Everyone's favourite autocrat is at it again. Trevor's onto the story early, but it now seems that 2 of our most celebrated Olympic heroes are to be McCully fodder and gone-burger from coaching the sport in which they were champions. Ian Ferguson and Paul McDonald…
The median weekly income in New Zealand fell in the year to June from $538 to $529. That's a fall even before inflation (and you have to take inflation into account or the figures are meaningless). After inflation, this is the third successive year in…
A tailings dam in Hungary has burst. Toxic sludge over 16 square miles has killed four. If the sludge, laden with heavy metals and radioactive elements, makes it into waterways including the Danube the disaster will magnify. If Brownlee had his way, our countryside would…
Bernard Hickey continues his politico-economic rebirth. Yesterday, he wrote on how New Zealand can protect itself from dangerous international capital flows that undermine our economy and our ability to choose our own path. We shouldn't leave the guidance of our economy to the invisible hand…
Since Sept 4, Bob Parker, according to the polls, has reversed his fortunes, going from a likely one-term mayor to a council colossus. He has been portrayed as a steady hand on the tiller, while CCC staff worked incredibly hard to restore services to the…
More anti-Indian racism from Paul Henry... and Paul Henry being racist about hispanics (you can tune out through the middle, but listen to the first and last few minutes) We're paying this guy $300,000+ a year for this. This is what TVNZ condones in continuing to…
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Remember how our government decided to promise investors an 8% return on any speculative monies placed with the failing Southern Canterbury Finance? And remember how after taking any remnant of speculation out of any speculative investment, they then took $1 700 000 000 of our…
There has been an interesting ad from Greenpeace running around the site today. It is obviously intended to go viral before the lawyers from Fonterra get it into court... I think I might help out a bit... So should you - dump it onto the…
Scanning our back catalogue I can't find a post on the alleged electoral roll fraud in the Auckland local government elections. Let's start by stating the bleeding obvious. Electoral fraud of any kind is not OK. If the accusations are true then it is good…
We've had a lot of coverage of the issue of TVNZ's bigoted host but I want to chip in with a few points: Paul Henry's 'apology' is in fact a calculated dog whistle to bigots, the blame for Henry goes to a deeper rot in…
As it goes down to the wire, John Banks' desperation is on full display: John Banks has admitted he could lose the Super City mayoralty on Saturday ... That was always true John. You're not entitled to the mayoralty. It's called an election. ... unless…
The TVNZ that this government presides over is dysfunctional. As the government is only interested in profits and getting its dividend, they are creating a culture of ratings-driven drivel. Bigotry, incitement and emptiness are all fine, if they bring in a couple more advertiser dollars.…
Fabian Society seminar in Wellington: "Are there any new arguments for privatisation?" is on tonight 5:30-7:30 at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, off Hill Street. Parking available in Guildford Terrace behind hall. Speakers are Dr Bill Rosenberg of the CTU and Fraser Carson of FRESCO. Treasury…
Last week, No Right Turn picked up on a press release from MYOB calling the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA, the Gerry Brownlee Enabling Act) a model for all government: "The Government’s response to the Canterbury earthquake is not only a welcome relief…
Ministerial staffers who have worked under the National and Labour governments of recent years have begun commenting on some of the differences between each. Apparently, one key difference has been that National ministers refuse to hire staff from other ministerial offices to avoid being labelled…
In case you were wondering why Breakfast Bigot Paul Henry has to go - here's another great example of his work. Watch it all if you can. Maybe this alone wouldn't be enough for dismissal if it was an uncharacteristic rarity, but it's characteristic and commonplace…
NZIER has released its quarterly survey of Business Opinion and it's bad, bad news. The survey is a very accurate forward indicator of GDP growth. For the September quarter, it shows growth of -0.2% (vs +0.2% predicted by NZIER just a month ago). That doesn't…
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Paul Henry has been suspended from TVNZ. Rick Ellis the CEO of TVNZ said: We give Paul a lot of freedom with the Breakfast programme and he does a magnificent job. But as we have said before, with that freedom comes responsibility. Paul is one…
What’s happened to leadership in this country? Paul Henry has a racist rant to the Prime Minister and what does John Key do? He laughs along and tries to make a joke. Later, Key refused to denounce Henry, label his comments racist, or call for…
John Key really does say some extraordinary things when he’s trying to placate the media, and often it works because journos are bamboozled into accepting what he says as fact. Take his defence of the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA) yesterday. Key wheeled…
Here's some of the international coverage of New Zealand that Paul Henry's racist outburst against our Governor General Anand Satyanand has sparked. In India and here. Cool, after the recent effigy burnings of a certain Kiwi in New Delhi on the grounds that he was…
TVNZ are refusing to take action over Paul Henry's latest racist outburst, going as far as to say: The audience tell us over and over again that one of the things they love about Paul Henry is that he’s prepared to say the things we…
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Actors Equity have posted their Australian counterparts minimum standards document. Some of the outrageous clauses that would surely cripple the industry here include: The Producer or his/her representative may not direct the Artist to smoke or appear to be smoking except where such a request…
So he's apologised to the Governor General personally but not to the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who he has described as not looking like New Zealanders? WTF does it matter whether or not he's a royalist? Did he make some kind of anti-royal…
Everyone had pretty much assumed that Kerry Prendergast was a sure thing to win another term as Wellington's mayor - meaning another terms of parks being turned into concrete wastelands and favours for property developers. But a Dompost poll shows Celia Wade-Brown is in the…
The Dom's editorial begins: "The rule of law is what underpins civilised society. Germans like to tell the story of how Frederick the Great was irked by the noise of a windmill near his Sanssouci palace, but failed in his bid to have it removed…
According to the weekend headlines: It's Brown for Supermayor, by a landslide Len Brown is set to win the Auckland mayoralty by a landslide, unless John Banks can rally his half-hearted supporters to vote in the final days. A new Herald on Sunday-Phoenix poll shows…