Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 147
Post
Like many of you, I stopped watching Breakfast after Paul Henry left* but an alert reader sent me this interview with John Key on the show yesterday. It's the one where he makes weak excuses for not Mondayising public holidays but, before that he says…
Post
John Key says he needs 'advice' on Mondayising ANZAC Day and Waitangi Day. The fact is the move would be right and popular but his business mates are too cheap to pay an extra 4 days every 7 years. Key's just playing for time. Key…
Post
At his 'Blue-Green' conference Nick Smith talked up the Nats' environmental credentials. Proclaimed a marine reserve ... where commercial fishing will still be allowed. And pushed new air quality standards from 2013 to 2020. That will cost 635 lives and a million sick days. Smith…
Post
Russel Norman followed Phil Goff and John Key's state of the nation speeches with the annual Greens state of the planet address. The capital gains tax initiative grabbed headlines but there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. As we face myriad economic and…
Post
I had set my mind to writing this article a few weeks back after IrishBill said some charming things to me on my own blog. Then, because this is how the Universe works some days, the very issue came up on Kiwipolitico when Pablo sought…
Post
I read a good book over the break. Here on Earth: An Argument for Hope, by Tim Flannery (author of The Weather Makers). I was immediately attracted by the subtitle. Ever since the failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change I have been less…
Post
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...
Post
Is it just me or is the idea of our Prime Minister joking around with Tony Vietch (a guy who threw his fiance down the stairs before kicking her in the back) about celebrities he'd like to shag just a little creepy?
Post
Continual growth in the use of resources is not possible. Society and the economy has to be structured to allow a steady state economy where resource use is within sustainable limits. Our present monetary and economic system relies on growth to work. Having a tangible…
Post
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...
Post
We face a stark choice this year: a Labour-led government, which will create fairer tax and invest in jobs and innovation, or National-led government, which will govern for the kleptocracy, giving them tax cuts, then selling our assets and slashing our public services to pay…
Post
Food and oil prices have sparked unrest across North Africa. The Tunisian Government has fallen. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak has declared martial law. In Cairo, thousands of protesters shook hands with the soldiers, and chanted: "The army and the people are united" and "The revolution has…
Post
The obvious examples on failed past privatisation are TranzRail and Air New Zealand - vital bits of infrastructure that were run into the ground by their private owners, so they subsequently needed bailing out by the government. And they do have valuable lessons - vital…
Post
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...
Post
Our Daughter Isn't a Selfish Brat; Your Son Just Hasn't Read Atlas Shrugged. BY ERIC HAGUE - - - - I'd like to start by saying that I don't get into belligerent shouting matches at the playground very often. The Tot Lot, by its very…
Post
Post
The Republican Party may be entering its death throes. In an unprecedented move, there were two competing Republican response speeches to President Obama's State of the Union address. One from Paul Ryan, the powerful Chair of the House Budget Committee. The other from a Teabagger…
Post
John Key, as previously discussed, was interviewed on Morning Report less than a handful of times each of the 2 years between winning power in 2008 and Sean Plunket leaving. He's appeared on Radio NZ before 9.30 for lengthy interviews 3 times this week. Election…
Post
John Key reckons he can raise $10 billion by selling our assets and their future profits. That's probably very over-optimistic. But I got wondering, how does that one-off $10 billion compare to the cost of the tax cuts that National has given the wealthiest 1%…
Post
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...
Post
John Key 2008: Follow me and we'll be like Ireland. John Key 2011: Follow me or we'll be like Ireland.
Post
The Maori Party has budgeted $22,000 for legal advice regarding the complaint made against Hone Harawira for stating the obvious, and hired Mai Chen to boot, to coin a phrase. Chen has pointed to the decision in Peters v Collinge where Justice Fisher stated that…
Post
In 2008, John Key's line was 'New Zealand doesn't have a debt problem, it has a growth problem'. In Budget 2010, he said the Crown would be back into surplus in record time. In December, he said debt wouldn't force a downgrade. Now, he says…
Post
Ironically, the best response to Key's 'slash and sell' agenda came from Obama, whose spotlight Key is always trying to share: "Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may feel…
Post
Everywhere he can, John Key is busy raising the canard of our economy being as indebted as the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) that are in trouble in Europe. He's talking about net foreign debt, and he's suggesting lowering government debt (by hocking…
Post
Today's Herald editorial: Courage in politics is seldom recognised when it is successful. It takes courage to challenge a sacred cow, but a well-aimed challenge can render the cow sacred no longer. John Key's announcement of public asset sales yesterday should be recognised as a…
Post
Senior Maori Party staffers have been deserting the party in droves in recent months, including chief of staff Harry Walker, repulsed by the leadership selling out to National. It's gotten so bad that they've had to out-source their spin doctoring to the Tories. You think…
Post
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...
Post
Halfway through last year I suggested we'd see a July election as National raced to lock in a second term before their numbers fell. At the time I said: ...Add to that the fact that a strong majority is needed by National for them to…
Post
Asset sales as tax by stealth We already own the SOEs. Our tax money paid for them. So how can we 'kiwi mums and dads' 'invest' by buying something we already own? What Key is really telling you and me is: 'you'll have to stump…