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In a raucous public meeting in Timaru last night, John Key said "The entire time I've been Prime Minister I've had Treasury in my office week after week, month after month telling me South Canterbury Finance was going bankrupt". So, why did National sign SCF…
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Canterbury Enabling Act II Back in September, in response to the first Canterbury earthquake, Parliament effectively made Gerry Brownlee a dictator, granting near-absolute power to suspend or amend laws as he saw fit to aid recovery from the earthquake. While the powers have not yet…
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A dirty deal requires dirty lies. You know your opponent's stand is dishonourable when they resort to spreading lies and promoting falsehoods about your position. The government's Acting Energy and Resources Minister in attacks on opponents to deep sea oil drilling has been caught out…
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Efforts to cool the nuclear fuel rods in Fukushima's No 2 reactor have failed. The rods have become molten and it appears some have melted through the steel reactor core into a concrete layer. Two dangers now arise: radioactive chemicals created by the concrete reacting…
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Bill English is running a new line, contrasting "necessities" with "nice to have". For example: More public servants face the axe In a speech to public servants yesterday, Finance Minister Bill English stepped up his warning that some programmes and departments were luxuries the country…
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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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Key and English are trying to soften us up for big public service cuts this budget. They tell us it'll just be 'nice to haves' and that the private sector will step in to fill the gap when they cut too close to the bone.…
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The police have been heavily criticised for their handling of the 2007 Urewera "terror" raids. Now the legal system is making matters worse: Urewera raids cases to be heard without jury The 18 people arrested during the Urewera "terror" raids have been denied a trial…
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I see there is a call for "heroic" student loan holders overseas to help pay for the Christchurch earthquake. When I first saw this I thought it was an interesting idea then I saw that the IRD has set up a page and a process…
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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 was just reading Vernon Small on Phil Goff's reconfirmation today and I saw these sentences on Labour Its activists on websites and blogs are openly questioning the party's direction and Mr Goff's judgment. Its union backers and foot soldiers need to be motivated but…
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According to The Standard's spies in Dunedin, the Labour Party front bench meeting has just concluded. Goff's leadership has been confirmed, with unanimous support. Goff attributed the leadership rumours to the work of "political opponents", and said that the controversy had only strengthened commitment to…
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A few weeks ago I posted a blog called A Reassuring Rebuild: The Freiburg Parallel about the sensitive rebuilding of the city of Freiburg, in the German state of Baden-Württemburg. Now I see that the Greens have won control of the Baden-Württemburg state government, ending…
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The $6.8 million package for businesses offered last week by the government was an insult: business mentors and export junkets - just what people who aren't allowed to access their businesses need. Now, Key and Bennett have announced they are slashing wage support and and…
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The next Fabian Seminar at Connolly Hall Thursday 31 March at 5:30pm will feature economist Geoff Bertram examine how the high level of New Zealand's overseas debt that figures prominently in much policy discourse is largely an increase in foreign-currency liabilities voluntarily taken on by…
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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 don't think Goff is going to go just yet but it's certainly not off the cards. It's not exactly a secret that nobody wants the job (or perhaps it's simply that nobody can get the numbers) but one more scandal, or an addition to…
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Gerry Brownlee is well past his use by date. He made an utter mess of trying to sell mining to the country -- that of course was a good thing. But he's also in the process of making a mess of the rebuilding of Christchurch…
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I've been checking out some of the amazing footage and photos from friends who were in the London 'March for the Alternative'. 500,000 people turned out to show the depth of feeling against the slash and burn budget of the Conservative-Lib Dem government. As the…
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The latest piece from recently enlightened Bernard Hickey is a despairing warning on the subject of borrowing: We are borrowing ourselves into permanent poverty New Zealanders learned this week that our output did not increase in the second half of last year. Yet our spending…
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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...