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In his last column Garth George laments how foods he regularly enjoyed in his childhood (1870s?) are now priced beyond the reach of most New Zealanders. It's easy to dismiss the complaints of an old man about prices these days but there's a deeper story:…
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mYY1QGK0jQ Here's John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in the classic "An Understanding of Class", a lovely commentary on one of the pillars of capitalism. Since the abandonment of class rhetoric by Labour a few decades ago, we no longer have a lot of…
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The Labour conference this weekend is expected to release new "policy directions". One of them is out already -- and it's good. What could make more sense than putting children first: Labour focuses on children Labour deputy leader Annette King says the party will put…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Minster of Justice Simon Power is 'consulting' on regulating the on-line communities to prevent violations of normal societal and legal standards. Clare Curran at Red Alert asks 'hopefully' that this isn't simply a reaction to the idiocy of ex-National party member Whaleoil in how he chases…
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An article in The Economist looks at the failing basis of polling techniques in the USA. It isn't that much different to the circumstances here. THEY are used to determine spending on political campaigns, to guide tactical voting and to enthuse or cow voters. News…
community democracy democratic participation election 2011 labour polls telecommunications vote smart
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John Armstrong is at his insightful best today. He's hit on the emerging change in the political discourse - the economy is going to crap and that's what really matters, not the meltdowns of minor MPs and racist TV monkeys. And this do nothing government…
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Labour have pushed the republic debate firmly into the spotlight. There is coverage here: Republic good for NZ - Goff Becoming a republic would be the "making of New Zealand as a country" and we need to start talking about it now, according to Labour…
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Amidst growing realisation that the right wing "neo-liberal" economic agenda as a whole is fatally flawed, some of the previously ardent supporters of privatisation in NZ are admitting that the last round of sell-offs was a mistake. But the current National leadership haven't got the…
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As the dust settles on the local body elections, what are the lessons for Labour? Especially, of course, "the big one" in Auckland. Len Brown, a "Labour Mayor from South Auckland", beat Key's anointed candidate for the right. What lessons can Labour take away? How…
election 2011 labour len brown local body elections phil goff
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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This might just be Danyl's best satire piece ever: National to stand Spider God in Epsom The National Party has announced that it will stand a candidate in Epsom during the 2011 election and Prime Minister John Key has thrown his support behind the nominee.…
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I've had this sitting draft for months :) Last year, Icelandic comedian Jon Gnarr set up the Best Party to parody the parties that brought Iceland to ruin. The party contested the Reykjavik local elections with Gnarr promising a drug-free Parliament by 2020, a polar…
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Russel Norman asked Bill English about the economic impacts of coming oil shocks and how transport infrastructure planning takes them into account. I'm not sure which was more surprising: English's matter-of-fact acknowledgment that peak oil is coming, or his attitude that it's not something the…
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Hillary Calvert introduced an amendment this week to change the Foreshore and Seabed Act - sorry, Marine and Coastal Act. In keeping with Act's philosophy of One Rule For All (and in the darkness bind them...) it denies Maori the right to charge for access to…
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So John Key was unusually forthcoming to a question this morning - he was very keen to give poor unemployed Kerry Prendergast a job. Key knows how hard his government has made it to get a job, so he's eager to help her out. 2300…
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I/S writes: Last week, the government put two IHC companies into statutory management after they indicated that they would not be able to pay staff wages owed as a result of a court case. Today in Parliament, health minister Tony Ryall was asked repeatedly whether…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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In the US banks that turned mortgages into "complex financial instruments" that were so complex nobody knows who owns what are now foreclosing on home owners. That's despite the banks failing to prove they have a right to do so. And the justice system is…
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We get some great stuff going on in the comments here. Often I think I should pull comments up as guest posts, this time I've actually got a round to it! A couple of days ago fatty despairingly questioned what Labour stood for, and how…
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When you boil it down, John Key's much-vaunted political nous is about keeping his personal brand clean. He farms out anything controversial to ministers and leaves them to it. The problem with that approach is muppets are left to run things with no oversight resulting…
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The Sunday show last week featured the Prescription for Change campaign of Dr Albert Makary. Dr Makary has set out on a mission to drive social change surrounding the culture of binge drinking within our country. He hits his audience with hard facts, some disturbing…
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20 years too late, Spud has announced that the neoliberal privatisation agenda has been a failure. He says we sold the wrong things, sold them the wrong way, got too little money, and created private monopolies. Of course, what we should have done is hold…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Parliament has published a research paper called The Next Oil Shock. It's a pretty sober look at the difficulties the world is facing in producing enough oil to meet demand. The conclusions are inescapable: we can't produce enough oil and a cycle of oil-driven recessions…
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Nat 49.5%, Lab 36.5%, Gre 8%, NZF 2.5%, MAO 2.5% ACT 0.5% Highest Labour vote since Helen Clark was PM. Lowest ACT vote in many many years. Key's still holding the Nats up high.
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Congratulations to Celia Wade-Brown, Wellington's new Green mayor. Apart from the understandable exception of Christchurch, we've seen a Leftwing landslide across the main centres and in many of the provincial councils too. The people have voted for community, democracy, and sustainability, and against corporate cronyism.…
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In recent days, David Garrett has been spotted hanging around Parliament. Now, The Standard has acquired a picture of ACT's new MP, 'Hilary Calvert', arriving at Parliament. It raises further identity theft questions within the party. Some evidence suggests that the real Calvert was brain-dead…
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Whilst I realise I'm a little late on blogging on this, the latest ideological burp to come out of the right-wing think-tank that is our nation's Treasury still needs examining. Of course Treasury submitting to the Welfare Working Group is more a meeting of like-minds…
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Yesterday, the New Zealand Principals' Federation, joining the education union NZEI, launched their campaign opposing the Government's National Standards. The current status of the Standards controversy is this. The Government considers that the design phase of the Standards is over and done with. They are…