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Poll closes up in Britain
The latest poll in Britain has Labour within 6 points of the Conservatives. A hung Parliament is in prospect. One poll is not a trend but maybe it is too early to shoo Cameron in.
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Kevin Hague blasts Nats on ACC
Good video from the Greens' Kevin Hague. Gotta love the dirty mo:
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We can do better
By and large the Right are refusing to defend their neoliberal monetary policy system. The currency is causing chaos, the housing bubble is back, and the Reserve Bank is in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' position as it tries to control…
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Lunch time quiz
1) What the hell is John Key trying to say here? "Maori are not getting special preference, if you go back to those pre-1990 forests Maori are significant owners in that area, so is Ngai Tahu, those forests are all affected by the emissions trading…
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Key’s flagship policy now his joke
Anyone with a brain has always known Key's cycleway is a joke. The sick thing is he's now using it as a punchline himself: Barack Obama's planned White House Job Summit struck a note with our own PM when he heard about it during the…
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It’s the seasons, stupid
Over the last week or so, I've heard John Key, Bill English, and Paula Bennett all make self-congratulatory references to the number of people receiving the unemployment benefit decreasing in October. That sounded weird to me. No-one seriously thinks unemployment has stopped increasing. MSD doesn't regularly…
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Another Key foot in mouth
John Key sure is a class act. Not. Latest example*: Stadium funds: We're not Indian-givers, says Key Prime Minister John Key yesterday said the Government was unlikely to ask for its $15 million back if the Forsyth Barr Stadium is not finished in time for…
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Open mike 23/11/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Goff gets it right, as Key goes off the rails
Phil Goff has managed to defy the critics and make himself relevant. His speech on ACC and his criticisms of National's backroom deals with the Maori Party got praise and draw a contrast between Labour and Key's government, with Labour on the right side of…
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Big brother is yarning to your boss
The Sunday Star Times reports that police have been passing private information about staff members onto Air New Zealand via the official information act. According to the story a flight attendant was picked up over the legal limit on the way to work, went home…
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The stench of corruption
No, I haven't abandoned my resolution to be less political on Sundays quite so soon. This post is about smells. Specifically, the effect of certain smells on behaviour. How's this for fascinating: Clean Smells Promote Moral Behavior, Study Suggests People are unconsciously fairer and more…
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Key opens rich mates’ marina, slaps local Maori
Unbelievable. John Key has opened the environmentally destructive Whangamata Marina. This was a battle between rich property developers, against the serious concerns of local Maori, surfers, and environmentalists. Key has come down firmly on the side of his rich mates. But not only that, he's promised…
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Open mike 22/11/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Trade trumps human rights for Key
What a strange little editorial in the Herald today. It's a typical spin piece that tries to frame John Key's shoddy behaviour in not meeting the Dalai Lama, despite his promise that he would, as a good thing. The title shows just how willing, desperate even,…
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Oh dear, what a fizzer
The pro-child assault lobby spent $500,000 trying to manufacture the biggest march in New Zealand history up Queen St today. The reports say fewer than 5,000 took part. Oh dear. What does that work out at? More than $100 per marcher? Gee, if you'd offered me that much I would have walked…
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Watch Bolivia
The world is full of natural experiments in different forms of government. Bolivia is one to watch: Bolivia re-invents democratic socialism... On December 6, Bolivia will hold a general election where Evo Morales, the first Indigenous President in South America will no doubt be re-elected.…
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Open mike 21/11/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up...
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What I did on my holidays – by [insert name here]
Ohmigod, after Red Alert informed me that the National MPs had started a blog, I nearly died!!!!!!! And after I'd finished that and resurrected, I went and had a look at it. Yep, I was right. These buggers know nothing about what blogging is about.…
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Fighting for democracy?
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is facing prison after speaking out at an anti-war rally. A British soldier was arrested on Monday for speaking out at an anti-war rally and refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Joe Glenton has been charged not just…
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A whole lotta nothing
In a speech to National Party members yesterday John Key read out a list of everything the government has done in the last year. Talk about weak, when the public disgruntlement with this do-nothing govenment has reached a level where they're resorting to 'not even,…
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On “keeping your powder dry”
Reproduced with permission from No Right Turn for a viewpoint on the process of policy formation. This morning, Labour leader Phil Goff announced that he was abandoning the NeoLiberal consensus on monetary policy, with the aim of getting a monetary policy that works for the…
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Broken English
It looked like a duck. It walked like a duck. It quacked like a duck. Turns out it was a duck. The "Plain English" advertisements were effectively party political broadcasts on behalf of the National Party. (Hardly surprising, as they were coauthored by English and…
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Monetary policy needs to change
I'm really happy that Phil Goff has taken monetary policy up as an issue. The current system - a puritanical neoliberal model set in place twenty years ago - has never worked particularly well and has now become a major threat to this country's ability…
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How much astroturf can you buy for $500,000?
Tomorrow the Christian Right are holding a self-styled 'March for Democracy' that's been bankrolled to the tune of $500,000 by Auckland property developer Colin Craig. I'm sure you'll have seen the TV ads, the newpaper full-pagers and the slick PR campaign. They're even paying for…
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Open mike 20/11/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up...
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Bludging farmers
The Fed Farmers have used Goff's speech on monetary policy to have another whinge about beneficiaries, who they reckon are somehow to blame for the high dollar that's crippling our exporters. Weird, I know, but then that's the Feds for you. The dogwhistle term they're…
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Bikoi video
Hat tip: Labour.
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NZ should follow Norway’s example on oil
National has released its petroleum strategy. It appears they plan to further lower our already low royalties to encourage foreign oil companies to come here, dig up our finite our reserves as fast as they can and make off with huge profits. Just about the…
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Cartoon: A brief history of corporate whining
Great cartoon from Barry Deutsch at Lefycartoons.com Lifted from Joe Hendren
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970 words of hollow platitudes. How ambitious.
Classic, I was just saying yesterday that Key is probably concerned about focus testing turning up 'do-nothing', 'weak' and 'visionless' memes and today he's got a little puff piece in the Dominion Post that purports to lay out his "vision". Of course like every other…