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Recently, I did a post on how Labour should be focused on creating an over-arching narrative that embodies its broad set of policies. This should make Labour's vision loud and clear in election year. While Labour continues to rebuild policy, I have a number of…
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Since it came to office, National has cut the Conservation budget in real terms by 2% and the cuts are going to get deeper. Now, we learn that DoC is looking at contracting out camping areas on the conservation estate to be run for a…
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A strange little article in the Sunday-Star Times praises National's 'rejuvenation' project. Well, excuse me but 3 MPs out of 53 announcing their retirement and 2 quitting under clouds of corruption during a term hardly equals rejuvenation. In fact, National faces the same problem that…
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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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Andrew Little, the National Secretary of the the miner's union, the EPMU, has called for a rethink on sealing the Pike River mine as access may be vital to actually finding out what happened. Of course David Farrar's response to this is to try to…
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This TVNZ report is interesting: It is not an issue of money or time or commitment," Key said today. He said those involved in the operation had done everything they possibly could. "The machine that was used to make the mine inert was meant to…
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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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Is it just me or does this Herald headline about the New Citizen Party make anyone else uneasy? Party meets in Beijing to discuss Botany. I've no problem with a new political party that's targeted at migrants. My concern is the apparent links with the…
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To all those deniers who claimed the record cold in January & February in parts of the Northern Hemisphere (and again in December in Britain) proved global warming was a hoax... In fact globally 2010 equalled 2005 as hottest year ever overall, being 0.62C warmer…
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The New Citizen Party is going to contest Botany, and aims to get at least 6 MPs in the general election. Their plan just announced in Beijing involves winning Botany, and "our party leaders will then be talking with Maori tribes to also get their…
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The Right hates MMP. Back in the good old FPP days, about 20% of voters backed leftwing parties like Values, the Alliance, and Social Credit but got nearly no representation. National could govern alone with just 35% of the vote or fewer votes than the…
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Sad news for Coasters. Recovery of bodies at Pike River abandoned. Key promised 'whatever it takes' to get them out. He's breaking his word. He should front up and justify it. Instead, he's hiding from the media.
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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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Another great piece of work from I/S at No Right Turn: According to a report in the Herald, the Exclusive Brethren have set up their own KiwiSaver scheme. That's not particularly interesting, but what caught my attention is that the scheme will only be offered…
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The CTU have launched the latest of their quirky and cute campaigns. Job Survivor Island illustrates the effects on real people of the boss being able to sack you without cause while you are denied legal redress. 1 in 5 workers are sacked under fire…
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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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The Great Depression was marked by the rise of rightwing reactionarism. Out of reactionary movements came fascist governments from Brazil to Romania. We even had the New Zealand Legion, which claimed 100,000 members. Now, the Great Recession is spawning a new wave of militant reactionarism,…
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This year, as last year, we miss out on both Anzac and Waitangi days as holidays. They're probably our 2 most important days of the year as a nation, so we should value them more, not less, right? The Government refuses to do anything about…
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This post has been borrowed from the excellent site theoildrum.com, after originally being published on ourfiniteworld.com. We all remember the oil price run-up (and run back down) of 2008. Now, with prices similar to where they were in the fall of 2007, the question quite…
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Hard to imagine a bigger waste of money than sending a frigate to hunt fisherman who've turned to piracy because foreigners have illegally taken all their fish. How's about we spend the money on aid to Somalia instead? Oh right. Can't afford it says McCully.…
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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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Of all the mysteries of the present financial crisis, the most baffling is why government agencies have gone to such lengths to protect the value of bad investments made by large institutions and multi-millionaires. After all, under the rules of the capitalist game, owners of…
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Our prisons might be worth the current cost if the recidivism rate were not so high, but... half of the prisoners released this year are expected to be back in prison within three years. If our prison policies are failing half of the time, and…
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For years, the Right in America has been ramping up the violent undertones in its rhetoric. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement have encouraged their followers to think that their guns are all that stands in the way of a socialist coup (and any…
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Been meaning to post about this for ages, but Campbell's post finally gave me the push. Trevor Mallard1 posted a very interesting Monbiot column a while back. It in turn was inspired by an excellent 100-page report by Tom Crompton, Change Strategist at WWF-UK. It's about how…
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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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No, this post isn't about Smile and Wave's failure to close the gap with Australia. It's about the widening gap between the tiny wealthy elite in this country and the rest of us. Even before the Great Recession, 10% controlled more wealth than the rest…
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Blinglish is confident that voters understand the economy and back the government's (lack of) direction. In fact he better hope that voters don't understand the economy, or notice National's lack of help to an economy shedding jobs and headed into double-dip recession, or he won't…
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I just had an edited letter published in the Herald. They printed this: I see that if National is not reelected to power then John Key may resign from Parliament. He should give serious consideration to becoming a list only MP. This way if National…
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Campbell has a good post on the problem of voters' emotional reactions to Key and Goff as exemplified by the Sunday-Star Times Horizon poll (the striking thing is how little emotional response they elicit). I'll look at the party numbers. I don't look at every…