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A number of poor performing ministers like Paula Bennett, Kate Wilkinson, Anne Tolley, Pita Sharples, Tariana Turia, Rodney Hide, Pansy Wong, and Key himself, have tried to extradite themselves from sticky situations in the House by lying. It was only a matter of time until one…
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From Key's post-Cabinet press conference: Journo: You don't believe that the public have a right to know why a minister in cabinet would suddenly be booted out of cabinet and resign? Key: No. So, there you have it. This isn't your government anymore. It's his.…
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Inaugural Lectures are very traditional University events; held these days to permit outstanding researchers to present an overview of their work to the wider academic community and public. Last night Prof. Tim Naish delivered a clear and decisive verdict about human induced climate change; the…
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Key has claimed the foreshore and seabed issue is not about compensation. Tariana's answer? This has never been about money says Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia "I am astounded and disappointed that some critics of and commentators on the report of the ministerial review panel…
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After a remark by all-your-base the other day, I'm testing how good Akismet (the Wordpress anti-spambot) is. I've removed the need for entering a captcha for registered and logged-in users. That is a reasonable compromise for a test as the registration is protected with a…
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As has been expected for some time, the National Distribution Union has announced that its President, Robert Reid, will be taking over as National Secretary from Laila Harre in August. Harre will leave with a stronger union than she found it, and will probably be…
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Just received this from Drinking Liberally Wellington: We hope you've enjoyed our unannounced winter break. We're back this Thursday, at 5:30 at the Southern Cross on Abel Smith Street. This week our special guest speaker is Mark Eden, from the Wellington Animal Rights Network. He…
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Now days everybody wanna talk, like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of gibberish, and all of you act like you forgot about oil. Yup, just when you thought it was safe to go…
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Is he named for the great economist John Maynard Keynes or Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan? Either way, he speaks a lot of sense: There was an attack on the ‘bureaucracy' during the 2008 election, and the front line was held to be sacrosanct. The rest…
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It seems to me that National has fundamentally misunderstood what the foreshore and seabed debate is about. Key's statements yesterday suggest it is about a mere symbolical recognition of an iwi's traditional ties to sections of foreshore and seabed. It's not. He seems to think…
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There's a lot of empty, over-optimistic talk around at the moment about 'green-shoots' in the economy. Supposedly, these are little early signs of recovery which mean that soon everything will be back to normal and we can go back to getting rich selling each other…
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1) Go read Editing the Herald. 2) Bookmark it. 3) Read it every day. It's the best thing on the Internet.
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Great new video from 350.org.nz calling on the Government to back a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020. Current National Party policy is 50 by 2050. Public meetings on the Government's emissions target start today. Check out frogblog for more information about how you can…
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Well, we told you so. The Nats lied for weeks that a credit rating downgrade would be imposed on us if we didn't cut contributions to the SuperFund. We didn't fall for that for a minute. Even before the Budget, we pointed out that, except…
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The US has finally managed to pass a bill through the house of representatives dealing with climate change (sort of). It is laden with pork-barrel initiatives because the congress members realised that they could treat carbon credits as a type of free-money boondoggle. It still…
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Pop quiz - did you know that earlier this week the UN released a major report on the "Green Economy"? Here is a good summary: Green Economy: A Transformation to Address Multiple Crises The current financial and economic crisis is throwing millions of people into…
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What a world where a supposed journalist writes this: The trouble is Key's desire to be reasonable. Despite his intention to say no more about his reasons for losing confidence in Worth, he keeps responding to the media interrogation and seems unable to draw a…
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It's hardly controversial to comment that our media peddle fear. Nor uncontroversial to comment that a cowed individual is a controllable individual. Many remark on our 6 O'Clock News leading with, lingering over and sensationalising the random stabbing or shooting and also that on our…
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There are a few odd times that I wish I was living in Wellington instead of Auckland (not often).This is one of them. There is a lecture by one of the leading researchers looking at the geology of the West Antarctica ice sheet (WAIS) and…
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As CycleWatch hits 100 days, John Key's been caught with his pants down. As No Right Turn explains a few days ago: [There has been no cost-benefit analysis] and now it seems to have abandoned its own timetable for beginning the project. Either that, or…
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Former journalist John Armstrong runs National's line on health today: The Cabinet's loosening of rules on district health boards farming out non-urgent surgical operations to private hospitals is the logical step to take for a Government trying to get more from less...Monday's decision is a…
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Fran O'Sullivan, who championed National most ardently in Opposition, has become disillusioned with Key as PM. She savages him today, saying he has a "deep need" to be "Mr Popularity": Prime Minister John Key's practised inclination - crack a few jokes about daughter Steffie usurping his credit card…
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I have to disagree with my comrade ayb on his post calling for Labour to come up with a more detailed program. Though I understand the desire to see Labour come up some new and inspiring left-wing agenda, now is not the time. Sure, maybe…
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A short video from the NZEI from Tuesday's pay equity rally at Parliament. There are also a bunch of photos on flickr from the CTU, EPMU and TEU.
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So we've got a government of incompetents, ideologues, and sloths. At least things are going better in America. The Democrats now have a super-majority in the Senate: The Republicans are imploding. Their ineffectual anger is getting so ugly they're turning off anyone sane:
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Government's put out this press release: "Finance Minister Bill English has welcomed news that the Budget operating deficit of $7.2 billion for the 11 months to May 31 is lower than the forecast $8.4 billion... Most of the $1.2 billion variance was due to higher-than-forecast…
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I reckon Red Alert, the Labour MPs' blog, has been a huge success. It's great to see MPs unscripted and it's good for them to get the instant public reaction in the comments. It's also a bit of a political risk. When you're allowing instant,…
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The Left continues to have luck with the private member's bill ballot, getting both of the bills drawn today just like a couple of weeks back (well, not so much luck, most of the bills in the ballot are from the Left). Metiria Turei's Marine…
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Further to my post yesterday, a reader sent in this quote from 2004: Mr English's view was not [National's] official line. As expressed by strategist Murray McCully, it is that the bill is a "charter for blackmail and rent-seeking by Maori interests". Let's be clear.…
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The woman has dropped her criminal complaint over Worth. Says she is satisfied now the scumbag has lost his career. Police are expected to drop the investigation. Now, can we (pretty please) know why a minister in our government lost his job? Can Key, just…