Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 34
Post
The NZPA has revealed that Ministrial Services is employing fewer people on higher pay under the new National/ACT government than it did under the Labour-led government last year. David Farrar is spinning this as great news, they've cut the number fo people the Government is…
Post
It's a bit late but I thought I'd draw people's attention to the work Pundit's Tim Watkin has been doing on the government's stimulus package. Or more rather the work he's been doing on the government's re-releasing of already approved spending under the guise of…
Post
Great video for the real victims of this recession, the 'smartest men in the room' who cocked everything up, the money-men. Bleed the World/ Let them know it's credit crunch time
Post
There were few Valentine's Day sentiments for Labour in John Armstrong's column today: It is difficult to put a finger on it, but something does not feel quite right about Labour's approach to being in Opposition...Labour is exhibiting a self-righteousness which grates when placed against…
Post
I just want to second Tane's comments regarding the sentence for the killer of Pihema Cameron. A 12 year old Maori child acts as look out for some older kids in a robbery that goes wrong. That kid, Bailey Kurariki, despite not having even hurt, let alone…
Post
Today is the anniversary of two of histories great names - Darwin and Lincoln. Both men made significant (albeit different) contributions to our current understanding of the world. Simon Jenkins of the Guardian asks which was the greater? Was it the man who transformed our…
Post
Bruce Emery's sentence of just four years and three months on a reduced charge of manslaughter for chasing 15 year old Pihema Cameron 300 metres down the street and stabbing him to death with a knife is a stark reminder of the institutional racism that…
Post
Lockwood Smith managing of Question Time. B. Lockwood has made a commendable effort to get ministers to answer questions and cut down on some of the other bollocks that ruins Question Time. National MPs clearly expect that after years of complaining of ministers skirting questions…
Post
Bill English is living in a dream, and he may create a nightmare for the rest of us. Last week, he said the recession would be over in 6-12 months. He hasn't bothered to announce any significant new spending in response to the recession -…
Post
John Key and Tracey Watkins have both (completely by coincidence) said we must avoid responding to the recession with a ‘sugar rush' of spending. They're just making excuses for National's hopelessly inadequate policies for dealing with the recession but they are right about the need…
Post
It appears National are trying to promote the "little and often" approach to economic planning - but commentators are appearing a little skeptical. Take John Armstrong: The $500 million worth of capital spending on doing up state houses, constructing new roads and bridges, building new…
Post
Two Pennsylvania Judges have been accused of taking bribes from private prison operators to ensure a reliable stream of prisoners. To quote Associated Press: In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions…
Post
The hilarity continues. According to a person who was there, Douglas didn't use his speech because it had been accidently leaked, and subsequently delivered on Youtube by a sockpuppet. The Herald, however, quoted from the speech as if he had given it. Turns out they…
Post
Just got an email through from the team at DL Wellington confirming that tonight's event with Brian Easton is on despite the rain and will be under cover so you won't get wet. Brian Easton is one of our leading left-wing economists and his talk…
Post
Ralston's latest column - Ryall's disabled thinking - covers Tony Ryall's decision to ignore a select committee recommendation that National set up a Disabilities Commission, asking: Why did he [Ryall] ignore the fact that National's own MPs were on the select committee that agreed a commission was…
Post
Opensource. Free. Cool.
Post
After Roger Douglas' big comeback speech was accidentally released two days early on the Internet due to inept media handling, then parodied on youtube by a sockpuppet before it had even been delivered I didn't see much point in bothering with the actual content. Funnily…
Post
As IrishBill has said, National's so-called 'kick-start' is pretty underwhelming - bringing forward a few more roads and a bigger bridge so that a couple of times a year those Aucklanders that can afford to holiday in the Coromandel won't create such a big traffic…
Post
I was going through some of my 2008 files yesterday and got a sudden reminder of just how nuts the right was getting toward the end: It got me thinking about all the other crazy shit that was going on last year and prior to…
Post
I was going to write about the new DNA powers National/ACT is giving the Police, but No Right Turn has already done it far better than I could: The government's bill allowing DNA to be taken from anyone arrested breaches the Bill of Rights Act…
Post
The kickstart package is out and it seems to be a mixture of work that was already going to happen and stuff that is worthy enough but not focused on much past the building industry. One of the concerns I have is with the fast-tracking…
Post
Yesterday I expressed concern about Unite's referendum on indexing the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage on practical grounds while strongly supporting the idea in principle. Today in its editorial the Herald takes exception to the principle, complaining that such a move, even…
Post
Due to popular demand, here's an open thread for discussion of today's Question Time. Knock yourselves out.
Post
After yesterday's early release of Roger Douglas' Orewa speech set for 6pm this evening one of our (bafflingly tenacious) readers has sent us this: It seems this sockpuppet beat that sockpuppet to the punch.
Post
Great, through concerted pressure the Left managed to force a 9-cent an hour real increase in the minimum wage from National/ACT. A 9 cent an hour real increase is not much but it's a hell of a lot better than freezing the minimum wage at $12 an hour and…
Post
The Unite Union has reacted to the Government's miserly adjustment to the minimum wage by initiating a referendum on tying the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage. The principle behind the referendum is a good one. Indexing the minimum wage to 66% would…
Post
I see the Maori Party has come out saying the increase in the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour isn't enough, and that they still support both a $15 an hour minimum wage and a tax-free bracket up to $25,000 (about the full-time minimum wage…
Post
Roger Douglas has his big debut speech tomorrow night in Orewa. He's been working hard and sucking the (tax payer funded) parliamentary library resources dry to get it right. The speech, which promises to restart the neoliberal revolution, is embargoed until he delivers it to…
Post
I've got to admit there are days I wonder whether the National Party really have swung leftward. I mean I know they are a party of spin and I know they have enacted some nasty rightwing legislation but when I see them putting the minimum…
Post
President Obama wants to set US$500,000 as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money. From Boing-Boing: The lead story in today's New York Times Styles section is all about the tremendous difficulties that executives at bankrupt companies receiving public bailouts will face…