I have collected up the available documentation on the men killed in the forest since 2008. I am going to try, using the documents I have, to tell their story – one at a time. I haven’t been able to contact all the families of…
Nice to be able to congratulate the Nats on an environmental decision for a change! One News reports... Minister rejects proposed Milford Tunnel project The proposal to build a tunnel through the Fiordland and Mt Aspiring National Parks has been declined, Conservation Minister Dr Nick…
Houses are seriously unaffordable, especially for first-time buyers. Labour has proposed a capital gains tax, to try and take some of the heat out of the speculative market (cash rich investors snapping up all the houses for capital gain), and KiwiBuild to build 10,000 new…
This is disgraceful: A visiting economist has accused Finance Minister Bill English of "bullying" and "menace" after a heated encounter in a TV studio. London School of Economics Professor Robert Wade said Mr English made a stabbing motion with his finger towards his chest and…
So, Tariana Turia is finally dropping the pretense that Whanau Ora is anything but a scheme to privatise social assistance and put it in the hands of unaccountable private groups. Not content with funding family reunions and other bollocks, Turia is now handing the funding…
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No Right Turn points out how useless our security minister is. To say this is astonishing would be an understatement John Key's chief justification for his spy law giving the GCSB the right to spy on all New Zealanders is cost: it would apparently cost…
I have collected up the available documentation on the men killed in the forest since 2008. I am going to try, using the documents I have, to tell their story – one at a time. I haven’t been able to contact all the families of…
In the last week there has been some news coverage of UK PM David Cameron's links to corporate lobbyists. There is strong criticism of his links with big tobacco lobbyists, via his Conservative Party's election adviser, Lynton Crosby of Crosby Textor notoriety. This link is…
The Generation Zero speaking tour kicked off last night to a packed house in Dunedin. Generation Zero are asking - "What's the holdup?" Why is there no action on carbon emissions and climate change? Right now, we have the opportunity to lead the way to…
Len Brown formally announced on Sunday that he will again seek the Auckland Super City Mayoralty. His chances appear good. His opponents to date include rich American John Pallino, who is not known locally and whose comments are simplistic in the extreme, John Minto whose…
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...
According to the tip line the farcical duo of Lusk and Slater will soon be kicking off a large negative campaign against Len Brown. (Apparently John Slater is right-wing candidate John Palino's campaign manager.) Recall that Lusk was after big American money trying to interfere…
Way back before the 2008 election the Labour led government was criticised by the Human Rights Commission, among others, over the first draft of the Electoral Finance Bill (EFB). The response of that government was to revise the Bill - largely (though not completely) to…
Today the Nact governments war on beneficiaries steps up a gear with widespread changes to the social security system. Fronted by John Key and Paula Bennett, who got a great start in their adult lives from the social security system that was developed in the…
A UK study has found that public perceptions of key issues that the Right tries to win votes on are vast exaggerations of reality. People think 24% of benefit money is obtained fraudulently, when it's actually 0.7%. They think there are twice as many immigrants…
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...
The ability of doctors to refuse to provide proper healthcare if God says it's bad is again in the spotlight, with a Blenheim GP refusing to prescribe the Pill to a patient because he decided she needed to have babies, and her views on the…
NZ signed a new trade agreement with Taiwan this week. For the first time the reference to labour standards is squarely in the agreement rather than as a separate memorandum. "Each party shall respect, promote, and recognise in its laws, regulations, policies and practices, the…
A significant proportion of the media is now heavily invested in the narrative that David Shearer is about to be rolled as Labour leader. In particular Patrick Gower and Duncan Garner have become so obsessed that they have become the object of regular satire. Matt…
My semi-regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring). This week: the problem…
A Sunday feature - each week a random section scanned from a copy of The Standard, September 15th, 1938. Find out more here. Click on the image for a bigger version.
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...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYJZ7A_Qcdw Rosy commented this morning about the amazing speech that Malala Yousafzei has made to the United Nations. Malala is the young woman who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for education for young women. She had advocated publicly for the…
In Poverty Watch 34 I had a detailed look at the government's "response" to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) 2012 report "Child Poverty in New Zealand evidence for action". The response could best be described as pathetic. Here's an interesting piece published in the Huffington Post…
A correspondent on Al Jazeera NewsHour this morning claimed that, while the polls are all over the place, US-ians tend to see Edward Snowden as more traitor than whistleblower. She also said that in the US, there is a lack of widespread outrage at the…