Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 122 comments
According to the Companies Office, Bill English lives at an address in Karori in Wellington. This address is publicly available on the Companies Office website as he is registered as a shareholder in Resolution Farms Limited, whose shareholders are Simon William English and Mary Agnes English. Like every other citizen who is a shareholder and […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 7 comments
The Drinking Liberally empire keeps on growing. Tomorrow there’s an event in Wellington, and Dannevirke, the newest chapter, has its first event on Saturday. I’m not sure if the people in Dannevirke have hooked into the DL Facebook organisation but it’s great they’ve got it started. They’ll have Rick Barker, Labour’s buddy MP for Wairarapa […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, August 5th, 2009 - 1 comment
Drinking Liberally is on again in Wellington this Thursday (that’s tomorrow), with guest speaker David Cunliffe on the opposition’s inquiry into bank profiteering. When: 17:30, Thursday, August 6 Where: Southern Cross, Abel Smith St, Wellington [Hat tip: No Right Turn]
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, August 2nd, 2009 - 49 comments
According to the Herald Paula Bennett has said she will apologise if the complaint to the privacy commissioner is upheld. I would have hoped that if a minister of the crown is found to have broken the law there would be a bit more accountability than an insincere “sorry”. Especially if that unlawful action has […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 pm, July 29th, 2009 - 38 comments
Here’s one of the solo mothers targeted by Bennett appearing on Checkpoint last evening. She’s angry and eloquent and clearly aware of the game that has been played. Talking about the attacks that have been made on her by talkback callers she says: It’s been really heartbreaking but they feel they have the right to […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, July 23rd, 2009 - 4 comments
No Right Turn reminds us: Drinking Liberally is happening tonight in both Wellington and Palmerston North. In Wellington, the guest speaker will be Geoff Keey from Greenpeace, who will be talking about their Sign On campaign. In Palmerston North, we’ll have the Greens’ Metiria Turei, talking about the upcoming “anti-smacking” referendum. When: 17:30, Thursday, July […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, July 23rd, 2009 - 30 comments
UMR’s just released a poll showing Manukau mayor Len Brown as the preferred mayor of the Auckland Super City, slightly ahead of John Banks. The poll shows Brown on 35%, Banks on 34%, and 31% undecided. They’ve also done a matchup between Banks and Auckland Regional Council chair Mike Lee. Banks left Lee in the […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:58 pm, July 21st, 2009 - 2 comments
Short notice, but just got this in from the Drinking Liberally Wellington crew: This week Drinking Liberally is hosting Geoff Keey from Greenpeace. Geoff has been attending the recent climate change negotiations in Bonn and will reflect upon them, and Greenpeace’s “Sign On” campaign. The Sign On campaign is to advocate for for a commitment […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:04 pm, July 20th, 2009 - 20 comments
Roger Kerr, official spokesman for the ACT-National-Roundtable government, today announced the formation of a Productivity Commission to be headed by Don Brash, a close associate and admirer of former National Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. The announcement was made in an article supplied to the DomPost (not on website) which also ran it as news. The […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 16th, 2009 - 3 comments
Drinking Liberally Palmy’s having their first event of the year at the Brewers Apprentice bar on July 23. Head over, have a pint or two, talk some politics with likeminded people and hear Green co-leader Metiria Turei talk about the upcoming referendum. As usual with these events she’ll probably stick around afterwards for questions and […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:12 pm, July 15th, 2009 - 12 comments
John Key’s speech on the economy, billed as the way to close the 30% wage gap with Australia, had six policy headings – regulatory reform, infrastructure investment, better public services, education and skills, innovation and business assistance, and a world-class tax system. On regulatory reform, the recipe was more deregulation, particularly of job security with […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, July 11th, 2009 - 1 comment
Sometimes writing is hard. Especially when one is hungover for the third morning in a row. Thank God for Youtube. This one goes out to all our readers who are, or will be, addled by swine flu. Honestly, if you aren’t watching The Daily Refrain, you’re wasting your life.
