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It's 100 years since the Gipper was born. That's right, 100 years since the ball started rolling on a project of smiley-faced neoliberalism that we're still suffering under. I was going to write a tribute but John Dolan does it so much better than I…
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So John Key thinks that a 1.9% increase in pay will cover 4% inflation, and that's all minimum wage workers are going to get. That 25c/hour won't add up to a litre of milk at the end of the day, let along a block of…
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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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Cactus Kate thought the Maori Party Constitution could save Hone when Flavell's complaint surfaced. She missed one crucial point; according to its Constitution the Maori Party Council makes decisions by consensus. I remember consensus decision-making from my days as a community activist in the 1970's.…
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Yesterday, Lhaws' SST piece called for involuntary sterilisation and reproduction licences (ie. forced abortions). Pure fascism. Today, no uproar. Once, his stoush with some school kids was news. Now, he offers a eugenic 'solution' to the underclass and not a peep. He's truly a has-been.…
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Hone has just been suspended from the Maori Party caucus by press release. Pita and Tariana have had enough and they're cutting him off in parliament - which surely can only be a prelude to him being cut off at party level as well. Presumably…
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We used to be the half gallon quarter acre pavlova paradise. Owning your own home was the foundation of the "Kiwi dream". Now it seems that we've let that dream slip further out of reach than almost anywhere in the world. Late last month there…
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Tomorrow is the first day of Parliament for the year, so I'm picking we'll see John Key's annual passing mention of the 'underclass'. You remember Key's promise to make lifting the underclass his priority, eh? Well, Key doesn't. He has abandoned Aroha Nathan after using…
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When a millionaire director and a foreign corporate wanted millions in tax breaks, Key jumped to it. When SCF collapsed the investors got an average of $60K, no questions asked. But when it comes to helping the ordinary families of Christchurch and the West Coast,…
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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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I went to Waitangi on Waitangi Day for the first time this year. I heartily recommend it to everybody - I don't think enough (especially non-Maori) folk go and experience it, and it's worth doing. I went up (camping) with my whanau on Friday night,…
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At a time when so much political journalism is focused on analysis of image management it's nice to see a major Sunday paper throwing its weight behind a push for some real world issues. Anthony Hubbard's piece in the Sunday Star Times today looks at…
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An estimated 500 people gathered in Queen Street Auckland, to show solidarity with the Egyptian people in revolt against the Egyptian dictatorship. Yesterday’s march was part of international solidarity actions. Though the majority of the marchers at the Auckland protest were mostly Egyptian expatriates, there…
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Happy Waitangi Day. Hope you have something relaxing planned. Is there any other country in the world with such a complex and controversial national holiday? Right from the start the events surrounding Waitangi Day have been as contentious and as central to our national character…
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Over the last few weeks I've noticed an increasing tendency from mainstream media to talk about Key not in terms of being a bold outsider (although there are still a few chumps buying that line) but in terms of a public relations creation. Today's HoS…
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Bernard Hickey looks at the tax bludgers: Tax avoidance, or tax minimisation in polite circles, has been the bane of our fiscal framework for the past decade. What I find interesting is that we had a 66% tax rate until the late 1980s and tax…
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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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OK, that title is pure spin. National has dropped from 55% to 49% in the latest Roy Morgan, and Labour's up from 29% to 34.5%. But that just shows the last poll was a rogue. Now, normal transmission, and National's decline, has resumed. When you…
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Forget about freedom of expression. Forget about the right of a union to converse with itself. Forget about the right to voice reasonable and honestly held opinions. Press Release by Unite Union at 10:30 am, 04 Feb 2011 Unite Union is appalled that a union…
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Business likes to privatise the profits and socialise the losses. All over the globe we the tax payer recently got stuck with a bill for trillions of dollars to bail out banks that were "too big to fail". Or were they? One country went against…
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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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PM Key says we shouldn't lose confidence despite rising unemployment. Pledging to go 'on the pull for jobs', Key said he will prostitute NZ to any multi-national corporation and Kiwis should be willing to work for free. The PM was last seen smiling at himself…
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One of John Key's excuses for selling our SOEs is that we need the cash to buy $33 billion of new assets over the next 5 years. Sounds like a lot, eh? It turns out the Crown spent $42 billion on new assets* over the…
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It’s almost Big Gay Out time again which also means it’s time for some new images of John Key dancing (if you can call it that) with drag queens and cuddling up to lines of shirtless hunks. I know I’m supposed to admire the fact…
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John Key Oct 2010: "I don't think we should argue we are in a recession ... now that summer has come, economic activity is starting to pick up." Building consents lowest on record * unemployment hits 6.8% * retail spending falls * We've had double…
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The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) recently popped up with a study purporting to show that the "90-day trial period" (the fire at will bill) is "working". It's a pretty weak definition of "working". But it seems that rate of new hiring in…
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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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It's bloody good to see Darien Fenton get the labour portfolio. Mallard did it well but work rights is where Fenton's heart lies and she's worked bloody hard to push for them - she's a fighter and work rights is going to be a good…
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The Sunday Star Times has been having a more serious look at what it means for New Zealand, but The Onion has a more amusing take on the gap between rich and poor. Starting: PARIS—At a press conference Tuesday, the World Heritage Committee officially recognized…
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John Key has been less cunning than some thought he would be. A July election could have caught the Left on the hop and ruling out Winston Peters means nothing, he couldn't get through his privatisation plans while working with Peters anyway. By going for…