comments
Key’s enquiry into the GCSB report leak appears to have broken the law. He doesn’t give a damn. What a clear and timely example of exactly why Key and the GCSB can’t be trusted with further powers. “Nothing to hide nothing to fear” my arse.
Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, July 1st, 2013 - 41 comments
John Key’s u-turn on Auckland City Rail is all smoke, mirrors and sleight of hand stealth of the common good. Phil Twyford and the Auckland Transport Blog are skeptical. Funding? Roads over public transport? Asset sales?
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, June 29th, 2013 - 89 comments
The National Party are the good economic managers, right? So why are they spending money we don’t actually have yet?
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, June 29th, 2013 - 76 comments
Slippery John Key continues with the theft of the common weal, while the Kiwis with the least powerful voices are being neglected. Labour MPs, it’s time to get over your personality politics, your divisions and careerist maneuverings, and step up.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, June 29th, 2013 - 56 comments
National’s spend-up promises in Auckland look like panicky policy on the hoof. Where is all this money going to come from? Key says they’ll just write a cheque!
Written By: - Date published: 3:57 pm, June 28th, 2013 - 42 comments
So John Key has today re-announced the Auckland plan, albeit delayed. So the Central Rail Link is on. There’ll be a 2nd Harbour crossing that’s tunnels. Combine it with Christchurch and Key’s spent about $10 billion this week. Bill English will be having a heart attack… but then, it’s all spending in the distant future […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, June 28th, 2013 - 11 comments
1. This potato will not lie, prevaricate, or have convenient memory lapses.
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, June 28th, 2013 - 72 comments
Key’s grubby little deal on the Sky City convention center is about as popular as halitosis. Public opinion is against it, and so is the Auckland City Council. But Key will carry on regardless, because he is much too arrogant to back down.
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, June 27th, 2013 - 20 comments
Dear Prime Minister, It appears that we may have made a terrible mistake. We made a detailed submission outlining our concerns about your government’s plans to increase the powers of the GCSB. But it looks like we were wrong. You have told Parliament and the media that you disagree with us. You haven’t said why, but we now accept that you know better than us. What use is all our combined wisdom when arrayed against your everyman common-sense?
Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, June 27th, 2013 - 11 comments
There’s something to be said for Fairfax and Westpac’s launch of the Women of Influence NZ awards. Many women do not receive social recognition, or a fair financial reward, for their valuable contributions to society. The Fairfax-Westpac, right-leaning, individualistic awards foreground money, profits, leadership and business.
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, June 26th, 2013 - 91 comments
Yesterday Key actually ran the classic justification for “police state” surveillance: if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. This argument is bollocks. Here’s why…
Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, June 25th, 2013 - 45 comments
Back in 2008, a bright new thing called John Key said that, if he became Prime Minister, he would take the Tourism portfolio. He said “it’s an industry that’s particularly important in maintaining and boosting this country’s employment levels and growth prospects” and “we can do an awful lot better”. International tourism revenue has fallen 20% since 2008.
Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, June 25th, 2013 - 34 comments
The Law Society is not exactly a hotbed of leftie activism. So the supporters of this appallingly arrogant government should sit up and take notice when they speak out as clearly as this against the GCSB spying bill. Two faced Key is simultaneously claiming that the current law is both unclear and “very clear”. He needs to be called out on it.
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, June 21st, 2013 - 42 comments
The leaderless uprising in Brazil exposes unbearable inequalities in a dysfunctional post-growth world. Extravagant sports events and expensive stadium contrast with anti-public service austerity measures. Home building lags in Christchurch, while Key looks to asset sales to fund a stadium.
Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, June 19th, 2013 - 112 comments
John Key can’t admit there’s a crisis in manufacturing. His response is to huff and puff and call people bozos. Not good enough. Here are some basic questions that Key should be able to answer…
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, June 18th, 2013 - 50 comments
Many praise Jackson and Weta for the work it brings to NZ. However, a recent US-focused survey by Scott Squires, shows how subsidies, like that for the Hobbit, plus lack of unionisation are contributing to increasing exploitation, income insecurity and competition among skilled VFX workers internationally. [Update: Squires’ response]
Written By: - Date published: 7:24 pm, June 16th, 2013 - 120 comments
What can one (anyone) say about this image? Well, I guess we will find out.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, June 16th, 2013 - 54 comments
The NZ Transport Agency’s “Drive Social” programme looks like one gigantic waste of money, and the Greens are hammering it. Key’s response? “They just want everyone to cycle everywhere.” Is he looking a little tired to anyone else?
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, June 15th, 2013 - 38 comments
Water is becoming a precious resource, under threat from pollution, over use, population growth, & commercial profiteering. The Green & Labour Parties are very critical of Key’s government weakening the RMA in favour of commercial gains, while over-riding local government plans.
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, June 14th, 2013 - 85 comments
Key’s government is continuing its attack on workers’ rights, pay, conditions & collective bargaining with Jami-Lee Ross’s ‘Strike Breaking’ Bill. Darien Fenton, the CTU & EPMU say why it is wrong. All parties and MPs should oppose this and other proposed changes to employment law.
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, June 13th, 2013 - 70 comments
We don’t know how often John Key has met with Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir which developes cyber-intell systems like PRISM, & is now operating in NZ. Thiel’s involvement in NZ is extensive. He has been pursuing his “utopian” libertarian, cyber-focused agenda in NZ for a few years.
Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, June 11th, 2013 - 69 comments
Similar neoliberal, corporate-friendly, beneficiary-bashing, anti-worker, anti-democratic & big-brotherish measures favoured by the US & UK governments have been adopted by Key’s government. Prism, Thin Thread and Kim Dotcom documents, show the GCSB & SIS need to be reigned in. How to ensure a fair, just & democratic society?
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 10th, 2013 - 57 comments
Two leakers (one a true whistleblower), are in the news right now, both focused on the US-led surveillance society, operating in the interests of corporate power. And today, in relation to this, 2 journalists show the importance of the fourth estate to democracy. Kim Hill & Glenn Greenwald take a bow.
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