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“Man for all Seasons” is the title of David Grant's authorised biography of Ken Douglas ONZ. The choice of title puzzled me – “A Man for all Seasons” is the title of Robert Bolt's award-winning play about Sir (later Saint) Thomas More, whose refusal to…
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This NAct government is so anti-worker that they have managed to re-arrange the calendar so that we get 5 fewer holidays in this government's term than the last Labour one. And that's before they sell off our 4th week. That's an average of 1.67 fewer…
Minister for Overseas Holidays national/act government workers' rights
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The rumour mill has been buzzing since a couple of commentators here let slip that Matt McCarten was making a run in the Mana by-election. The word is that the campaign will be used to launch a new Left Party with McCarten, Hone Harawira, Sue…
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With all the crap this government's spewing out at the moment, sometimes it pays to take a breath and look at something a bit lighter. Lynn posted a while ago about some of the oddities of the internet, noting how "milk bottle" was one of…
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Opinion polls are complicated beasts, open to questions about the representativeness of their sampling, especially as the proportion of the population without a landline telephone increases. They're also expensive and slow to run. But we all like those polling numbers! So it was interesting to…
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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...
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Remember the War on Drugs? Turns out the solution may well lie neither with legalisation nor in underpinning prohibition with gruntier laws and more police powers. Those solutions are based on the assumption that drugs are the problem and that addiction is a disease the…
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The title of Don Brash's latest exercise in making John Key appear moderate second 2025 Ttaskforce report is "Focusing on Growth". Which got me thinking, why should we be myopically focused on growth? Neoliberalism treats growth as an end in itself. That reduces us to…
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Over at Dimpost, Danyl makes a pertinent observation: "Reiteration that we are ‘very good friends’. Zero development on trade or defense issues. I’m not even sure why she’s here." There was nothing solid. The 'Wellington Declaration is, in John Armstrong's words, 'featherlight' - a big…
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It's been interesting watching the dominoes of those who used to support neoliberal economic orthodoxy (here within NZ) falling one by one. I'd argue that one of the first signs of discontent was Bernard Hickey's extraordinary open letter to Generations X and Y in June…
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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...
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Labour Party leader and PM of Japan John Key talks to visiting US President Hillary Clinton.
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Losing one District Health Board Chief Executive, Ken Whelan, who resigned because he refused to cut any more services looks bad. Losing three of the health systems' top 22 managers in three months - Whelan, Director General of Health Stephen McKernan, and Auckland DHB CEO…
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At 6.4% unemployment appears to be falling, slowly. But it also appears to be above where it was at the start of the year, when it supposedly plunged to 6.0%. Economists are viewing the Statistics NZ numbers sceptically because they are fluctuating wildly. Whatever precisely…
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You're reading this on a computer or smartphone / mobile device. Chances are you've been using such gadgets for some time now. If you're anything like me you've thrown away a few over the years, wasting precious resources and adding to landfill pollution. Don't make…
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As a measure of how completely Anne Tolley has lost the debate on national standards, consider these two editorials in The Herald. First this utterly disgraceful effort from December 2009: Teachers must learn to obey Govt’s orders Three years ago, when the National Party announced…
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John Key proved one thing this week. When it comes to international affairs, he's full of s**t. Despite all his claims about being best buds with Barack Obama, he didn't even get an invite to meet him from top U.S. diplomat Hillary Clinton. He probably…
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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...
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As you can't have failed to notice, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in NZ for a three-day visit. While she is here she will sign a new "partnership document". Audrey Young reports: The United States and New Zealand will today sign a…
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How come John Key called Paul Henry's racist comments completely unacceptable and Henry was forced to resign but Maurice Williamson's racism is defended as 'humour' by Key and no punishment results? A question you might like to put to the PM. Well, if you try…
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September Quarter unemployment numbers are out today. It will be an indictment on National if there is not a good sized drop. So how is this government doing on its flagship policy of closing the gap with Australia by 2025? No Right Turn has been…
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I can't be bothered doing a detailed rebuttal of Don Brash's latest 2025 Taskforce report. It's 150-odd pages of the same fear-mongering and shoddy statistics as last time, used to argue for the imposition of an even more radical version of his failed neoliberal agenda.…
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Prisons and hospitals - the sort of thing that only the US thinks should be in private hands - oh, and apparently National. They obviously like America's economic position and are desperate to copy it. * It has been confirmed that there is to be…
bill english health prisons public services same old national
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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...
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Weren't Bill 'Double Dipton' English and other ministers caught rorting the housing allowance system last year? Didn't the Government revamp the system by giving ministers capped allowances, supposedly to save money and stop rorts? Why then are we, as I predicted, paying more than ever…
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As predicted, the US midterms have not gone well for the Democrats, as they have lost control of the House of Representatives. But they retain a majority in the Senate, so some are predicting that the most likely outcome is a repeat of the gridlock…
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* The Shonkey Donkey has suddenly started to be heard on Morning Report in the last 2 weeks. Is it because he's suddenly realised that Sean Plunket has left and he'll get a soft pre-record with Geoff, who last asked a harsh question back in…
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In both the 2009 and 2010 Budgets this Government has slashed funding for early childhood education, taking over $600M out of the sector. The cuts are deep, and they are real, and the biggest ones so far took effect on Monday November 1st. All around…
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Q. So how exactly did NZ taxpayers end up handing over tens of millions of dollars to Warner Brothers? A. After the actor's dispute had been settled, but not publicly announced, Sir Peter Jackson put out a press release claiming that Warner Brothers were going…
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The Maori Affairs select committee has released its report on smoking. Most of its recommendations have been proposed here and elsewhere before: - forcing tobacco companies to reveal the ingredients and chemicals in their products, cracking down on covert sponsorship by tobacco companies - taking…