Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 151–180 of 184
Post
Last month, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne told us "I don't support a minimum pricing regime ... a lot of the material that I've seen from other jurisdictions raises more doubts than support for the issue of minimum alcohol pricing". Now, an OIA reveals the…
Post
"Unusual and inappropriate" - that's how the Waitangi Tribunal has described National's 'report by August 24th or we'll ignore you' ultimatum. Imagine if you or I were party to a court case and tried that! Now, the Tribunal is going to deliver a truncated report…
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
At around 5:30pm this evening Curiosity will either touch down safely on Mars, or make (another) expensive smudge on the surface. Various links below - tune in. Good luck Curiosity... http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120805-nasa-tv-mars-landing-rover-curiosity-science-how-watch-see/ http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/370520/20120805/nasa-mars-landing-curiosity-live-stream-watch.htm
Post
From I/S at No Right Turn... Not worth it Over the weekend, we were told that another two kiwi soldiers had died in Afghanistan. The total New Zealand body-count is now seven, five of them in combat. The politicians are all spouting the usual crap: bravery,…
Post
The design of the red-zone buy-out puts CERA first, the insurers seconds, and the earthquake victims last. Homeowners could take the 2007 valuation for their property, ignoring subsequent improvements, or the 2007 valuation for their land plus whatever their insurance company would give for the…
Post
Key called hypocrite over class sizes Those savings [from bigger classes] will go towards improving teacher training, which the National Party argues is a more important factor in educational achievement than class size. Key: Don't worry about unqualified teachers Prime Minister John Key says people…
Post
Meh. National has race-baited over water rights to win back some of its wavering lower-middle class Pakeha support. It's won some of that support back. For now. The thing about turning tides is that not every wave, or even every set of waves for some…
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
For a guy whose god had two dads, Colin Craig seems pretty worked up about gays. He's raised the spectre of marriage equality leading to polygamous marriage. I'm not sure what's meant to be so scary about that. Polygamous relationships are legal. But Craig seems…
Post
The Nats are running their various ideological policies in education, claiming (while contradicting themselves in the process) that they are trying to address the "one in five children" who do poorly at school. I've written on the subject of one in five children before, concluding…
Post
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. The Government has decided to change the way it funds Community Law Centres. There are 26 Community Law Centres, and they provide legal…
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
Has Fran O'Sullivan been replaced by a communist infiltrator? Today, she gushes over a central government plan to use emergency powers to appropriate land and bypass RMA property rights. She even suggests the Government could use such powers to redesign other CBDs according to its…
Post
The Nats are in a hurry: We're not waiting, Govt tells tribunal Mr English said he had asked the tribunal to deliver its findings by August 24 because the Government would need to make decisions by the first week of September if it were to…
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
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
Anyone else taking a perverse pleasure in the Pullar-Collins-Boag-Judge affair? They're all Tory villains. And they're eating each other alive. Judge was handpicked to privatise ACC. Now, Collins is trying to stick the Boag email leak to him, Did he do it? Who knows. The…
Post
So, the Nats want unqualified teachers teaching the country's most disadvantaged kids in charter schools. This is meant to close the gap with rich kids. Oddly, private schools opt for trained teachers. Also, oddly, it was only 2 months ago that the Nats were saying…
Post
The Nats forced perfectly good state schools to use national standards as a "solution" to the problem that some kids (they claim 1 in 5) leave school without a formal qualification: [Tolley] "New Zealand elected a Government that promised to introduce national standards so that…
Post
A stockmarket float can't happen at just any time. It needs to be close to the annual report or late enough in the new year to allow new numbers to be made after the Christmas break. So 2 windows a year. 5 to the election.…
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
Labour's alternative economic policy got a huge boost last week, courtesy of the Members' Bill lottery. Sue Moroney's Paid Parental Leave Bill and David Clark's Mondayising of holidays Bills were introduced in the House and forwarded to Select Committees. Investment in parents and small children,…
Post
Reprinted with permission from bsprout at Local Bodies... NZ Charter Schools Defined Despite the fact that education is one of the few sectors in New Zealand that is performing well in international terms this National led Government have spent a good amount of time, money and…
Post
There are many similarities between the foreshore and seabed debate, and the current events unfolding around Maori water rights. In dealing with these National has two big advantages compared to the previous Labour government. First, the experience of watching Labour navigate the foreshore and seabed.…
Post
Man, this brighter future sure is sweet. In just four short years, all the country's problems are solved and the Prime Minister has literally nothing left to do. For a lark, he spends his time playing DJ. Oh... wait. There's a #DJJohnKey hashtag on Twitter.…
Post
"In all these roles and at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and to behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical standards. Ultimately, Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour." - The Cabinet…
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
In a lecture titled "Sovereignty, sustainable development and social justice. Priorities for social democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand," Dr Peter Davis will discuss how we have been here before - our population is bleeding to Australia, we remained locked-in to low-added value commodity production, we…
Post
As has been well covered in the media, some Auckland ratepayers are in for a rude shock: Aucklanders brace for rates shock More than a quarter of a million Auckland households are in for a shock when rates bills averaging an 8.1 per cent increase…