According to Kerry Prendergast, STV may cost her election as mayor of Wellington, and therefore it is undemocratic. Good doublethink there Kerry. STV's other name is "Instant Run-off" - what it gives is the answer if there had been an election just between Celia Wade-Brown…
If you resign from your job today will your boss give you half a year's pay as a parting gift? No? Funny because that, apparently, is standard practice for high-paid stars. It is being reported that Paul Henry received up to $150,000 from TVNZ when…
It was a year ago that Paula Bennett first declared victory over rising unemployment. Since then, John Key has been working his economic strategy hard: high-fiving every schoolgirl he can find, playing with spiders, announcing and re-annoucing literally tens of kilometres of cycleway, smiling and…
So after all that hoo-ha I did have to think for a while what it means to look and sound like a New Zealander. My personal opinion is that for a lot of us there isn't a particular look, but there probably is a sound.…
John Key is a PM, but it is now clear that he isn't a leader. John Key can smile and wave, but it is now clear that he doesn't stand for anything. Consider two recent events on the international stage. First, India. A leader would…
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RNZ's Kathryn Ryan talks to Mike Williams and Chris Trotter about Chris Carter's expulsion. Update: asx in link above. mp3 below. [audio:http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20101012-0909-Chris_Carters_expulsion_from_Labour-048.mp3]
The following article published in Canada's Globe and Mail details how big business and the establishment "killed" the social democratic government of Ontario in 1990. It's short and worth reading its entirety. The article summarises the lengths to which the right will go to subvert…
When the 2009 'streamlining and simplifying' amendment to the RMA was rushed through parliament last year, many concerns were raised about new abilities for the Minister for the Environment to use National Environmental Standards (NES) to override local government regulations, and how these could be…
The CTU has just released its Alternative Economic Strategy. Well, they call it 'alternative' but it's not like the Nats have one beyond Key smiling and waving. Anyway, the CTU's Economic Strategy is an extremely impressive document. It goes through the current problems and suggests…
Don't need to add much to these Herald headlines: 'Tight-fisted Key deals blow to Brown's rail plan'. Do Nothing strikes again. '30 homes on offer in flagship Govt scheme'. Thinking big. Genuine commitment. 'CV error made by 'somebody else''. For Nats, it's always someone else's…
The Labour Party council has decided to expel Chris Carter from the party. While party members should be free to criticise the leadership, Carter went too far. He has repeatedly embarrassed and damaged the party. In doing so, he disrespected every member of the Labour…
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Chris Carter faces a disciplinary hearing at labour HQ this evening. Already evicted from caucus, this meeting could result in sanctions from the Party including revoking his membership. But I don't think it will come to that, and I don't think it should for both…
Well this is a bit sad. Rodney Hide is now publicly begging for his political life: National needs us, Hide tells supporters Act leader Rodney Hide has sent a message to the National Party, saying it could lose power if it fails to give him…
John Key has claimed that he doesn't turn down many interview requests - but he turned down another one from Morning Report this morning. In fact you can count on one hand the number of times he has appeared on Morning Report in each of…
Last time I saw Breakfast I saw: Paul Henry trying desperately to offend someone. Spent most of the time talking about what to do when you have a bad tenant. Some blonde who smiled and looked pretty while Henry talked. Another blonde (Australian). Some old…
Eddie: David Clark is the Labour Party's new candidate for Dunedin North. With any luck he'll be sending us the odd guest post -- until he moves in due course to Red Alert! Welcome David. It's all right here! About 100 metres from where I…
Here's John Key this morning on Breakfast, talking about Paul Henry's resignation. Naturally he's eager to downplay the influence of Kiwi-Indian business and diplomatic interests, and to deny any government involvement in the decision. The most revealing part of the interview is when Key stammers:…
Let's think back to some of the ministerial scandals of this Key Government. It's a surprisingly long list for an administration that's less than two years old. Bill "Double Dipton" English's accommodation rort. Phil Heatley's credit card rort Rodney Hides' travel expenses rort Rodney Hide's…
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