Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, January 23rd, 2015 - 27 comments
For the first time in ten years, reported cases of child abuse have declined. Minister Tolley and I are in agreement, that the number is still appallingly high. I sincerely hope that the reduction over the last year is due to government policies because then we can expect the downward trend to continue over the […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, January 21st, 2015 - 7 comments
I think when justifying sending troops to Iraq the club John Key is really talking about is the group of right-wing political parties known as the International Democratic Union. Today Key chairs its Executive in Sarajevo, his first meeting as President. This move by Key to the IDU is calculated; he sees himself as leader of the world right-wing club and this is the first step to his international political career post New Zealand politics.
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, January 21st, 2015 - 179 comments
Yesterday Key justified our likely military intervention in Iraq as “the price” of being in “the club” with other Five Eyes countries.
Written By: - Date published: 6:59 pm, January 20th, 2015 - 150 comments
Sometimes a simple graph is much more eloquent and powerful than a whole lot of words …
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, January 20th, 2015 - 17 comments
Guyon Espiner has a paywalled profile of Andrew Little up at The Listener.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, January 20th, 2015 - 97 comments
Nick Smith today announced proposed changes to the Resource Management Act. It is likely he will resuscitate the reforms that were stalled after Peter Dunne refused to support them last year. ACT’s David Seymour has said he will support the changes even though he did not know what they are. Treasury are to release a paper with proposals for change. Updated lprent – yep National stupidity reprised.
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, January 19th, 2015 - 94 comments
Andrew Little will give his state of the nation speech on 28 January. What can we expect to see in it?
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, January 18th, 2015 - 39 comments
James Griffin has written a tongue in cheek article on what John Key should be doing this year. But the article is full of political fluff and has no real proposals for action. What should John Key be doing this year?
Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, January 17th, 2015 - 39 comments
TV3 recently interviewed Cameron Brewer to provide adverse commentary on a story about Labour seeded by David Farrar and Cameron Slater. And they did not even mention Brewer’s links to the National Party.
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, January 16th, 2015 - 87 comments
The latest excuse for John Key deleting his texts wholesale is wafer-thin.
Written By: - Date published: 1:24 pm, January 15th, 2015 - 30 comments
The United Kingdom is debating entry into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which like the TPPA will allow investor-state disputes to be resolved by unappealable unaccountable private arbitration. George Monbiot in the Guardian describes the issue well and has suggestions on how the proposal can be challenged.
Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, January 13th, 2015 - 78 comments
For family reasons he is stepping down… Nothing to see here says Chris Finlayson, great guy who did a great job. For national’s supporters of course there is far more importance in receiving speeding fines Woodhouse is moving quickly to say the enforcement is ambiguous. It appears that he sees a universal right to speed and kill people…
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, January 13th, 2015 - 81 comments
Political Scientists Bronwyn Hayward and Mark Boyd were interviewed on Radio New Zealand yesterday on New Zealand politics in 2014 and what happened during the election. They talked extensively on dirty politics, on the role of the media and how things can be improved in 2015.
Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, January 12th, 2015 - 76 comments
Far from fading away into the Christmas haze, SkyCity looks likely to be one of the defining political issues for 2015.
Written By: - Date published: 4:07 pm, January 11th, 2015 - 223 comments
You’d think that with all the WW1 commemorations going on at the moment it would make us more vigilant about our freedom and security, not sleep-walking towards another Holy Crusade (in the name of the God of Money and Father of Fossil Fuels), seduced by slick liars and the gods of commercialism and greed.
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, January 10th, 2015 - 250 comments
The recent handling of Charlie Hebdo by the Standard and by Kiwiblog provides a startling contrast. And neatly underlies the reality that the left wing blogs are in no way just the same as the right wing blogs despite what John Key may say.
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, January 9th, 2015 - 37 comments
Yesterday John Key condemned the attacking of journalists going about their daily work and said that it was an attack on the fourth estate and the democratic principles of freedom of speech and expression. But his track record on respecting the independence of journalists leaves a lot to be desired.
Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, January 8th, 2015 - 102 comments
The slaying of staff at Charlie Hebdo and the killing of two police officers will no doubt cause further debate on the extent of freedom of speech, on our relations with Muslims and on the state’s powers of surveillance and if they should be increased.
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, January 6th, 2015 - 146 comments
Charlie Mitchell of the Dominion Post has analysed John Key’s formal speeches since 2007 to see what has from time to time been uppermost in Key’s mind. The results are interesting to say the least.
Written By: - Date published: 9:50 am, January 5th, 2015 - 27 comments
Starring John Key as Winston Churchill.
Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, January 2nd, 2015 - 275 comments
Yesterday, on Outspoken at RNZ, Craig McCulloch interviewed Jeanette Fitzsimons, Gareth Morgan and Metiria Turei on the future of the Green Party. Morgan wants the Greens to shift away from “scary” economic policies. Turei and Fitzsimons explain why not.
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, January 1st, 2015 - 35 comments
Happy New Year! Some songs for the times.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, December 28th, 2014 - 67 comments
The Sunday Star Times has revealed today that the inquiry into Mike Sabin started before the last election and that senior National figures knew about it. And it appears that two private members bills he drafted have disappeared. The questions has to be asked, why is he still the chair of Parliament’s Law and Order committee. And when did John Key find out about the allegations?
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, December 27th, 2014 - 218 comments
Politics has traditionally been men’s business. Gradually women have come to be given more space in this sphere of public activity. However, there are still strains of traditional masculine values evident in political activity, organisation and debate. How much does Key trade in
bloke-iness?
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, December 25th, 2014 - 25 comments
On the eve of Christmas in a cynical attempt to avoid political damage the Government has apologised to Andrea Vance for breaching her rights of privacy in 2013 after requiring Parliamentary Services to hand over her metadata and attempting to cover up the exercise.
Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, December 23rd, 2014 - 81 comments
Sky City is doing what Rio Tinto and Warner Brothers have done in the past. Threaten to walk away from a deal unless the Government writes you a big cheque …
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, December 22nd, 2014 - 33 comments
A new report shows that Steven Joyce’s MBIE fiefdom is failing miserably. Meanwhile the MBIE is under fire for the major cost blow out of the Sky City Casino deal – another deal with Joyce’s imprints all over it.
Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, December 22nd, 2014 - 215 comments
Northland MP Mike Sabin is facing a police enquiry and a by election is possible.
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, December 19th, 2014 - 49 comments
The Civil Aviation Authority report into Gerry Brownlee’s breach of security at Christchurch Airport has now been released albeit in a heavily redacted form. The report contradicts Brownlee’s claim that the door was opened for him by a Security Officer and that the officer consented to his use of the security area. Why was the release of the report delayed? And why wasn’t Brownlee sacked as a Minister?
Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, December 18th, 2014 - 9 comments
National are not responsible for the eventual recovery, they are responsible for delaying it.
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