Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–22 of 22
Post
Over at Kiwiblog David and his rabid followers are screaming over the HoS's treatment of National's Social Development Minister Paula Bennett and the fact she has a defacto son in law who is a gang-member and who she took in while he was on bail.…
Post
I wonder if someone at the Herald is going to get sack for letting this happen? The NZ Herald's week long poll to find out who the greatest living New Zealander is, has yielded Helen Clark as the victor (with Willie Apiata coming in second).…
Post
The tragic shooting death of Halatau Kianamanu Naitoko on the motorway today was not National's fault. In fact it was nothing to do with National or Labour or any single policy from either of them. Ever. It wasn't a sign of a government "soft on…
Post
Jobs, jobs, jobs seems to be the theme of the day. After reading that Microsoft has announced that 5,000 jobs are to go (the first mass layoffs in its 34-year history), and Sony signalling bigger than expected losses ahead ($US2.9 billion, the first in 14 years) this article…
Post
Staying with today's wages theme, The Herald is reporting: "Mr Key would not rule out pay cuts for public servants in the next three years". So will Mr Key be ringing the Herald's editor, demanding a retraction and threatening Audrey Young for writing the article?…
Post
Across the Tasman Kevin Rudd's plea for employers to save jobs has fallen on deaf ears, with some of Australia's biggest companies (mining, retail and automotive sectors) announcing plans to axe jobs. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner and Australia's top profit earner, will lay off about 3300…
Post
I'm the last person who'd criticise freezing the pay of our MPs but John Key's cynical opportunism is at best a piece of pointless and time wasting PR and at worst a signal to attack Kiwi wages. Now before any of our regular right-wingers claim…
Post
President Obama has announced his intention to institute a pay freeze on the salaries of senior White House aides earning over $US100,000. He says "public service is a privilege, it's not about advancing yourself". I think it is significant that he has implemented this for those…
Post
John Key has written to the Remuneration Board imploring them not to increase wages for MPs and judges in the annual review later this year. Now, I've stated my view on this issue - on National Radio the other week and last year in this post.…
Post
Under the full warmth of the summer sun those clouds that keep gathering on the horizon seem to have been quickly dismissed by many, with the hope that the new National-led government will sort it out. What are the signs of action so far? Not a lot of concrete…
Post
Over at the Dim Post Danyl is complaining about our complaining again. In a classic piece of sophistry he seems to have decided the recession is going long and from that (not so absolute) absolute he has constructed a premise that we need "massive infrastructure…
Post
After three years of solid growth, the latest stats show international tourist numbers collapsing 8% last November compared to November 2007 due to the global recession. Goldman Sachs forecasts a drop of over 5% this year and more in 2010. Like all economic projections since the world tipped…
Post
Gerry Brownlee was puffing smoke this Wednesday morning about his daft (in terms of the Kyoto agreement) decision last month to remove the ban on thermal generation of power. It reminded me of something I'd seen recently, so I dug back through the mental archives.…
Post
If you're living in New Zealand, President Obama isn't going to change your life. Remember, you voted for John Key. You'll have to wait for that ray of hope to shine. But President Obama won't go un-noticed here, because his presidency means at least four…
Post
I've long regarded John Armstrong as the best political press journo we've got. Not least because he's one of the few without a transparent bias one way or the other. Not so sure about this Tory hack they've had ghostwriting for him this past week…
Post
Health Minister Tony Ryall has followed Paula Bennett's* lead by cancelling a conference for PR purposes**. In terms of symbolism it's great. Even though the per-person cost of the conference was low, and it's not like doctors would want to spend their precious time at…
Post
The embedded stream below is meant to work even outside the US. Fingers crossed. If you find/know of another good live source drop the link in the comments. [UPDATE: 10:30am Live stream below removed - replaced with recorded oath and address] YouTube's "inauguration" channel is…
Post
[I've taken down the streaming footage now]
Post
Reports from Hawkes' Bay confirm that the Exclusive Brethren broke its rule against voting to ensure a National/ACT victory last year. The Exclusive Brethren regards the last of us 'worldly' types as sinful heathens destined for hell, so they try to avoid us by living in…
Post
Inflation, predictably, plunged in the last quarter. With the international prices of oil and other commodities coming off their record highs following the super-spike last year which pushed the world into recession, it was inevitable that inflation would be lower than it had been when those mammoth…
Post
We often criticise media coverage of politics, so it's a pleasure to say something nice. I would love at this point to link to Martin Kay's piece in the Dompost yesterday, but it's not online. Suffice to say it's a very good piece. Rather than trying to…
Post
I remember feeling sick to my stomach as the media childishly replayed Clark's fall, particularly the morning Paul Henry sat there pissing himself and demanding to see it time after time. So, I won't be a hypocrite and have a go at Key's trip. That…