From I/S at No Right Turn: Property rights should not trump human welfare This week, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples suggested that Christchurch's growing number of homeless squat in abandoned red-zone properties rather than sleeping in their cars. The response with swift, with an outraged Gerry…
House prices and rents are rising quickly in Auckland. The reason is pretty simple: from 2008 to 2011, it added 70,000 people and only 10,000 houses. The shortfall will have been worsened by the exodus from Christchurch since then. While the population's growing, more houses…
We know that the Police overstepped their authority following their Hollywood wannabe raid on Dotcom's home. They used invalid warrants to take property of Dotcom's that they weren't entitled to, and gave that data to the FBI. Now, we learn that Key's office was involved…
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Instead of the usual line-up of finance-company flacks and failures that usually litter their pages, SST Business Editor Rob O'Neill wrote about something really positive and interesting in today's paper. He had this to say (not on-line yet): There is a great deal of lip-service…
Another scandal in Britain's banks - interest rate-swapping on small business loans. Banks offered small businesses supposedly low hedging insurance on interest rate movements, knew they could get cheaper rates themselves because they had better market information, and pocketed the difference as guaranteed profit. The…
I'm going to try and put up a piece each Sunday 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…
In a desperate effort to hang on to a few red-neck votes, National keeps on ramping up rhetoric against solo mums. There was talk of compulsory contraception or sterilisation. National played up those ideas, even though it hasn't followed through. Is it any surprise, then,…
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Just before the parliamentary recess National released its latest set of Laura Naude targets. The Herald's chief National promoter John Armstrong says they are undoubtedly drawn from focus groups, and therefore a sign of Key's political genius. They will join all the others now discarded…
Capitalism! Free markets! Risk taking entrepreneurs! Wealth creators! Randian heroes! Reality: Barclays market manipulation scandal spreads More global banks are being investigated for the alleged financial market manipulation that led to fines of $US453 million against Barclays Bank, British Treasury chief George Osborne said today,…
The government's most recent humiliating bungle just got worse: Behind-the-scenes budget documents show Education Minister Hekia Parata knew full well the impact her education reforms would have. She knew the number of teachers that would be cut, that technology teachers would be hardest hit, and…
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So here is the story that will probably summarise this government in the history books. The whole cabinet delegated responsibility to John Key and Bill English to achieve their promised land of surplus in 2014/15. They defined themselves as the only party that could deliver…
This is the finale. We had a great march yesterday in Wellington and we hope the Auckland march will be even better. Reminder - the Auckland Save TVNZ 7 Funeral March is tomorrow (Saturday 30th) at 4.30pm. Starting at Queen Elizabeth Square (Britomart) at 4.30pm,…
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?
Shanghai Pengxin's bid to buy the Crafar Farms was accepted the second time around because of promises that it (actually, Landcorp) would invest in building the farms' productivity in a way a New Zealand buyer couldn't. Instead, they immediately turned around and tried to sell…
Looks like the Police have cost us a fortune in an inevitable lawsuit from Kim Dotcom. Not only were the warrants they used to raid his house illegal, they took things they weren't entitled to even under those illegal warrants. That's going to result in…
We're getting used to the Nats running bash the beneficiary/poor/Maori/unemployed/criminal/etc distractions but it's getting pretty bad when Bill English gets in on the act. Weirdly his idea of drug-testing beneficiaries seems to have been picked up from a Daily Show piece on how it failed…
Tariana Turia's privatisation by stealth of welfare for Maori, known as Whanau Ora, was an open invitation to fraud. Money was signed over to groups with no track record and no plan. It's finally caught up with her as New Zealand First, Women's Refuge, and…
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Why did Whanau Ora the Government continue funding an organisation accused of fraud? A Maori women's refuge is still receiving taxpayer funding despite an audit report showing evidence of fraud, parliament has been told. NZ First leader Winston Peters says Te Roopu Whakaruruhau o Nga…
People who know I'm strongly against asset sales have taken to asking me if I'll be buying shares now it's a done deal. On one level that's a moral dilemma - on one hand I don't see why I should be profiting at the expense…
The Herald are using the ‘c’ word again to describe Nat actions around business interests and the risks to the vulnerable: Nats accused of health agency cronyism National is being accused of cronyism after three people closely affiliated with the party were appointed to the…
Back Benches was a brilliant show. A lovely amateur air that never became awkward thanks to the unflappable humour of Wallace Chapman and Damian Christie. I never got along in person but it was a great watch. And it was clear that it was the…
John Key has this weird defence when challenged over the number of Kiwis who will buy and retain shares in his asset sales, given that shareholders in Contact have plummeted from 225,000 at point of listing to 78,000 now. He cites a single article by…
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Jack Fleming joined the RNZAF two weeks after his brother, my other uncle Andy, also a pilot, was killed flying a biplane against Zeros in Malaya. Jack's first operational flight was in a Stirling bomber, known for its inability to climb above 13,000 feet with…