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As a senior economist at a respected company, John Carran wrote some apallingly simplistic tripe in his article, "Exorcising the asset sale bogey", Dominion Post, 19 Dec. It is as if the programme of privatisation in the late 1980s and 1990s never happened, and we…
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A Papakura local has sent us this story of the would-be Emperor of Auckland's foray into Papakura. Wannabe Super City Mayor Goofs up in Papakura, and is told to hoof it. John Banks visited Papakura last week, to meet with Callum Penrose Mayor of Papakura.…
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So Copenhagen has ended in failure. I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. As The Guardian reports: Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure Deal thrashed out at talks condemned as climate change scepticism in action The UN climate summit reached a weak outline…
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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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Not related to anything in particular, Peter Giddens has written a sweet little Christmas story that I thought it would be fun to share: Tilly the Cat's Christmas Lesson . . . Tilly was a very bossy cat. She was in charge of the whole…
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Back at the start of the month Marty G pointed out that Brash's useless 2025 Taskforce looked like nothing so much as a pension scheme for retired Tory old boys. Marty wrote: No more jobs for Nats' old mates So far, we've paid $400,000 to…
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Audrey Young finally gets around to mentioning how close the government came to imploding last month: Rodney Hide survived moves to oust him as Act Party leader last month after Prime Minister John Key privately indicated National's deal with Act would be off if the…
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As the final stages of diplomatic chaos play out in Copenhagen, and with at least the possibility of some truly significant goals emerging, the world is teetering on a knife edge this morning. I hope that Obama has had plenty of time to think about…
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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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Words: Prime Minister John Key has urged the world's major economies to listen to the voices of vulnerable nations facing climate change. .. The current system of limited participation under the Kyoto Protocol had to be moved to one of "comprehensive global coverage", he said.…
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If a tourist buys something in New Zealand for export or that they don't take possession of within New Zealand, they can get a GST refund on it. Most tourists don't know this and it's only relevant in exceptional circumstances, not for the kind of…
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Brilliant piece from Stephen Colbert on the nutty American Right's new obsession with gold. Sure, it's billed as a survivalist thing - preparing for the collapse of society brought on by Obama's socialist agenda - but the truth is it's dumb rednecks getting ripped off by immoral capitalists, again.
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Anne Tolley should have the sense to listen to the teachers, the principals and the eduction experts. She should trial her national standards in primary schools to get information on the outcomes before introducing them nationally. The teachers want national standards tested in a trial,…
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In what has got to be the ultimate manifestation of this government's inability to take a simple decision for fear of losing someones vote, Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson is set to announce that the city the rest of the country knows as Redneckville will…
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Photograph: Christian Charisius/Reuters Earlier in the year there was a lot of media attention on the police tactics at the G20 Summit in London. How depressing to see the same heavy handed approach being deployed in Copenhagen. A reported 100,000 protesters marched in a mostly…
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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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A text from a mate: Bill English says "I never thought running a government in a recession would be so easy" Mate, it's always easy to do f#ck all. Ain't so easy for the poor at xmas. Can't help notice that English is also claiming…
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Well, that could have been embarrassing. John Key on the world stage, along with leaders of other countries in what has been billed the 'greatest debate on Earth' had the potential to be very painful. It goes without saying that he would have treated the…
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More details here.
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Here's a prediction. Transmission Gully will never be built. There's a reason that Labour kept pushing Transmission Gully off. The Benefit/Cost ratio is sh*t. "It is likely that the benefit-cost ratio for the Transmission Gully route is less than 1" says Joyce. Disgracefully, NZTA is…
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Another disgraceful Herald editorial recently: Teachers must learn to obey Govt's orders Three years ago, when the National Party announced its plan to make all primary schools test pupils' ability in reading, writing and mathematics, teachers were scornful. ... The union, in league with the…
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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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More economic illiteracy from our old friend: Certainly given the rhetoric from the finance minister of late I'd thought the numbers would be worse than the Budget, not better. Um, everyone knew they would be better. We've known for months. The recession was over earlier…
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Another government-appointed taskforce of rightwing, market ideologues (this time appointed by Labour, the fools) has reported and, surprise, surprise, their report is a rightwing prescription without any supporting argument that it would be good for the country. The headline recommendation of the Capital Market Development…
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James at Editing teh Herald has started the Golden Garth awards aimed at rewarding the recipients at the Granny. You should all get over there and suggest candidates. I'm puzzling on it myself because there are so many good candidates. I'm aware that some think…
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Over at FairDeal, NZEI have announced that the support staff in schools have managed to get a wage increase. The campaign by support staff members and the wider union has finally resulted in a settlement of the support staff collective agreement. There is now a…
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Cartoon by Nick Anderson.
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An extraordinary moment in Question Time as John Boscawen skewered National's hollow promise to close the wage gap with Australia by 2025. Watch the video and listen to Bill English's voice. He was simply left high and dry when Boscawen asked him for some actual evidence that…
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There are some very wealthy industries that make their money off burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases. It is in their financial interest to prevent action to tackle climate change, so they fund lobby groups and denier propaganda. There is a large population of 'useful…
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...