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So Pike River has been punished for the deaths of 29 workers. Judge Jane Farish has fined the company $760,000 and ordered it to pay $110,000 compensation for each worker that died and for the two survivors. Judge Farish found the company had a high…
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Four stories this week in the MSM could be pulled together and used as a case study for a number of NZ's economic and social failings in my view. The increase in the practices of psychometric and drug testing by companies to employ and dismiss…
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This is largely a re-post. I agree totally with QOT, on the way the MSM have followed the whale's lead on the issue of the Labour Party remit: a remit that was attempting to counter the gender imbalance in politics. In their usual way these…
benefits class war democratic participation feminism john key labour Left news poverty sexism spin
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A Sunday feature - each week a random section scanned from a copy of The Standard, September 15th, 1938. Find out more here. Click on the image for a bigger version.
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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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A great joke has been played on the mainstream media: they have bought, hook, line and sinker, into W****O**-type spin. They have been exposed as a bunch of followers, desperate to land the next hilarious 140-character-one-liner, to prove their relevance ... without really understanding just…
democratic participation dpf feminism labour making shit up sexism
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Just a quick Poverty Watch update this week (too much happening and too little time!). Check out The Herald chat session with Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) co-convener Alan Johnson (The Herald headlines him as a "poverty expert" but Johnson demurs). Interesting to see the…
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Bob Parker announced last night that he is not going to seek re-election to Christchurch's Mayoralty. At one level this is not surprising. Christchurch's Building Consent problems were a smoldering mess of an issue that kept getting worse and worse. John Key and the Government…
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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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The Herald is reporting that the SkyCity deal to increase human misery pokie machines in exchange for a white elephant convention center was done at 8pm this evening (which must be a record for burying a story on a Friday). As Matt McCarten (who heads…
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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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In Question Time, yesterday, Bill English, speaking for PM John Key, responded to questions about Key's knowledge of the big German, by saying that Key was more focused on "the big issues". What bigger issue is there than the the role of the GCSB in…
accountability capitalism john key slippery Spying telecommunications trade us politics
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I've been having a look at the Roy Morgan trend. Oddly, I don't see this Labour 'flat patch' that people are claiming is happening. What is happening is that the Greens are trending slightly down (as it usually does mid-term) and Labour isn't rising fast…
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Ironically during the week of Auckland's big sleep out there has been a proposal to change Auckland Council's by laws to provide for the fining of beggars. The proposal has been described as overdue by some. But everyone seems to have overlooked the fact that…
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The Whale/Farrar squealing on Labour's proposal for better gender balance (just like the UK Conservative Party) reminds me of this old gem (from the NZ of 1902). The dynamic duo of right-wing blogging are the modern day incarnation of the likes of Henry Wright.
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National's using Labour proposed gender balance proposals to take the media's eye of the GCSB. It's all in the game. The recent 'women in this together' stuff from the gallery predictably turned out to be subservient to having a good mock of something they haven't…
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The Nats must be panicking about the prospects for the sale of Meridian - because they're resorting to extraordinary tactics: Incentive scheme could be offered for Meridian Energy sale Radical incentives could be offered to those wanting a stake in the next State Owned Enterprise…
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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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You know, I give the Labour Party a lot of stick but I’d like to congratulate them on having the courage to face up to the lack of women's representation in our Parliament. Don’t give me this ‘merit’ bullsh*t. You can start by putting to…
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I have collected up the available documentation on the men killed in the forest since 2008. I am going to try, using the documents I have, to tell their story – one at a time. I haven’t been able to contact all the families of…
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Andrew Geddis has indecent fun as he schools DPF - extracts below but go read the whole thing on Pundit: NZ Labour - as crazy as the UK Tories According to the NZ Herald, which has sourced its story from goodness knows where, the Labour Party…
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Rod Emmerson's brilliant cartoon in The Herald this morning:
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I came of age in the hippy era when Timothy Leary was telling all us young folks to "tune in and drop out" - that is to drop out of the pursuit of material gains and careerist ambitions. And then from the women's movement came…
activism class war community democracy Left political alternatives sustainability us politics
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It looks like privacy is going to be an increasingly rare commodity in the brave new world. Want to protect yours? The freedom of the press foundation has an excellent page here, detailing a number of resources. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is another useful resource,…
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One of National's favourite lines of attack on any significant lefty policy is that it will "scare off investors". Capital flight! End of the world! And so on and so on. So how about this then? Google warns of backlash to spy bill Google has…
business International internet national Spying telecommunications
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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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This afternoon Kim Dotcom is making a submission to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee, which is chaired by John Key (starting 3:30pm). 3 News is livestreaming the session. Update: Apparently Dotcom is scheduled for 5pm. Update: Apparently his time has been cut down to…
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Key is clearly getting nervous about the implosion of his possible electoral partners in 2014. He's running the "largest party has a moral mandate to govern line" again: Nats look to 2014 governing options Prime Minister John Key is mulling his options to form a…
election 2014 elections electoral systems john key MMP national
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Yesterday, hearings began on on the Bill amending the regulations related to the GCSB and surveillance. John Key showed complete disdain for the process by failing to ask questions and only intervening to hurry people along. There are good reasons to amend the regulations governing…
accountability capitalism copyright greens john key national/act government russel norman slippery Spying telecommunications us politics
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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...