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If New Zealand's economy could be powered by empty promises and pollyanna-ish optimism, then John Key would have the best economic record in the country's history. Actually, he has one of the worst. Vernon Small today mocks Key's unwillingness to put a downer on the…
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Happiness surrounds us in our lives; our music tells us to be happy, our facebook profiles suggest we’re always happy, and most of us have a willingness to work for material happiness. Yet happiness is a subject often missing from political discourse in our country,…
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One of the big stories last night was the anti-VSM protest at Auckland Uni. From TVNZ: Police break up student protest Police say a student protest outside their central Auckland HQ has ended with one arrest. A group of students were sitting outside the station…
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On Sunday, Don Brash decided to muse on decriminalising cannabis. It's not ACT policy, we're meant to understand, it's just the Party Leader making a speech and saying 'this would be a good idea'. Well, I'm sorry but in what world is that not a…
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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...
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Guyon Espiner interviewed Imran Khan, whose party is poised for victory in the Pakistani elections next year. He had stark words on how the Pakistani allegiance with the US during the war in Afghanistan has fueled radicalism and resistance. His message to New Zealand is:…
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John Hartevelt - "Key is massively over-exposed on any number of fronts, but nowhere more so than at Pike River." Key routinely promises big: close the wage gap, roaring out of recession, national cycleway, no equity loss for redzoners, Pike River bodies out, no GST…
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Decriminalising marijuana just makes sense. 400,000 people are regular users. Prohibition costs half a billion a year, is ineffective, and fuels the gangs. So good on Brash for raising the issue. It's totally consistent with ACT's values. Problem is, John Banks and Don Nicolson don't…
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John Key is a very partisan politician. He is ridiculously negative on seemingly any proposal raised by a perceived political opponent. Key infamously called Working For Families "communism by stealth" (his government now supports it). Key made a fool of himself ranting that Labour's capital gains…
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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...
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So it turns out that last Friday the government changed the law to make it impossible for film industry groups to stop overseas workers from being brought in to do Kiwi film jobs if those jobs last two weeks or less. That means that any…
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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...
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Out of the blue, ACT Deputy Leader and Parliamentary Leader John Boscawen has announced he is withdrawing from the party's list. He'll still run for ACT in Tamaki but he has no chance of winning. This means that, incredibly, none of ACT's sitting MPs will…
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One of the criticisms levelled at MMP is that it means the tail wags the dog. But if it wasn't for the Alliance, the Greens and New Zealand first, we wouldn't have Kiwibank, home insulation, or the Gold Card. We wouldn't have a competitive New…
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A little light weekend entertainment. And blatant page-view grabbing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z3r9X8OahA&feature=channel_video_title
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No Right Turn on the blank cheque that National wants to give to the police to cover their past mistakes. Thanks to the Labour Party, the government's draft Video Camera Surveillance (Temporary Measures) (AKA Rule of Law Repeal) Bill is now available [PDF]. The bill is very short,…
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John Key talking at the Champion Canterbury awards in Christchurch on Thursday night: ''We're a $200 billion economy with 2.2 million fulltime jobs. In the end the thing that makes a difference is the business community - they're the ones when confidence is high employs people…
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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...
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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An alert reader pointed out the new tourism forecasts. I take a few points from this: Tourism has been in decline since 2004 but it really started plummeting after 2009. Tourism income has fallen over 10% in the last three years. Who's Minister of Tourism,…
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Moving Planet is a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. It is being held on 24th September 2011 – a day to move beyond fossil fuels. Check out the Moving Planet web site, the New Zealand page, or this summary of events in…
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Three time election loser Don Brash has announced he will stand in North Shore. Having lost the safe National seat of East Coast Bays twice to Social Credit(!) and the unloseable election as leader in 2005, his odds of defeating even Maggie Barry, a novice best…
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As most of the headlines this morning focus on the crumbling world economy, it was interesting to hear Bill English on RNZ (audio link). The world economy is slowing down a bit ... Quite a talent for understatement. We haven't been able to dig the big…
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Several commentators have suggested recently that the Greens have crossed some kind of "credibility threshold" and are poised for a strong performance in November. Here's John Armstrong: 'Green Wave' shows party is serious ... Now comes - for want of a better term - the…
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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...
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So here we are then, "roaring out of recession": Economy stagnates, dollar dives New Zealand's economic growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter and the dollar dropped straight after the low number came out. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1% in the three…
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The peculiar tribe of climate change deniers have two major characteristics as far as I'm concerned. They prefer to avoid understanding science to the point that they don't read the actual science papers that they refer to. So when they refer to a paper you…
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From the Herald: "Labour looks almost certain to oppose the bill after justice spokesman Charles Chauvel had his first look at the draft. "There's no undertaking about avoiding urgency or going to a select committee, and the bill itself goes much further than anything we've…
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It's a bit of a worry that the PM seems to be clueless about the complexity and interdependence of the world economy. Only from a state of blissful ignorance could Key be claiming that she'll be right: PM not too worried by IMF's alarm bells…