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The Prime Minister chairs Cabinet. The Budget is signed off, policy by policy, by Cabinet. Any competent Prime Minister would be intimately familiar with the major policy changes well before they even get to Cabinet. So, it was very interesting to see Audrey Young's 'insider'…
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Three are puppets, one's a muppet?
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I have never been prouder of NZ than I was when we went Nuclear Free. We put principle ahead of profit, we stood up to some heavy diplomatic pressure, and we spoke our piece to the world. Lange in the Oxford Union debate - magnificent…
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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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Before the captions, some serious analysis, because this new Nat promo photo really astounds me.I honestly don't know what the Nats were thinking. It might work if Key were a nationally-adored figure, a kindly uncle, who had delivered a golden age for the country (fat-arse…
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The Nats' agenda. You don't usually see it stated as succinctly as this: While middle New Zealand buys the idea of Budget surplus, it seems less keen to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve it. English can only suck so much by way of savings…
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Most economists seem to be stuck in an an orthodoxy rut, leading many to wonder why we take economists so seriously: Why all this panic, though? Aren't economists in charge of it all? Yes. And this is the problem. These highly skilled people carry on,…
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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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Last week I wrote about how the mass arrest of protesters last week was planned by police from the beginning. A couple of days later I was told that 10 minutes before the march a Police Liaison Officer spoke to protest organisers and stated that…
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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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The neoliberals hate democracy. It tends to get in the way. Especially local government. It's easier to control a single unicameral Parliament than it is to control 70-odd territorial authorities. National has attacked local government, particularly in Auckland and Canterbury but now they're going all…
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A coalition of parents, teachers, and educational organisations at all levels has just forced the government into a substantial backdown on its ill conceived plan to increase class sizes. Well and good - but don't waste the momentum! While the links and the energy that…
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After hearing 150 oral submissions and receiving thousands more written ones, National's members of the Finance and Select Committee shut down the Committee's consideration of the evidence they had heard on the asset sales bill after just 1 hour. And why not? They had had…
democracy under attack democratic participation privatisation
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I am a bad person. I know this because I got a bit of a kick out of right wing loon Matthew Hooton's latest column: Govt fiscal strategy to unravel after humiliating education u-turn The government’s humiliating but inevitable rout over its dopey plan to…
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Two major new reports out yesterday show the earth is headed for a tipping point: our consumption is unsustainable, and we're degrading the environment. Soon it will be beyond the point of return. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has a 5 yearly Global Environment Outlook…
climate change Conservation disaster Environment sustainability water
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National's flip-flop on class sizes shows not only what a poorly-thought through policy it was but that this government still values its skin above doing what it thinks it right. Faced with a popular revolt and the possibility of marches to eclipse even the anti-mining…
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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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Nanaia Mahuta has a wicked sense of humour, as well as being a very smart politician. She's issued a report card on National's performance on education - Tolley gets a C- for cuts to adult and community education, a D- for slashing cuts to early…
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More grim reading for the Nats in The Herald this morning: NZ says no to larger schoolrooms A nationwide survey has given a strong indication that New Zealanders don't want larger class sizes. The street survey conducted by APN newspapers from Whangarei to Dunedin showed…
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Mike said it yesterday but it bears repeating: Bennett is running misdirection for the Parata. Not letting bad parents have more kids is actually nothing new. It's just the existing, and warranted, powers courts have to order CYFS to take newborns into custody and to…
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A year in to its 10-year, $300 million contract, and Serco is making a real hash of running Mt Eden Prison. A second escape this week, along with two late releases, failure to meet drug testing targets and failure to report as agreed. And these…
accountability prisons privatisation Public Private Partnerships
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They say that making predictions is hard, especially about the future. But what about the past? The Government's Budget was released on May 24th, and it's already proving to be wrong about the state of the economy and the books before then. They said 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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In the lead up to last year's budget John Key said that the poor and those on benefits had made lifestyle choices. If they budgeted properly, they'd be fine. But things aren't fine, and they're getting worse in John Key's New Zealand. Which is why…
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Same old National - when they're in trouble, out comes the club for a distracting headline. Hekia Parata's under fire and digging herself into a very deep hole, so Paula Bennett rides to the rescue with the "news" that Cabinet is discussing allowing judges to…
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Like the character, Nick Taylor, in the movie, 'Thank You For Smoking', self-styled "Oil lobbyist", David Robinson is a highly paid apologist for the fossil fuel lobby. Robinson's job is to counter the environmental movement on one hand, and encourage the big investors to put…
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The transit of Venus, as visible from NZ, got underway at about 10:15am, and should continue until around 4:43pm. If the cloud cover in your part of the country allows you a view, it's probably your last chance to see this rare astronomical event (the…
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So Hekia Parata has refused to front up to education groups against her bigger class sizes. Apparently she will defuse their anger by trying to meet organisations individually next week, on her own terms, no doubt with no large groups invited. People are angry, and…
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Over at Red Alert, Chris Hipkins asks a question that must have occurred to almost every politician and commentator since the budget - how did National get it so wrong on the cuts that would costs too many schools far too many teachers? Chris shows…
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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...