Something fishy in Bakshi case
Police have ended their investigation in National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi’s immigration scam after the principal accuser left the country in mysterious circumstances. […]
Social issues
Don’t let State Houses become private slums
The other day on Red Alert, Chris Hipkins related an interesting story about how National’s last round of State House sales went awry: […]
Nick Smith and “Patsy” Goudie
The Herald posts this clip from Parliament entitled “Nick Smith under fire for ACC bungling”. Nice catch from Darren Hughes at the end. […]
Surveillance state
One of the most dishonest, yet most successful tactics of National in opposition was to rant on and on about the “Nanny state”. […]
John Banks lets his city slide
Far from being a careful steward of ratepayers’ money and someone who takes pride in his city, Auckland mayor John Banks is allowing […]
Drinking Liberally – Auckland
Drinking Liberally is returning to the London Bar for a session with Greenpeace Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid. When: 7pm WEDNESDAY 21 October Where: […]
One law for all?
Over on g.blog, toad has noticed something: If you or I steal money, it is theft. We get taken to court, and get […]
Why did you switch to National?
Down in the comments long time contributor gobsmacked wrote: I have never seen a post on here saying ‘The left parties want the […]
Beyond parody
I was joking when I said all we need now is for Sharples to up the ante in the government vs government bidding […]
Beyond belief
So, let me get this straight. Pita Sharples, treating his ministry’s budget like a personal slush fund, decided that TPK would give Maori […]
Why no punishment for Westpac?
You would have seen that Westpac was found to have undertaken the largest theft of tax money in New Zealand history. From 1998 […]
Electoral SM
Philip Temple makes some good points in the Herald today: The Minister of Justice, Simon Power, indicated that he would soon present a […]
War on P
Did John Key pick up a pair of cowboy boots on his latest trip? Because he’s come back talking like some kind of […]
Money and justice
Jenny Ruth has the best comment I’ve seen on Philip Field’s sentence in today’s Sunday Star-Times – not available on the paper’s website […]
Give peace a chance
So President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace prize: OSLO – President Barack Obama on Friday won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize […]
The bizarre world of sensible sentencing
Stabbing a kid to death is OK because it’s: “expressing frustration over [tagging]” Taking away people’s access to the most effective ‘flu and cold […]
30 years without smacking
Sweden has had a smacking ban for 30 years. How is that working out? Stockholm When celebrating the 30th anniversary of the world’s […]
Nanny State
Under new laws proposed by John Key we’re going to need a prescription to get any cold medicine with pseudoephedrine in it. Anyone […]
Anniversary-gate?
The Standard would like to wish Mrs Mavis Lawson many happy returns on her 100th birthday yesterday. We also had a chuckle when […]
Nanny Coleman on immigrant advice
Jonathan Coleman insists that there is nothing wrong with the Immigrant Advisers Act that restricts anyone giving any advice on immigration matters to […]
Greener Apple latest to quit over climate
Rob Fyfe isn’t the only business leader calling for socks to be pulled up over climate change. High powered companies appear to dropping […]
A leopard doesn’t change his spots
There is a very revealing quote from John Banks in the weekend’s Dominion Post where he talks about his campaign strategy: Uptown, Auckland […]
Six years jail for Field
Taito Philip Field has been sentenced to six years jail for bribery and corruption. Field is a prime example of the ability of […]
Catcha Cray
SAFE is campaigning against a new and very odd form of “entertainment” in pubs. Catcha Cray machines are just like arcade grab machines, […]
School support staff fight National’s pay freeze
From the NZEI. Great to see the low paid mobilise so effectively.
No bull
An interesting take on the Crafars from Bernard Hickey in the Herald. He starts off: The Crafar Farms tragedy is a microcosm of […]
Slow off the mark
Colin Espiner also writes in yesterday’s blog: The Government was slow off the mark in sending a minister up to Samoa. While Labour quickly […]
Education cuts don’t heal
Remember “Education cuts don’t heal”? That was the rallying cry during the last National government. Looks like we might be needing it again […]
Closing time for Banks
There is an astounding editorial in today’s business newspaper The Independent (not online) titled Foolish idea spirited away. Commenting on the recent 11pm […]
“Caped crusader’s plan flawed”
That’s the headline from today’s editorial in the DomPost. Th DomPost starts off: The last time this Government got into real trouble it […]
World Farm Animal Day – Oct 2nd
Following on from yesterdays guest post on World Vegetarian Day, today is World Farm Animal Day. At the end of last year, I […]
Crime leaps along with unemployment
The Police statistics out today show the crime rate continues to follow the unemployment rate. With unemployment on the rise, so is crime. […]
What can you buy with 5x$10,000?
National has released its proposals for election law. Labour has criticised the $10,000 level above which donations must be disclosed as too high. […]
World Vegetarian Day October 1st
I’m a vegetarian and today, October 1st, is the worldwide day to celebrate the benefits of not eating meat and the healthy contribution […]
MAF “animal welfare” is a joke
The recent news that NZ’s largest dairy farmer allowed calves to dehydrate and starve to death is appalling, but there are much larger […]
Carter, do your job
One area where I agree with Fran O’Sullivan is the dairy industry. Today she covers the Crafars: CraFarms’ bankers should do the decent […]