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, July 8th, 2009 - 13 comments
Seems the Government’s public consultation over an emission reduction target for 2020 is having quite an impact. Hundreds of people have turned up to the Wellington and Auckland meetings, with some rousing presentations (see haka at the end) and a general sense that it’s time for a bold target to be set. The consultation is […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, July 7th, 2009 - 1 comment
Just received this from Drinking Liberally Wellington: We hope you’ve enjoyed our unannounced winter break. We’re back this Thursday, at 5:30 at the Southern Cross on Abel Smith Street. This week our special guest speaker is Mark Eden, from the Wellington Animal Rights Network. He will be speaking on “Sow crates, battery hens and not […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, July 6th, 2009 - 72 comments
Well, we told you so. The Nats lied for weeks that a credit rating downgrade would be imposed on us if we didn’t cut contributions to the SuperFund. We didn’t fall for that for a minute. Even before the Budget, we pointed out that, except for the extraordinary conditions of the last two years, managed […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, July 5th, 2009 - 34 comments
It’s hardly controversial to comment that our media peddle fear. Nor uncontroversial to comment that a cowed individual is a controllable individual. Many remark on our 6 O’Clock News leading with, lingering over and sensationalising the random stabbing or shooting and also that on our fictional TV programmes are increasingly dominated by fearful scenarios such […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, July 1st, 2009 - Comments Off on National Government’s “drum roll” for privatisation
Fran O’Sullivan had some interesting things to say in today’s Herald on Mark Weldon’s recent address to SOE board members, telling them to develop strategic plans for part-privatisation, first mentioned by Trevor Mallard on Red Alert. This was the most revealing comment: Of course, Weldon’s thesis fits exactly with the drum roll the Government is […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:03 pm, June 30th, 2009 - 20 comments
Spending time with DC neo-cons must be going to Farrar’s head. I thought better of him than supporting the Honduran military’s overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya. Farrar offers a legalistic justification for the military/rightwing coup (yes, it is actually the right behind the coup with the support of the military, read up): Zelaya has been elected to a four […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:16 pm, June 28th, 2009 - 1 comment
The appeal by the BNZ against the IRD assessment of $466 million for avoiding income tax has wound up in the High Court and the decision is still to appear. We don’t know yet whether our Finance Select Committee will conduct an enquiry into the banks’ interest rate margins. The Prime Minister and Finance Minister […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:27 pm, June 27th, 2009 - 18 comments
In the newly released Budget papers Treasury acknowledges that cancelling the Cullen Fund contributions would only reduce debt by 5% (more than offset by increase in assets) and it will put our ability to pay for superannuation at risk in the long-term: While the contributions holiday component of the package helps to reduce gross debt, […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, June 27th, 2009 - 46 comments
Budget papers just released reveal that Treasury recommended a package of measures to reduce debt including an 8-year suspension of the Cullen fund contributions, new operating allowances of $1 billion, rather than $1.75 billion and cancelling the tax cuts and giving New Zealanders $1billion worth of one-off payments instead. This either would have taken the form […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, June 25th, 2009 - 31 comments
The soften up for the next big fire-sale of Kiwi assets is well under way in Auckland, as Rogernomics morphs into Rodneynomics. On Tuesday 16th June the Herald published a special section “Project Auckland” sponsored by a number of companies including Deloitte’s. In it was an article by Fran O’Sullivan called “Cash in Auckland’s attic” […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, June 22nd, 2009 - 15 comments
Here’s the key part of Treasury’s report on the impact of swine flu, released on Friday: Typically Treasury, it’s more interested in GDP than anything (not to say the effects on the economy won’t be big – it should extend the recession by another two quarters). I’m more concerned about 0.08% population mortality rate, which […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:24 pm, June 21st, 2009 - 13 comments
What on earth is going on between the National Party and the banks? The week before last Key and English were waxing hot on how the Australian-owned banks that dominate the New Zealand market were charging relatively high interest rates in New Zealand. The Reserve Bank also thought the differential between their rates and the […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, June 17th, 2009 - 27 comments
Noticed this comment in the Dom this morning [offline] about National’s decision to slash funding for night classes in the Budget: Finance Minister Bill English said the Government would continue to fund some adult and community education programmes, but had higher priorities in the current recession. Um, would that be giving $35 million to private […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, June 17th, 2009 - 19 comments
It’s appalling that if you go to the Ministry of Health or Beehive websites there is nothing easy to find about how we as individuals should be reacting to the swine flu pandemic (plenty of info on the Jobs[sic] Summit though). All the experts say exponential spread is now inevitable. The government should be making […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, June 15th, 2009 - Comments Off on Glitch
There has been a domain registrant glitch that has had the server unavailable. Fixed now.
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, June 14th, 2009 - 30 comments
For some weeks our media has been distracted by various sideshows. Worth, Swineflu, Mt Albert, Flight 447 and of course David Bain, have all in turn captured our national psyche… but meanwhile the most pressing political issue, the global fiscal crisis, grinds on with little comment. The crisis response more or less worked. Historians will […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, June 12th, 2009 - 49 comments
How extraordinary of John Key to align himself with western history’s most notorious coward in his statement that he had “washed his hands” of Richard Worth. He’s a poor judge of people in his personal choice, that is clear – after all, he appointed Richard Worth as a National Party Minister, and he anointed Melissa […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, June 10th, 2009 - 21 comments
Cameron Slater (WhaleOil) gets it wrong again in his post about me today. On the upside he managed to write his post today for once not using any disgusting names. Anyhow, to clear up the issue once and for all, here are my political affiliations. I was misquoted in the Herald article that Cameron Slater […]
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