Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 52
Post
This Herald story about spin doctor Brad Tattersfield was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Ministerial offices of the Prime Minister, Judith Collins, Paula Bennett, and the Chief Executive of the Department of Labour to "minimise scandal" is one example of the sort…
Post
The News of the World phone hacking saga involving the Murdoch media has opened up with news that there could have been over ninety people whose phones were affected. The police have announced that they are looking into possible criminal activity following Rebekah Brooks' earlier…
Post
There will be a number of (hopefully) small disruptions over the next few days to upgrade the site servers. I am expecting to have a small disruption this evening at 2330, followed by up to an hours disruption on Sunday. Normally I'd do this in…
Post
Unsurprisingly it's taking the nats a wee while to decide who to stand in Epsom. I'd imagine that's because they're struggling with the maths. For instance they could stand somebody weak in Epsom to try to get Rodney and ACT back in. But the problem…
Post
Young John Hartevelt has obviously decided it's a good idea to cozy up to our new dictator. How else to explain the fawning piece in today's Sunday Star-Times? Brownlee has learnt from the post-September response, where there was a rush to set up powers but…
Post
TVNZ reports that Ratana elders are unhappy with Labour over its list MP rankings for the election: Labour list insults Ratana Church The Labour Party's list is under fire again, this time from Maori. A senior official within the influential Ratana Church is calling for…
Post
The Electoral Commission will give New Zealanders voting in the November General Election the option to take their own lives rather than live in a country run by any of the possible governing coalitions, the chair of the Commission Sir Hugh Williams announced today. ‘It…
Post
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...
Post
John Key wants to talk about how average after tax wages have gone up since he became Prime Minister. But as Brian Fallow says in today's Herald: Averages are all well and good. If John Key walks into a room the average net worth of…
Post
Brian Fallow is one of the Heralds more understated columnists. Brian and I probably vote differently, but I find his articles usually worth the read. But there is understatement, and then there is deliberate obfuscation. His column today starts out workmanlike enough, repeating the PM's…
class war cost of living Economy equality john key national/act government
Post
Every country that has ever sleepwalked from democracy to dictatorship has done it in the belief that it was taking extraordinary, temporary measures in response to an emergency. They all arrogantly believed that these circumstances were exceptional and normalcy would be restored, notwithstanding the lessons…
Post
National's Palmerston North candidate, Leonie Hapeta, is having a cry because the Labour MP, Iain Lees-Galloway, and supporters had an anti-asset sales demonstration that happened to be outside her hotel. It's one thing for a n00b like Hapeta to cry about politics but surprising that…
Post
The brilliant haranguer and occasional guest poster here Queen of Thorns and a few of her mates have launched a new blog, The Stroppery. As they say in their opening post: There’ll probably be some swear words thrown around. Actually, make that there will definitely…
Post
John Armstrong on the scandals exposing National's elitism and hypocrisy: Like the Government's $43 million loan to broadcaster MediaWorks and the bickering over South Canterbury Finance, the BMW purchase is one of the stories which refuses to die. They are recurring nuisances nagging away at…
Post
I don't read Garth George columns. Life's too short eh? But I could hardly miss this one, with the money quote plastered on the front page of The Herald. George calls China an "ancient Asian monstrosity". Now I'm no fan of China's human rights record,…
Post
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...
Post
1000 economists have written to the G20, about to meet in Washington, and to Bill Gates, asking for a tax on financial transactions known as a Tobin tax after its originator, or a Robin Hood tax as it is known in the US. The full…
Post
In the foreground John Key and Kate Wilkinson. Hat tip gobsmacked, and source here.
Post
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?
Post
Yesterday, under the cover of CERA, the government released hundreds of documents relating to South Canterbury Finance, it's use and abuse of the deposit guarantee scheme, and the bailout. They show SCF broke the terms of its guarantee but National turned a blind eye. The…
Post
Farrar on Treasury's expensive dinners: "I’m all for responsible use of credit cards, but running a story about spending $95/head at dinner entertaining the Executive Director of the World Bank is ridicolous [sic].Foxglove is a medium priced restaurant. $95 doesn’t mean there were bottles of…
Post
I was going to write about how ludicrous it is that National is abandoning the idea of a warranty or bond system for builders in the new Building Act designed to stop a repeat of the leaky homes debacle, given that we're about to embark…
Post
Even the supporters of Deep Sea Oil Drilling admit it is risky. Like the two rats in the old advertisement discussing the odds of going for a cheezel set in a trap, Petrobras and the Herald editor discuss the advantages of Deep Sea Oil, in…
Post
We all know the old story*. Put a frog in cold water, slowly heat, bring to the boil. The frog never notices and never leaps out, so it gets cooked. It's a metaphor for our inability to notice significant changes that occur gradually. Well, there…
Post
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...
Post
You almost have to admire Rodney Hide for his total contempt for political reality. He has managed to annoy aged GoldCard users with his comments on their off-peak free use of public transport. As felix accurately states:- There’s also a horrible irony in Hide opposing…
Post
They do not know what guilt, responsibility, or consideration are, these born organizers: they exemplify that terrible artists' egoism that has the look of bronze and knows itself justified to all eternity in its "work," like a mother in her child. - Friedrich Nietzsche I’ve…
Post
They took away work rights to suit Warners. Now, they're spending a fortune deploying the Police, the Air Force, and the Navy to defend Petrobras from people in dinghies. Next time some righties are protesting in Queen St, will the government call out an army…
activism democracy under attack democratic participation law and "order"
Post
We might be about to find out why Pansy Wong suddenly announced she would resign from Parliament late last year, after John Key had previously expressed full confidence in her. Those mysterious flights that she and husband Sammy took to China while she was a…
Post
Congratulations - you're an internet pirate! What's that you say? You've never plundered anything on the internet? You don't which end of a cutlass to hold? Too bad. You're an internet pirate anyway. At least, you are if a copyright owner accuses you. So what's going…