Fluff and a Jab Written by The Jackal Green Party MP Metiria Turei asked some very important questions of John Key in Parliament today. Once again, the Prime Minister wasn't there so Bill English tried to answer for the absentee leader. In one particular answer…
National's election strategy is pretty much fully-laid out. It shows that National is very much dependent on Brand Key. The Budget is their economic vision, or rather lack of vision. The rapid-fire release of major policies following the Budget laid out the rest of the…
So, it was a typical Wednesday in our house; the wife parked on the couch watching Packed to the rafters, me messing on the interweb.... Anyway, after a bit of 'The Standard', a little 'Trade me' and a short 'Red Alert', I thought it would…
Cameron Slater is still spreading disinformation about the data taken from Labour's web site. Specifically he is claiming that people's credit card details are at risk: The problem however was much worse than that. Way worse. Remember that Chris Flatt the Labour General Secretary sent…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Fascinating programme on TV One Sunday this week; see it here and here - contrasting the Australian approach to mining with the disaster at Pike River. Outside the question of whether there were any survivors, the key difference was the existence of union safety check…
The Nacts just love the idea of selling off the Government/Council monopolies. To sell the public, they push the free market "monopolies are bad" nemesis. Monopolies and Duopolies have their place in our society, but they should be controlled and owed by Councils or Government.…
Randian superhero David Henderson has withdrawn his genius from New Zealand in protest at the collectivist government that has persecuted him and attempted to distribute the fruits of his talent to parasites. In a short statement after leaving the country, Henderson said other Atlases would…
Lack of certainty is killing the spirit and economy of Christchurch. Before the latest quakes there were already threats of protests because Brownlee has failed to announce which areas can't be rebuilt on. That information is even more needed now. Brownlee says it's 'blindingly obvious'…
National's first dirty tricks operation of the 2011 election campaign has ended in an embarrassing own goal. Cameron Slater claimed to have all sorts of "top secret political information" that he was going to "release". In the end all that appeared was a boring set…
My jaw dropped when I heard this listening to Question Time yesterday: Hon Trevor Mallard: Does he understand that real average wages go up when high-income earners get massive tax cuts-$1,000 a week, in his case, and low-income workers lose their jobs? Hon Bill English:…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
[Unfortunately, the hyperlinks in ianupnorth's guest post were lost in sending.] In recent weeks there have been the usual responses to various topics on The Standard from right wing posters, denouncing any form of ‘socialism, decrying income tax rates and generally offering a case for…
"Substitute the words "convention centre" for "suitcase of cash" and the transaction looks very clear."* National wants to change the rules for another foreign corporate. Wouldn't move an inch for Kiwirail jobs. Maybe because Kiwirail didn't donate 100K to National (and Labour) like SkyCity did.…
An attempt to promote asset sales in yesterday's Dom ended up falling on its face. The author takes the government line, that Contact provides the template for 'mum and dad' investors buying SOEs. But the article admits the truth: only a tiny fraction of Kiwis…
The truth is coming out about National's taking of data from a Labour web site. The National Business Review reports: National admits Labour data breach - but denies passing names to Whaleoil National admits Labour data breach. Of course they didn't need to actually pass…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Could be worth watching Native Affairs on Maori television tonight at 8:30. The Te Tai Tokerau candidates will be debating and it appears there may also be a very interesting poll result in the offing. The Herald's story today based on a different sort of…
There's been discussion of this in Open Mike of course, but here's a post for reactions to the latest quake. According to geonet the main event was: Reference Number: 3528810 NZST: Mon, Jun 13 2011 1:00 pm Magnitude: 5.5 Depth: 11 km Details: 10 km…
There has been a repeated question over the last few days coming up in comments about auto-moderation. For instance prism asks Some were wondering what initiates moderation. I have just used Latin quotation – quid pro quo and the system may not know that one.…
So you support Maori being paid less than Pakeha for the same work? What about men being paid less than women? No, that would be discrimination, eh? Same work, same pay. So, what about paying a 17 year old less than a 18 year old…
Auckland has 250 licenced gambling venues. Problem gambling destroys families and leads to crime. So, it's only natural that the government would want to encourage more gambling, eh? SkyCity wants to build a $350m casino/convention centre but only if it gets a law change. Key…
The Herald has a story about the database debacle in which Labour's president states: one of the first downloads of the information appeared to be from a National Party head office internet address If this is the case it raises some serious issues about how…
At 9am today Slater is probably going to publish a list of some of the donors to the Labour Party. I've got two quick comments. First - a big thank you to every person on that list! I'm an active member of the Labour Party,…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Watch Kelvin Davis on Q+A with Hone Harawira. He was superb. He says the message he is giving about being part of the future for Maori is resonating around the Tai Tokerau. I'll bet it is. The by-election result could be very interesting indeed. I…
Some bloggers are having a bit of a fit over some minutes that were sent to National MP Aaron Gilmore by accident and that include a note of a discussion of parliamentary services resource. While that's a bit of a non-story and Cameron Slater's "big…
National knows that the public oppose its agenda of asset sales, lower wages, and service cuts. So they're going to campaign dirty. They're running this week's muck-throwing via sickness beneficiary* Cameron Slater. The Nats breached the Labour Party website and stole a list of online…
Looks like someone in Labour North has been careless and left stuff accessible on line that they shouldn't. The Herald describes the "Labour Party's information breach". That's a serious cockup, especially the personal membership details, and it needs to be fixed yesterday. So now the…
Amongst the many vacuous claims made in relation to the last budget, this one always struck me as the standout: Greater level of private savings for KiwiSaver 19 May 2011 by Hon Bill English Changes to KiwiSaver will encourage a higher level of private savings,…