Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 51
Post
David Shearer's brand is of a new kind of politician. Not burdened by the old rivalries, he is touted as the man that can move New Zealand forwards - a consensus-builder rather than a scarred old warrior. The weekend media coverage has been excellent. His…
Post
One of my Sunday morning treats is listening to Mediawatch while I potter in the kitchen. It's the show that watches the watchers. It's always interesting, often acerbic or insightful, and sometimes fascinating. It should be required listening not just for political junkies, but for…
Post
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...
Post
Back in August, a post commented on the four year sentence handed down to a couple of kids in England who had used Facebook posts to incite a riot. At the time, I commented how two Scottish kids had been arrested on the same charges.…
Post
The judicial recount has given Waitakere back to Bennett. By 9 votes. Could swing back on a high court petition. Who knows who really has more support out west. Sepuloni and Bennett are essentially as popular as each other. Just shows the stupidity of winner…
Post
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...
Post
I first became aware of the Bureau of Investigative Journalists latest work with Kim Hill's interview last Saturday. The Bureau's been investigating lobbying, and more specifically, Britain's top PR firm (as rated by PRWeek and Marketing magazine for the past 4 years), Bell Pottinger (headed…
Post
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here —————————————————— Uncle Ernie: Hidden In Plain Sight A mate of mine wrote this week: The Greens are dangerous. They are more than a polite group…
Post
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?
Post
In 2008 on 16 December, the previous Electoral Commission released its non-decision on the address I used on Chris Knox's CD "it's a better way with Labour". They were embarrassed and buried it in the pre-Christmas dump. This December, I'm waiting for a much more…
Post
We have great expectations of our members of parliament. They are there to represent our views as citizens of New Zealand, as members of our own little town or big city, perhaps as women or liberals or environmentalists. To manage those expectations our politicians are…
Post
Brian Fellow wrote a piece in the Herald yesterday on how NZ has too many ministers. Hard not to agree. 28 ministers. Nearly half of the governing parties' MPs. 90+ portfolios. Ministerial warrants are clearly being used to keep backbenchers and minor parties in line.…
Post
Not with a bang but a whimper. On Wednesday President Obama marked the end of the war in Iraq: Barack Obama declares Iraq war a success President told an audience of soldiers at Fort Bragg that the final pullout after nearly nine years of conflict…
Post
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...
Post
So Mighty River Power is first on the block, to be sold in the third quarter of next year (market conditions permitting). John Key was typically nowhere near the announcement, leaving unpopular news to henchman Bill English and Tony Ryall. But up for sale it…
Post
There was a very good science piece on Nine-to-Noon this morning, covering some of Kathryn Ryan's trip to Antarctica. Some of the subject matter was disturbing - they've recorded a drop in the pH of the ocean from 8.2 to 8.1 due to human CO2…
Post
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here ————————— Pensioner Couple Trumps Higgs Boson Discovery Physicists elated at what they believe is their discovery of the Higgs boson particle have been shocked to…
Post
The problems of inequality, poverty, and particularly child poverty, finally got some attention during the election campaign. NZ has appalling stats on child poverty, and it is doing real damage to our society. This year 3 News ran a strong focus on the issue, culminating…
Post
Some people reckon that if you run as an electorate candidate and lose you shouldn't be allowed to go in as a list MP. You're 'not wanted'. But that doesn't make sense. Some electorate MPs won with 6,000-8,000 votes, while 19 list MPs won more…
Post
Labour's leadership contest has hogged the headlines for weeks, and the last couple of days has seen a focus on the winning team of David Shearer and Grant Robertson. Now that the new leaders are settling in, I think we should all take a moment…
Post
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...
Post
One of David Shearer's campaign volunteers organised this video as a surprise for David on the night of the Mt Albert By-Election in 2009. We played it to David and the Labour Party activists during the election night celebrations and I've had it sitting on…
Post
mickysavage at Waitakere News writes about a topic that none of us have had time for - numbers. The leadership changes have been clogging the posts. The election result figures are finally in. At 27.5% of the popular vote Labour's result is the worst since…
Post
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here ————————— "You talkin' to me?" Hayden Donnell of the Herald reports: New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has refused to say whether he backs one…
Post
There's talk Shearer might hand Cunliffe the poisoned chalice of foreign affairs. As Clark did her main rival, Goff. That's no job for a man with a young family. Anyway, Goff'll want it back ahead of taking the Chinese ambassadorship. Instead, let Cunliffe swap with…
david cunliffe david parker david shearer labour Shane Jones
Post
Congratulations David Shearer, you're leader of the Left now, and the prime target for the Right's smear machine. The Right's strategy is obvious: bait and switch. Having proclaimed Shearer's virtues to high heaven, they (and their useful idiots) will now say 'who is this man?',…
Post
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...
Post
Canada is to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, making it one of 2 nations in the world (along with the US) to be formally outside it1. The reason? The protocol "does not represent a way forward for Canada" - as it faces $NZ17.4 billion in…
Post
Phil O'Reilly's article in today's DomPost headed "The rich get richer but so do the poor " is appalling. Responding to the OECD report on inequality, he is following in the footsteps of Alasdair Thompson. BusinessNZ are still dinosaur employers from the Victorian age. There's…
Post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uShY8wy2Q8I