Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 47
Post
The Obama administration has halted free trade talks with New Zealand. On one hand free trade is simply increased freedom of capital and without equivalent freedom of labour lends itself toward increased disparity between rich and poor. On the other hand Douglas and his neo-liberal…
Post
The world may be going to hell in a hand-basket and National may have been pretty derelict so far in coming up with any real plan to combat the recession, but clearly they've been busy focusing on the really important business of dragging us back…
Post
A couple of weeks ago I listened to a very interesting interview with Dr Diane Purkiss (audio here) on Nine to Noon. I missed the opportunity to post on her findings of the "dumbing down" effect, but then I spotted the same discussion in this…
Post
Gordon Campbell has been having fun pointing the finger at Treasury in "How Treasury put us on the hook to finance companies". Essentially the treasury and therefore Bill English appear to have been somewhat idiotic. If a firm stopped taking deposits last September, and was…
bill english capitalism economy national/act government roger douglas scoundrels
Post
Following my post yesterday about the EPMU's film on the recession, Socialist Aotearoa has alerted me to the fact The Take is now available on Google Video. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats, and…
Post
Drinking Liberally Auckland back for another round in 2009. Join all your favourite lefty liberal drinkers at Drinking Liberally Auckland. When: 7pm, Wednesday 11 March Where: London Bar - corner Queen and Victoria Streets, Auckland CBD Who: you and like-minded left-wingers. All welcome This month's…
Post
The EPMU have released a short film on youtube explaining the recession and their response to it. It features Brian Easton, Gareth Morgan, Pete Conway and EPMU Secretary Andrew Little. It's sobering viewing.
Post
Adrian Orr and Brian Fallow's pieces on the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and the economics of long-term investment in a declining market. A+ The same arguments you've seen here and neat rebuttals of this 'we're borrowing to invest' nonsense. Orr, the head of the Fund…
Post
Quick reminder - today's Pay Equity Faxathon Day, your chance to have a go at State Services Minister Tony Ryall for his decision to cancel two enquiries into pay equity for women. According to Ryall, getting rid of gender discrmination would "generate an additional form…
Post
It's been said by some of the Government's supporters that criticism of the Job Summit is nothing more than rantings of the embittered Left. Well, I may be doing Chairman of Meat and Wool NZ Mike Petersen a great disservice, but I'm willing to gamble…
Post
David Bain's retrial begins in Christchurch today. Yesterday the Judge held that certain web-based newspapers may screen delayed video coverage of the trial, but he declined TV3's application to live-stream it. The present guidelines for court coverage, which date from 2003, are simply silent on…
Post
If you believe the Government's spin, protecting jobs in this recession is their number one priority. They even held a big fancy Jobs Summit to convince us they had it under control. But while that's all very nice, I'm more interested in concrete actions that…
Post
Helps if it's pointing the right way, too. Great work Adders.
Post
This is interesting. From the Greens' Metiria Turei: Last night on TVNZ7's political show Backbenches, Rodney Hide commented that ACT had supported the Whanganui [Gang Insignia] Bill to "get Three Strikes through". In 2006 Mr Hide was positively sneering at Chester Borrows attempt to ban…
Post
A few points on the ACC issue and one on Kiwirail. Nick Smith says that, with assets of $10 and liabilities of $21 billion, if ACC were an insurance company it would have gone under years ago. But it's not an insurance company. Because its…
Post
Observant msm spectators may have noticed this gem from TV1 news last night: 'A radical shake-up of the controversial Seabed and Foreshore Act is on the cards it could result in new powers for Maori to test their rights in court, but John Key is…
Post
When he's not hard at work protecting the profits of tobacco giants by helping them peddle smokes to your kids, Ryall's having a go at his own version of Newspeak. Stuff reports that there's a list of banned words currently circulating in the Health Ministry.…
Post
Question Time yesterday was extraordinary. There's too much to quote it all: ministers attacking ACC, refusing to back the minimum wage for all workers, ministers calling their quotes in the Herald lies. But this topped it off. Hon Phil Goff: What is the current status…
Post
The latest New Scientist brings together the work of thousands of scientists to describe what would happen to the world if the global temperature rises by 4 degrees, which is the mid-range for the projected increases due to climate change. Many of you will simply…
Post
So, the ideas suck but the jobs summit was never meant to produce recession-busting ideas. The fact is this was a propaganda stunt. A $65,000 propaganda stunt paid for with our tax dollars. And it worked brilliantly because, in a trademark move of Key's PR…
Post
Last month Anne Tolley ditched the requirement that schools sell healthy food to kids. Not to be outdone, minister for tobacco Tony Ryall now wants to make cigarettes more accessible to them too. Ryall has rejected the health select committee recommendation that cigarettes and tobacco…
Post
In the age of the media politician, where catch-phrases are given more attention than laws and good politics is awarded more points by the commentariat than good government, it's not fashionable to worry too much about the health of our constitutional arragnements and our institutions.…
Post
Reply is a feature that accidentally got turned on last week when I had a adware/malware outbreak through a security hole (those buggers are smart and fast). I did complete reinstall with updated software. Somewhere during the upgrade, the reply feature was turned on. Now…
Post
I've been meaning to write something about National's attempts to beat up ACC's costs in order to soften the ground for privatisation (see Farrar's latest post here as an example), but No Right Turn captures it perfectly: During the election campaign, National attempted to minimise…
Post
The Herald reports the fire at will law is already claiming victims, after Sue Bradford revealed a beneficiary has been denied help for his job relocation costs because Work and Income considered his 90 day 'trial' period to mean he was a temporary rather than…
Post
Post
The National government couldn't hold off democracy forever, so today we are graced with the first members' day of the new term. And if we had a pro-worker majority in the House, today would be day of celebration. Labour MP Darien Fenton's Minimum Wage and…
Post
Yesterday, when the inquiry came back on whether the shortfall in ACC funding should have been disclosed in the PREFU, Bill English quickly tried to implicate Michael Cullen and Maryan Street as being in breach of the Public Finance Act and told media: "The previous…
Post
In the Dom yesterday, Hollow man star Richard Long was full of praise for the Key's PR team, who managed the Jobs Summit. He was right to praise them, the media lapped it up - 'cycleway!', 'packed lunches, and no cream for the apple pie,…
Post
I have to agree with Idiot/Savant on the Graham Thomas issue. The idea that there is no written information on the matter is right up there with "he must have walked into a door". Collins' response however, is disgraceful. "It's not a good look" she…