Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 31–60 of 201
Post
America faces a hell of a lot of problems at the moment, but if there's one man with the ability to inspire and lead them through, it's Obama. "when I see the young men on the corners [of the ghettos] I say there but for…
Post
It seems the US want us to commit our elite SAS troops to Afghanistan. I'm not a big fan of the Taliban but I'm not a supporter of occupations either. Morally I think we can supply engineers and the like for reconstruction (assuming that's what…
Post
Business Roundtable chair Rob McLeod has a piece in today's Dom Post motivating the case for amending anti-discrimination laws to allow "affirmative action" in the private sector workforce. As an exercise in intellectual dishonesty it's truly a masterpiece. Selectively quoting the Chicago School academic Richard…
Post
Interesting editorial on National's new Productivity Taskforce in Saturday's Herald. Australia's Productivity Commission (independent, highly successful, and enjoying cross-party support) could have served as a good model, but: That possibility was ditched with the appointment of Dr Brash, whose excellent credentials as a former Reserve…
Post
[At the outset of this, let me restate, once again, I'm all for cycleways. Indeed, I wish the Key government hadn't cut millions from urban cycling in the Budget. What I object to is the overhyping of a few possible cycleways as if they constitute…
Post
Like New Zealand, the UK has had a deluge of 'green-shoots' news from the corporate media and the financiers desperate to jawbone the economy into recovery. The spin became so pervasive that the consensus among economists was the UK economy would have shrunk only -0.3%…
Post
As expected, the Key Government has decided not to listen to the scientists on climate change. Rather than the 40% reduction in emissions by 2020 that the scientists are saying the the minimum developed nations need to achieve to start greenhouse gas levels heading back…
Post
Exiled Online, a US site, has excellent coverage of the recession and the sub-prime crisis from a ground-level view. Yasha Levine moved to Victorville an 'exurb' of LA (100 miles from LA centre) to experience the crisis first-hand. His reports are a must read -…
Post
Bill Ralston quotes me and some other Left bloggers on the Burgess debacle suggesting it means Goff's neck is on the line and a leadership challenge might be coming. Well, sorry, but that's just an old Tory's daydream. Goff's leadership is secure. There is no…
Post
I still get the chills some times remembering how close the Left came to losing the 2005 election. If it hadn't been for Brash being caught out in his lies over links with the Exclusive Brethren's smear campaign, National might just have squeaked the win.…
Post
I like Colin Espiner's writing. He's got he best of the journo blogs. He's focussed on issues rather than politicking. But does he ever drop some clangers - saying the Chief Justice could be fired, confusing numbers on the dole with the number who are…
Post
Bill English says he doesn't much care whether monopolies or businesses with monopolistic power are owned by private companies or the Government does. He doesn't care whether power companies are publicly or privately owned because he thinks he can make the electricity sector competitive. He's dreaming like he…
Post
Just saw this...pretty good. Didn't realise Darby was another Signer Oner. Nice to see a bit of humour injected into something as grim as a toiling planet.
Post
IrishBill commented last night that "John Key the centrist" is a narrative we're not hearing much from the commentariat any more. I thought this was strange given that was the brand they were all so dutifully selling us in the leadup to the election campaign.…
Post
Today we saw Justice Minister Simon Power get a front-page story for proposing a 'reform' of the justice system that is actually just existing law (one wonders whether there'll be days of recrimination coverage in Granny arising from that). In a few months, we'll see…
Post
Now, yesterday a couple of righties didn't want to believe the evidence in front of their eyes that the GDP per person gap between Australia and New Zealand doubled during the neoliberal economic revolution. They got upset at my conclusion that repeating those same policies…
Post
Pick up the paper. The stories are 'consumer confidence recovering', 'house prices stablising' etc. These are taken as indications that the recession is close to over. Probably right. Weak growth in December. But that weak growth will be built on the same foundations that crumbled…
Post
A UMR poll out yesterday suggests that Len Brown, currently mayor of Manukau, would be the Left candidate with the best chance of winning the mayoralty of the Auckland Supercity next year. The poll has Brown on 35% ahead of John Banks on 34% - but…
activism auckland supercity democratic participation local government
Post
What does the Maori Party think of National's plan to relax rules on foreign investment?
Post
Justice Minister Simon Power: I believe we need to have an open debate about the way in which sexual violence cases are conducted. In this regard, I am currently considering potentially far-reaching reforms, including:...Making evidence about previous sexual relationships between the complainant and any person…
Post
Remember the mantra about John Key being a centrist? Doesn't get much play nowadays does it? And it shouldn't. Not with the government cutting spending while unemployment rises, dragging Brash and Rankin back from the grave, spending large on private schools, contracting out public services,…
Post
No Right Turn reminds us: Drinking Liberally is happening tonight in both Wellington and Palmerston North. In Wellington, the guest speaker will be Geoff Keey from Greenpeace, who will be talking about their Sign On campaign. In Palmerston North, we'll have the Greens' Metiria Turei,…
Post
Y'know, as John Key tries to get stuck into Phil Goff, I think it's time for a quick recall of recent history. Key is a man who lied directly to the New Zealand people about his Tranz Rail shares. Key is a man who hid…
Post
Good interview with Labour's Justice spokesperson, Lianne Dalziel this morning on her private members Bill in the ballot that would remove the defence of provocation (audio on the rnz site, including an mp3 version). It looks like there is a real momentum for change with 'the Crimes…
Post
I take it all back. Key really is a genius! I didn't think he could do it, but I underestimated him. Under his leadership, the country has closed the gap with Australia. By 30 centimetres. "Massive New Zealand quake moves country West" -- r0b
Post
UMR's just released a poll showing Manukau mayor Len Brown as the preferred mayor of the Auckland Super City, slightly ahead of John Banks. The poll shows Brown on 35%, Banks on 34%, and 31% undecided. They've also done a matchup between Banks and Auckland…
Post
Post
Like some bad horror movie, from beyond the political grave, it stirs again. Christine Rankin? Unbelievably - yes. Don Brash? Well yes, him too (fresh new thinking from National!). But these are but side shows to the main event. Winston Peters is back. Ironically it…
Post
Phil Goff. Please get your shit together. This latest fiasco of running up a guy who owns several properties as a case of a Kiwi hurt by the recession is just inexcusable. I don't doubt the dude's having cashflow problems. But using him as your…
Post
Provocation is a partial defence to a charge of murder. It reduces murder to manslaughter if the jury accepts that actions of the victim would have caused a 'reasonable person' to lose self-control. The problem is that it is clearly being abused in some circumstances, like…