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3News poll
Three News' latest poll tonight doesn't look good for Labour: National up 2.4% to 49.5% Labour down 2.1% to 30.1% Greens no change at 12% NZ First up 1.7% to 3.9%
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Archives · 2013-07-15 to 2013-07-21
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Wellington quakes
Venue for discussing the quakes that have hit Wellington and other centers in middle NZ. No news on the major stations yet, but lots of traffic on #eqnz OK - RNZ now has occasional updates, and 3News will be covering it at 6pm. Take care…
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On the Labour leadership
Over the last few weeks Labour has been in a state of agitation as the party, the affiliates and even the caucus have come to the realisation that the Shearer project has failed. This new realisation has been marked by the emergence of leaks from…
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Fairness at work and a living wage
In the United Kingdom as in New Zealand there is a developing debate about the need for a living wage. The Guardian has reported that the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has condemned the low wages of millions of Britons as a "national scandal" and said that…
class war Economy employment health and safety minimum wage Unions wages workers' rights
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New Zealand is…
While researching a recent post I happened to type in to Google a query beginning with "New Zealand is". The Google auto-complete suggestions were not flattering: Ouch! Anyone want to try other countries?
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1938 10
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 21/07/2013
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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Kevin Rudd and the boat people
Yesterday there was a major political announcement across the ditch. Kevin Rudd announced that Australia will no longer consider giving refugee status to people arriving illegally by boat and that Papua New Guinea has agreed to take in any boat person who subsequently establishes that…
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Poverty Watch 40
My Poverty Watch post this week took on a life of it's own, and ended up appearing as a separate post on inequality. So here's just a quick thought for this week's edition. Educational outcomes and poverty - they're linked. Obviously - right? - but…
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Inequality: Fallow vs Rashbrooke
The latest Ministry of Social Development's report is out: Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2012. Yesterday The Herald ran two pieces on the report with very different conclusions - Brian Fallow's Rising inequality largely a myth and Max Rashbrooke's Rich…
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Open mike 20/07/2013
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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Weekend social 19/07/2013
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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Outsourcing: Scamming the system
Recent legislation by the NZ government is resulting in more necessary and basic public services being outsourced to being run by private entities. With this in mind, it is sobering to read a new report on the UK government's extensive "outsourcing" (of public services) programme.…
capitalism democracy under attack education employment john key national poverty prisons Privatisation uk politics welfare
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No free speech at convention centre
National's dirty deal gets worse and worse - see this Green press release: National’s veto power makes SkyCity deal dirtier SkyCity deal documents show how the National Government ignored warnings about the damage its dirty deal with SkyCity would do and instead, focused on getting…
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Mixed news
The latest Roy Morgan poll is mixed news for the Left. National 47% (up 0.5% since June 17-30, 2013) Labour 31% (down 0.5%) Greens 11.5% (down 1.5%) New Zealand First 4.5% (up 1%) Maori Party 2% (up 0.5%) Conservative Party of NZ 1.5% (down 0.5%)…
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Open mike 19/07/2013
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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NRT: A surfeit of caution
I/S at No Right Turn on Street's End of Life Choice Bill. A surfeit of caution When Louisa Wall put up her marriage equality bill, senior figures in Labour denounced it as a "distraction" and a "sideshow" and wanted her to drop it. The bill…
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The benefit fraud card
In trouble over your Sky City dirty deal? Try the benefit fraud card again. Meanwhile, back in the real world...
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Even Treasury slammed SkyCity stitch up
Yesterday, National released hundreds of pages of documents on the SkyCity deal. They paint the picture of a government that locked itself politically into getting a deal and locked in SkyCity as the only option then was surprised when SkyCity screwed them for everything it…
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Sick bastards
My default mood on politics is a kind of resigned irritation. But this - this makes me genuinely angry: Welfare now has health warning Doctors have been told that putting patients on welfare is akin to putting them on "an addictive debilitating drug ... not…
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Peter Dunne’s chance to shine
National's GCSB legislation's path to enactment is hitting pothole after pothole. Last Friday the Human Rights Commission had its funding threatened after expressing concern at the proposed reforms because, according to John Key, it missed the deadline and misunderstood the law. The only problem was that…
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Open mike 18/07/2013
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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Bridges can’t even lie straight in bed
They say you can tell a pathological liar by the fact they're no longer just lying about the big stuff, but start telling petty, irrelevant lies that hardly even seem worth it. We've all seen Simon Bridges' lies on work rights, health and safety and…
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Tale Three – the Death of Sean Mortensen. Killed 20 January 2010
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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No Milford tunnel
Nice to be able to congratulate the Nats on an environmental decision for a change! One News reports... Minister rejects proposed Milford Tunnel project The proposal to build a tunnel through the Fiordland and Mt Aspiring National Parks has been declined, Conservation Minister Dr Nick…
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Parata and the media
Surely if Parata has nothing to hide, she has nothing to fear?
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A tale of two housing policies
Houses are seriously unaffordable, especially for first-time buyers. Labour has proposed a capital gains tax, to try and take some of the heat out of the speculative market (cash rich investors snapping up all the houses for capital gain), and KiwiBuild to build 10,000 new…
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The truth makes them angry
This is disgraceful: A visiting economist has accused Finance Minister Bill English of "bullying" and "menace" after a heated encounter in a TV studio. London School of Economics Professor Robert Wade said Mr English made a stabbing motion with his finger towards his chest and…
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Dropping the pretense: Whanau Ora privatisation
So, Tariana Turia is finally dropping the pretense that Whanau Ora is anything but a scheme to privatise social assistance and put it in the hands of unaccountable private groups. Not content with funding family reunions and other bollocks, Turia is now handing the funding…
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Open mike 17/07/2013
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...