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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…
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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,…
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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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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...
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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…
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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,…
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYZfto9KyI
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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?
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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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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...
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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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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...
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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…
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Another classic from Tom Scott today.
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Conservative political types, like our Nats, have an essentially competitive model of the world. Willfully ignoring the massive generational continuity of wealth and power, they ascribe all success to "hard work" and inherent virtue, which "justifies" their indifference towards (or contempt for) those less fortunate…
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There ought to be a question asked of all prospective candidates: 'when is it OK to compare a political opponent to Hitler'. The only acceptable answers: 'when they start killing Jews' or 'when they invade Poland'. Anything else and they don't get to be a…
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The BBC news website's environment correspondent has cheekily shown up that nations inadvertently agreed to immediately stop all CO2 emissions at Rio (by agreeing to "prevent further ocean acidification"), and thus surely it was highly successful... but in reality there is: about 50 uses of…
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3 years ago, a National minister dancing on a flattened boyracer car would have been a PR coup. And certainly that's how National's spin doctors expected it to play out last week. But times have changed. Now, it's being criticised as an unseemly act and…
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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...
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Seems the Nats' privatisation bill has just passed its final reading. The expected result was 61:60, with Peter Dunne's crucial vote in favour cast in absentia. The Nats short circuited the select committee process and rushed this thing through because they want to get it…
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. John Key must think the New Zealand public have the memory of a goldfish. He's put forward bold plans before, but they…
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After a large number of meetings* around the country in the lead up to the turn off of TVNZ7 at the end of this month, we finally get to the rallies: Wellington 28th June - 12 noon from Civic Sq to Parliament Auckland 30th June…
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That's the Guardian headline. It is designed to give the Tories political momentum, but is late and over budget. The Treasury is resigned to the programme costing money rather than providing savings. The LibDems won't have a bar of it. Critics describe it as "pitch-rolling",…