Question 25 of the 2013 New Zealand Census asks: Are you: male female Spot the problem. In response to queries on the topic, the very-helpful 2013 Census Twitter account @2013Census has said: We just ask that people mark the response that shows how they are living…
National have issued the Order in Council to start the sale of Mighty River Power today. So now we get the $1 million dollar advertising campaign starting tomorrow - the only announced progress towards keeping shares in NZ hands. There's still no details about the…
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp are selling their shares in NZ Sky TV. What does these mean for the on-going decline of public broadcasting, and related rise of global corporate control? It will be interesting to see where the shares go. It is possibly part of…
One of the promises that Key made about asset sales was that Kiwis would be "at the front of the queue". For the past several days, however, there has been speculation that Mighty River Power shares would be listed in Australia: Mighty River shares to…
The NZ Forestry Sector is completely unmonitored – It is one of our most dangerous industries and no one seems to know what is going on. From my perspective it appears within officialdom and the Forest Owners themselves, no one really cares. There are myths…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
This teaser on the front page of the (digital) Herald, and the article that it links to, really really annoy me: Let me count the ways: (1) It turns welfare, an important safety net and part of the social fabric / contract of our country,…
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring). This week: Killer robots,…
How much power should the ruling faction in a country / political system have? Should it be relatively unfettered, as it is NZ, or buffered by "checks and balances" as it is in the USA? Each approach has its risks. The risk of the former…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Family First have responded to the moving-forward of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill in their usual calm and logical manner, by issuing a press release screaming that the words "husband" and "wife are to be removed from our marriage-related legislation, and thus will obviously…
I've got to stay that I stand in awe of this latest tax policy suggestion from the IRD. Simple, fair, easy to implement, it will be wildly popular. I think the Nats should adopt it at once. They'd sew up the 2014 election right here:…
In recent posts in this series we've focused on the Children’s Social Health Monitor 2012 Update Report, see the the full report (pdf) here. Today we look at the next Health and Wellbeing Indicators. INFANT MORTALITY AND SUDDEN UNEXPECTED DEATH IN INFANCY Poverty stories and statistics…
This is what it looks like when a "country" (in this case Britain) takes a serious look at the impact of it's ageing population structure: Ageing population will have huge impact on social services, Lords told Startling details about Britain's rapidly ageing population and its…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
So far, the government has spent $33 million on Transmission Gully. They're planning on spending another $30m just to sign the contract on the Public-Private Partnership. That's over $60m down the drain on a project with only $360-$500m of benefits before a single metre of…
The Green Party are supporting moves to limit the ability of non-New Zealanders to buy property in New Zealand, following a poll which showed 2/3 of respondents agreed with the idea. 3News decided in its infinite wisdom to jazz up this story by staking out…
Yesterday, David Cunliffe, in response to Peter Dunne's Student Loan Amendment Bill, labelled Dunne as "Minister for Small Changes" (to the student loan and child support Bills), and "Minister for Small Things". Small, but significant in relation to Dunne's MO. Cunliffe talked about the growing…
On the 20th of October 2010 Sir Peter Jackson went public with claims the Hobbit was endangered by a union do-not-work notice he described as “blacklisting”. The resulting fracas and the final deal done between the Government and Warners are now all too well known.…
Apparently National are considering 3 asset sales this year. Mighty River in May / June, and perhaps 2 in November, as there are only 2 windows you can really make a sale in (due to rules around accounting numbers etc). Can they really be serious…
Today marks the launch of a new leftwing political blog in NZ, The Daily Blog. Driven by Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury and featuring a line-up of over 30 writers! Should become a blogging force to be reckoned with. Go check them out...
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
I guess the title says it all. The latest Roy Morgan has National at 47.5% (up 3.5%), Labour 30.5% (down 4%), Greens 12.5%, and NZ First at 3%. I'm not really in the mood to piss around with analysis tonight. You've heard me moan about…
Regular readers of this site will have been noticing my relative absence over the last few months. That was because we have been finishing off a project at work. Well this morning the final release of the code (revision 6085) got stamped on to the…
John Key was unexpectedly forthright today as he said that the high dollar was good - for him. Look, it keeps my petrol prices down, so I can keep the old gas-guzzler turning over. And you should see how many HD TVs I can get…
There is a lot of call in the comments here for Labour to come out and say they will buy National-sold assets back (at sale or market price, whichever lower) - or indeed take them back. An announcement will render the assets unsellable. The view we've…