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Exiled Online, a US site, has excellent coverage of the recession and the sub-prime crisis from a ground-level view. Yasha Levine moved to Victorville an 'exurb' of LA (100 miles from LA centre) to experience the crisis first-hand. His reports are a must read -…
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Bill Ralston quotes me and some other Left bloggers on the Burgess debacle suggesting it means Goff's neck is on the line and a leadership challenge might be coming. Well, sorry, but that's just an old Tory's daydream. Goff's leadership is secure. There is no…
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I still get the chills some times remembering how close the Left came to losing the 2005 election. If it hadn't been for Brash being caught out in his lies over links with the Exclusive Brethren's smear campaign, National might just have squeaked the win.…
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I like Colin Espiner's writing. He's got he best of the journo blogs. He's focussed on issues rather than politicking. But does he ever drop some clangers - saying the Chief Justice could be fired, confusing numbers on the dole with the number who are…
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Bill English says he doesn't much care whether monopolies or businesses with monopolistic power are owned by private companies or the Government does. He doesn't care whether power companies are publicly or privately owned because he thinks he can make the electricity sector competitive. He's dreaming like he…
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Just saw this...pretty good. Didn't realise Darby was another Signer Oner. Nice to see a bit of humour injected into something as grim as a toiling planet.
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IrishBill commented last night that "John Key the centrist" is a narrative we're not hearing much from the commentariat any more. I thought this was strange given that was the brand they were all so dutifully selling us in the leadup to the election campaign.…
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Today we saw Justice Minister Simon Power get a front-page story for proposing a 'reform' of the justice system that is actually just existing law (one wonders whether there'll be days of recrimination coverage in Granny arising from that). In a few months, we'll see…
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Now, yesterday a couple of righties didn't want to believe the evidence in front of their eyes that the GDP per person gap between Australia and New Zealand doubled during the neoliberal economic revolution. They got upset at my conclusion that repeating those same policies…
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Pick up the paper. The stories are 'consumer confidence recovering', 'house prices stablising' etc. These are taken as indications that the recession is close to over. Probably right. Weak growth in December. But that weak growth will be built on the same foundations that crumbled…
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A UMR poll out yesterday suggests that Len Brown, currently mayor of Manukau, would be the Left candidate with the best chance of winning the mayoralty of the Auckland Supercity next year. The poll has Brown on 35% ahead of John Banks on 34% - but…
activism auckland supercity democratic participation local government
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What does the Maori Party think of National's plan to relax rules on foreign investment?
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Justice Minister Simon Power: I believe we need to have an open debate about the way in which sexual violence cases are conducted. In this regard, I am currently considering potentially far-reaching reforms, including:...Making evidence about previous sexual relationships between the complainant and any person…
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Remember the mantra about John Key being a centrist? Doesn't get much play nowadays does it? And it shouldn't. Not with the government cutting spending while unemployment rises, dragging Brash and Rankin back from the grave, spending large on private schools, contracting out public services,…
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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,…
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Y'know, as John Key tries to get stuck into Phil Goff, I think it's time for a quick recall of recent history. Key is a man who lied directly to the New Zealand people about his Tranz Rail shares. Key is a man who hid…
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Good interview with Labour's Justice spokesperson, Lianne Dalziel this morning on her private members Bill in the ballot that would remove the defence of provocation (audio on the rnz site, including an mp3 version). It looks like there is a real momentum for change with 'the Crimes…
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I take it all back. Key really is a genius! I didn't think he could do it, but I underestimated him. Under his leadership, the country has closed the gap with Australia. By 30 centimetres. "Massive New Zealand quake moves country West" -- r0b
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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…
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Like some bad horror movie, from beyond the political grave, it stirs again. Christine Rankin? Unbelievably - yes. Don Brash? Well yes, him too (fresh new thinking from National!). But these are but side shows to the main event. Winston Peters is back. Ironically it…
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Phil Goff. Please get your shit together. This latest fiasco of running up a guy who owns several properties as a case of a Kiwi hurt by the recession is just inexcusable. I don't doubt the dude's having cashflow problems. But using him as your…
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Provocation is a partial defence to a charge of murder. It reduces murder to manslaughter if the jury accepts that actions of the victim would have caused a 'reasonable person' to lose self-control. The problem is that it is clearly being abused in some circumstances, like…
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Supposedly, we need Don Brash and a gang of his right-wing cohorts to tell us how to close the wealth gap with Australia. Brash and his merry gang are the same old faces from the neoliberal revolution of the late 80s and early 90s. Back…
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Public Sector Eye. A new blog from the PSA written by the union's two national secretaries, Brenda Pilott and Richard Wagstaff. Finsec's been running the gossip for a few years now, but this will be the first blog written by union national secretaries on issues…
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You pricks decided what you were going to do and you're not listening to me or anybody else. . . You people are not even interested in the people who are going to be living within the environment of a privatised prison. I actually hold…
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The Government's 2025 'productivity' taskforce led by Don Brash will almost certainly come up with all the same old failed ideas that got us here in the first place. Expect a variation on the following themes: Scrap the minimum wage Privatise public assets Cut taxes…
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The Maori Party's Matariki Day Bill was pulled in the ballot. Man, a public holiday in the middle of winter. Currently it's one long drag from Queens Birthday to Labour Weekend. Will the Tories vote against a public holiday in the middle of winter and,…
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Gordon Campbell has a great piece over at Scoop about Treasury's latest ideological outburst and the resurrection of Don Brash. He points out the futility of choosing a man who played a large role in creating our wage gap with Australia in the first place…
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The ludicrous attacks by the media on Goff over the dole scheme show that this is not an even playing field. Key is allowed to lie again and again. Ministers are allowed to shirk their responsibilities. The fact that 1300 more people on the dole…