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The New Zealand Herald reports that Labour has almost halved National's lead in its latest DigiPoll survey, following a month "memorable for slip-ups and lacklustre performances by leader John Key." Labour's managed to claw its way up towards the 40% mark and that's good news for…
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From Stuff: Details of a massive home loan scam targeting buyers in South Auckland have emerged involving former Westpac mortgate manager Amar Singh. (Hat-tip: Simon)
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We're going to interview the leader of each party but we'd like to give you the chance to ask the questions. Starting next week we'll submit two questions to a leader each Monday, one of which will be the same for each of them to…
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If National are so keen to cut taxes and so critical of the Government for not doing so earlier, why are they being so tight-lipped about how they would cut taxes and even the size of their cuts? Because the Budget has them trapped. Labour…
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It's been a bit remiss of us to have failed to welcome The Hand Mirror into the left blogosphere. I've only just had a proper look at it and I've got to say it is gold. Sort of like one of those action movies where…
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Ever since the Herald lost its rag over the EFA I've come to expect little more than half-truths and inaccuracies from its editorials, but today's effort was particularly disappointing. Business NZ press release in one hand and a keyboard in the other, the Herald had itself…
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Seems to me we need some consensus on what a "Nanny State" actually is. Today the Nats have come out in opposition of some scholarships awarded for doctoral research by the Tertiary Education Commission - stuff like "children's colour use and emotional wellbeing when drawing"…
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This should be the Greens' time in the sun. For decades, the Green movement has been concerned about the future impacts of climate change, peak oil, and resource depletion. The future is now. These once far-off concerns are having impacts today and people are finally…
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For those of you who saw the title and thought this post was about Celine Dion, sorry, it's about the seal cull. Every year Canada kills and skins hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals, leaving their bodies to rot. The seal cullers' favoured tool…
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The Vatican's update of sins to include issues of social justice and environment reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a friend from the US. She was telling me that one of the "surprise" groups to come out in support of tougher environmental…
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Legislated breaks for workers are unnecessary according to Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly. His bitter protest against proposed changes to employment legislation that would guarantee rights to breaks that workers should have anyway, was joined by Hospitality Association chief exec Bruce Robertson despairing…
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I had planned to write something about the business lobby's moaning over Labour's plans to restore workers' rights to meal and rest breaks, but as usual No Right Turn nails it perfectly: The government's plan to restore a minimum entitlement for breaks in the workplace has produced…
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Looks like people are starting to notice that the emperor has no clothes. powered by ODEO (Hat-tip: BB)
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New Zealand's coal industry is a mess of contradictions. We worry about carbon emissions and Kyoto while State-owned Solid Energy exports coal to dirty Chinese factories. Rather than being energy-efficiently shipped out of Greymouth, coal from the West Coast is taken by rail over the Southern Alps because taxpayer-subsidised Toll gives SOE…
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The Press reports that: National's hunt for a candidate in the new Selwyn electorate continues to cause problems, with one unsuccessful applicant taking the party to court to protest against his rejection... Payne said yesterday he was paying the price for being "the whistleblower" over…
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This morning on Breakfast, John Key repeated his line that capping the size of the core public service (that includes planning staff for health, prison guards, and the human rights commission) at current levels would 'save $500 million over three years that could be used for…
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With John Ansell now flat out with ACT and the Free Speech Coalition it suddenly stuck me that there might be an opening on the creative front with National. Putting my prejudices to one side, I've decided to pitch for their billboard contract.
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Congratulations to Kiwisaver's 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an adult he will have a nest-egg worth $49,000 in today's money. Kiwisaver has been enormously popular. People have signed up at twice the…
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The weekend marked the centenary of the Blackball miners' strike. TV3 reported that: "Politicians flocked to Labour's spiritual home on the West Coast to celebrate the centenary of a miners' strike which helped build the country's Labour movement into a political force."
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Lest you think we are totally urban focused one of our readers sent us this recent editorial in the Rural News. In it they offer some positive comments around the recent R&D announcement from the government and ponder on National's inability to offer up any…
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Vote for your favourite M&M candydate here (warning, extensive Flash content).
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David Farrar appears to be throwing his weight in behind National Party's "New Zealand Sucks" campaign with another misleading post on migration to Australia. Titled "The exodus grows", DPF's take on the most recent stats is that the rate at which people are "fleeing New…
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The Sunday-Star Times has an interesting list of the policies the election will be fought on and where the two major parties stand on them. Here's the article in summary, see if you can spot the pattern: KiwiSaver Labour: Set up KiwiSaver, added government and employer contributions. Half a…
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Regular readers will remember that one of John Key's excuses for he 'we would love to see wages drop' quote was that the reporter had misquoted him. Now, Key has once again shown a disturbing trait of attributing his own mistakes to others. When asked…