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Tv1 has revealed that our daydreamer PM had much much bigger plans for the cycleway. Like excited schoolkids, he and good mate Mark Weldon of the NZX drew up plans for a grand cycle race to be called the Sir Edmund Hillary tour that would…
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What a horrifying sight today's Q+A interview with Minister of Food Safety Kate Wilkinson made. It was a shameful performance from a media point of view, with Wilkinson looking ineffectual, implausible and well out of her depth. But from a political point of view it was…
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Cameron Slater has had a big media day today with the Herald on Sunday pointing out his role in the cyber-bullying of some young woman called Pearl Going and the Sunday Star Times doing a feature on the odd fellow. I don't generally read Slater's…
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Labour MP Phil Twyford is launching a campaign around his bill to protect Auckland's community assets. www.notyourstosell.co.nz Phil Twyford's private members bill, the Local Government (Protection of Auckland Assets) Amendment Bill, was pulled from the ballot last week. It will force a referendum before any…
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Elsewoman. We've been remiss in not getting this on the blogroll earlier. Anne's been giving us hassles. And rightly so, her blog is good reading. Anne describes herself as "Editor, writer, grumpy second wave feminist", a bit of a different perspective from the other feminst…
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Mars 2 Earth is one of the vanishingly few blogs written from a Maori perspective (with quite a bit of environmentalism thrown in). Muscular discourse and some sharp writing. Thankfully, it's not just identity politics either, some good materialist values coming through too. While Maori Party…
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Sometimes writing is hard. Especially when one is hungover for the third morning in a row. Thank God for Youtube. This one goes out to all our readers who are, or will be, addled by swine flu. Honestly, if you aren't watching The Daily Refrain,…
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Kick arse: Hat tip: Russell Brown
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A Nelson man attempted to buy a gun to shoot Nick Smith. Details are scant. What could have been a nasty situation looks like is has been well-handled by the Police and DPS. It must be one of the gnawing worries of being an MP.…
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American news report from 1981 about the coming age of "newspapers by computer". Classic.
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It's good news that carers for people with intellectual disabilities are getting more recognition. A court decision has found that sleep-over shifts are work and, so, workers need to be paid at least the minimum wage for the whole shift, not just when they have…
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I figured this was deserving of a post of its own. It's a cartoon from The Standard (v1.0) sent in by Anita in reference to the post on Labour and Nazis below. Thanks! Front page, 23 May 1940. Click for enlargements.
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From Greenpeace USA: Greenpeace climbers hung a banner on Mount Rushmore challenging President Obama to show real leadership on global warming. The banner read "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming." The demonstration comes as President Obama meets other G8 leaders in L'Aquila, Italy…
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Why are we giving $10 million a year in aid to Niue with a population of 1600? It's $6250 per person each bloody year. About half their GDP (most of the rest is remittances). We finance their whole government. We've given them an extra $20…
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Yesterday Eddie pleaded for some real reporting from the journos accompanying Key on his tour of the Pacific. Just a day later they confirm that, yes, that is indeed too much to ask for. Claire Trevett and Tracy Watkins have simultaneously jumped the shark -…
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I have to confess some confusion about this study that supposedly shows the First Labour Government was tight with Hitler. They were real, deep-red socialists. To get to power they had to overcome the fascist New Zealand Legion that backed National. Fascism was anathema to socialism…
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Yesterday David Farrar presented us with his analysis of Labour's electoral finance submission. There is a lot of 'Nya Nya I Told You So!' in there every time Labour's position changed from 2007 to now, and a fair bit of 'Nya Nya They Haven't Learned…
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Here's some advice I'd give Labour if I was Crosby Textor: You need three negative values you want associated with National (for example: arrogant, "out of touch", corrupt ;)) You need three positive values you want associated with Labour (for example: democracy, justice, vision). Pick…
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Some worthwhile questions raised by Vernon Small in today's Dom Post: Eight months ago to the day Labour awoke to find itself out of power for the first time this century....Now, the cliched wisdom is that an electoral trouncing prescribes that an opposition take its…
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Clare Trevett, I know it's very exciting going on a free trip to the islands but could we have some actual reporting? You spent half your report from Tonga talking about the king's dogs and how funny Key and the Dictator of Tonga are. Might…
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Can you believe that TV One had an hour long special on Michael Jackson's funeral and then ten minutes in the news? Excuse my language but what the fuck is wrong with our media? A mate emailed me after he saw the TVNZ presser (yes,…
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www.should-a.com, a website "created for the express purpose of openly mocking the citizen's initiated referendum aimed at The Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007, popularly known as the Anti-smacking Amendment". Awesome.
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Seems the Government's public consultation over an emission reduction target for 2020 is having quite an impact. Hundreds of people have turned up to the Wellington and Auckland meetings, with some rousing presentations (see haka at the end) and a general sense that it's time…
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MAF Biosecurity is set to cut 60 jobs - 30 of them filled. It claims the fall in imports means it's over budget and doesn't need so many staff. I've got a few problems with that. Let's assume these 30 workers about to get the…
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I noted with obvious interest on Stuff today that News Ltd CEO John Hartigan is having a go at bloggers and blogs. "In return for their free content, we pretty much get what we've paid for - something of such limited intellectual value as to…
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According to Forest and Bird, John Key's government has found a nice quiet way of hocking off New Zealand's most prized assets to wealthy private interests. National has indicated radical changes to tenure review - that's the process South Island high country leaseholders can use…
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A few weeks ago the NZPA reported that the Government had agreed to establish a taskforce to "work on ways to close the productivity gap between Australia and New Zealand". The taskforce would be selected by ACT leader Rodney Hide and would be announced within…
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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…