Race, Class, Global Warming and Democracy.
Nothing and no-one is separate in this world. Nothing and no-one is more important than anything else or anyone else; no voice greater and no voice lesser.
Social issues
class
New Zealand’s most shameful secret: ‘We have normalised child poverty’
Fuck the whole “Brighter Future” New Zealand.
House Tales.
If ‘home is where the heart is’ then what’s the story when everything’s heartless?
Glasses and Brick Walls (& woods and trees).
The thing about not having great sight is that sometimes you don’t really see things coming.
The mantra of ‘Poor Choices’
It is that time of year when poor people realise just how poor they really are – the season for giving, the season […]
There is Hope.
Anarchism, past and present.
Food Bank Charity
Guest post from Kōrero Pono on the politics and ethics of food banks.
The problem is child poverty not CYF
The Rebstock Panel inquiry could be read to confirm that Child Youth and Family is unable to perform its job properly because of it is not properly resourced to provide the job. But it is clear that National is loathe to provide it with any more resources. And the elephant in the room is that the Government fails to understand that escalating child poverty is the cause the crisis.
John Key’s brighter future is not for everyone
While beneficiary numbers decrease the incidence of beneficiaries being trespassed and the numbers of pregnant women living homeless is increasing. Are we really seeing things improve or are more and more people falling through the cracks?
Dear NZ Labour. Listen up.
For the sake of reference – Nye Bevan was a Labour mp and the architect of the British NHS. Michael Sheen’s speech was a defense of that institution, but the underpinning message is, well…
Pillock of the week
Although John Key clearly wins the award this week for unbecoming insensitive and bizarre behaviour there is a media figure who did their best to provide him with competition. And it is not Rachel Glucina.
Politician salary rises and the minimum wage increase
John Key has yet again asked the Remuneration Authority to limit the increase in MPs pay. And yet again they have said that the law required them to make the decision they did. So MPs get a hefty raise at the same time that the minimum wage is raised slightly. And the media report Key’s comments sympathetically. He is the Prime Minister. If anyone can change the law he is the person best placed.
War HUH!
NZ is again being asked to go to war in Iraq. The Clark Labour Government said no a decade ago, but in 2015 there may be a compelling reason to join the fight; this time it’s the right thing to do. New Standard author te reo putake puts the case for NZ entering the battle against ISIS.
One word away from needing food parcels
The smug middle class National voter seems oblivious to how close they are to financial hardship…
Murders out west
Four alleged murders out west in the past month have caused a great deal of soul searching. What is going wrong? What can we do to prevent any further tragic loss of life?
September 18th
The 18th of September 2014 is a big day.
On that day, people living in Scotland will decide if they want to become citizens in a nation that will have reclaimed its sovereignty.
How to build better beggars
In the United States, the street beggars have great patter. Despite what South Park would have us believe, when you walk down the […]
State of Nations
This post isn’t a ‘contrast and compare’ piece on the policy announcements of National, the Greens and Labour. Enough to say that National are pursuing privatisation while both Labour and Green are at least trying to do good things.
Shame about the reality of the bigger picture then.
Trickleup
There has been an abundance of research showing that communities and societies function better when their resources are shared around. But the need to persuade ordinary people that this is so is the most important thing to achieve. Because without popular support attempts to change the current system are bound to fail.
Less (inequality) is more….
John Key seems to be trying to fudge the evidence of the damaging inequalities in NZ. I recap Bunji’s 2010 series of posts on The Spirit Level showing the benefits of a more equal society. Will this be addressed by Cunliffe and Turei this long weekend?
Spot the difference! Stating the nation
[Updated] Speeches: Key (today ZB Transcript). PM’s speech – untruths, misdirections & corporatisation of education – comment added. Cunliffe on Monday, on greater opportunities for all Kiwis. Metiria Turei’s speech, Sunday – will talk education, environment. Peters responds to Key. Greens response – education. Cunliffe’s Stand-up – audio.
Poverty, women & rape culture
In our highly gendered socio-economic system that has institutionalised poverty, gendered violence, sexual violence and rape culture, low income women are multiply disadvantaged. Trigger warning: This post addresses some difficult and sensitive issues about poverty, women and rape culture. Subsequent comments will be tightly moderated.
Shhh! It’s the ‘P’ word.
You don’t have to be white and male and financially wealthy to assume a prominent position within systems of patriarchy, but it helps. And you don’t have to be financially strapped and black and female to feel the full weight of patriarchy always pressing down on you, but it helps.
The magical world of New Zealand’s, Neo-Liberal right wing.
It has been obvious that some people live in a different world than the rest of us. One where Chicago school economics, work! […]
#voteWTF – Wednesday 19 June, 8:30pm, TV3
On this coming Wednesday’s episode of The Vote – our monthly break from the awfulness that I hear is 3rd Degree – a […]
The disconnected: the future of the left?
The current direction of Key’s government, and the challenging circumstances of the 21st century create a need for urgent attention to the form of a new left politics; one that embraces the working class, trade union solidarity, gender, diversity & the emerging “precariat”.
Child Support (Almost) Amendment Bill: Cunliffe speech
Another excellent Cunlife speech last night, speaking to the Child Support Amendment Bill (Committee Stage Schedule 2). An “almost” Bill showing the government’s callous disregard of child poverty and single/separated (usually women) parents.
Species of Kiwi
There have been various Kiwi taxonomies – attempts to label and describe social types in NZ. In comments Ad proposed this interesting one, highlighting the tensions created by inequality. Thanks for permission to post it…
State housing vs home ownership
Labour’s 2012 Kiwibuild policy has focused on building homes for first time buyers. Now we are told Labour’s 2011 policy pledging to increase the state housing stock still stands. This raises many questions: including do-ability and the Labour leadership’s continuing (neoliberal) focus.
Politics & Pleasure: TV 2012
We tend to rework reality, included political knowledge and understanding, into a basic (fictionalised) story structure, with villains, heroes, and values absorbed from pleasurable forms of fiction, including TV. This is a look at the political values embedded in some popular TV dramas.
Beyond the middleclasses
Political parties tend to target the middle-classes, while those struggling on low incomes have become increasingly disenfranchised. The MSM tends to focus on the impact of the recession on the middle-classes, and not those really suffering. Who can provide support over the holiday period?
National Day of action against Bennett’s welfare reforms
Today there have been protests around NZ, against Paula Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms.
Updates: Include ODT article link and extract, photos of Henderson protest, and links to several news articles.
Structural discrimination
Structural discrimination is alive and well in NZ. It makes nonsense of all the right-wing “one law for all” and beneficiary bashing rhetoric.
Out of order
I’m not a big fan of the whole honours system, with or without knighthoods. But if you’re going to have it, make it […]
Creeping elitism
There was a time when you expected higher standards from the senior ranks of the public service. Now, more and more, they are just like private sector CEOs. Elitists. The standards are slipping. This slap on the wrist for the Building and Housing CEO who manhandled a staffer just shows how pervasive the elitist private sector ‘one law for us, another for them’ mentality has become.
The real crims wear white collars
Directorships are the golden ticket in the world of the business elite. You attend maybe 10 meetings a year, sign whatever’s put in front of you, typically get paid $3-4K a pop, and do it over again half a dozen times or more for various companies. It’s a gravy train for managers past their use by date. But customers and shareholders have to trust what directors sign off on.