Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1,591–1,620 of 2,055
Post
At Massey Albany Campus tonight, 6pm (for 6.30 lecture), Professor Christoph Schumacher will look at the question "Should we be aiming for continual economic growth within a finite environment?" Quotes from Professor Schumacher: “The drive for greater growth and productivity is depleting our resources without satisfying…
Post
Yesterday, I watched a lot of the speeches, mainly by opposition MPs, in the committee stages (parts 1 and 2) of the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. Green, Labour and NZ First MPs highlighted much of the evils of this piece of…
ACC benefits child welfare families greens jobs labour nz first paula bennett phil goff unemployment welfare
Post
Audrey Young and Simon Collins should get danger money for spinning this hard: Cities muffle Christchurch growth Auckland and Wellington are still dragging down New Zealand's job market, despite spectacular earthquake recovery-related growth in Christchurch. Auckland and Wellington are muffling growth and dragging down the…
Post
I've been reading the Law Commission report that proposes a News Media Standards Authority to - voluntarily - cover all news agencies, including blogs. It's a bit sad, really. It's clearly been written by a group of old white men with no real idea now…
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, it looks like Paula Bennett doesn't hate all beneficiaries with the power of a thousand suns! After taking a close, careful look at a particular group of beneficiaries - those being paid to look after children of parents who are "incapable or unable to…
Post
Last night I went to a Green Party public meeting in West Auckland, on their Home for Life, Affordable Housing policy. The speakers were Metiria Turei, Holly Walker and Alan Johnson (of the Child Poverty Action Group and Salvation Army). It gave me a better understanding…
child welfare cost of living Environment families greens housing Metiria Turei poverty public services
Post
I am at the Governing Body meeting of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. The GB is the tripartite executive that governs the place. There are 33 union representatives on the GB and a fair few of them live in very dangerous circumstances because of…
Post
One of the consequences of the big banks being allowed to socialise their losses (have taxpayers pay for their bailouts) is the sovereign debt crisis that is messily unfolding in Europe. The latest hotspot is Cyprus. One of the EU proposals for dealing the debt…
Post
Key reacts to criticism of his appalling jobs record, which has 300,000 Kiwis jobless and 30,000 fewer people in work in the last year: "Throw criticism if you see things that we are not doing, but in terms of trying to stimulate jobs we've done…
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
It's interesting how little understanding there is of the state and politics within the Parliamentary Labour Party. A lot of the coverage of Labour’s internal workings has tended to personalise the tension – it’s been focused on Shearer vs Cunliffe without any questions about what…
Post
There is an important summit on renewable energy in the Pacific in Auckland today and tomorrow, which is strongly supported by the PM. His press release focuses on the investment opportunities it provides, rather than the needs of Pacific people and their communities. Nevertheless, it's…
aid climate change Conservation energy International john key sustainability
Post
National, the party of beneficiary bashing, is on a crusade against parents on the DBP. It's horrifying quite how open they are about it: Beneficiaries having babies 'reason' for reform As the second round of welfare reforms come back before Parliament, Social Development Minister Paula…
Post
The proportion on people who have pre-registerd for Mighty River Power, according to the Stuff poll: Reality: (440,000 pre-registrations, well short of the half a million the Right was touting) Methinks the readership of newsites leans significantly to the middle class and elite. Out of…
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
Today we again have the Herald's resident ignoramus Damien Grant sounds off about something he knows nothing about. As usual just looking at numbers without understanding what they represent and leaps to wrong conclusions. For a start he tries to compare the $8000 Watercare charge…
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
... which I have no doubt will be blithely reported by our mainstream media as though it's meaningful. The actual question asked: “Should families where there is both a mum and a dad have priority for the adoption of babies and children?” The headline which…
Post
The funeral was a very full house and hard. You may have even seen it on Campbell Live; The Herald gave it front page this morning. Now comes the hard part, surviving the aftermath, the years with a hole in your heart, the family with…
Post
I/S at No Right Turn on youth rates... National: Restoring discrimination National's bill to restore age-discrimination in pay rates passed its third reading last night. So, from May 1st, National's cronies will be able to pay someone less simply because of their age. And this is…
Post
Three of the Herald's political staff has a crack at trying to explain why National polled 48.5% in the latest Herald-Digipoll. Consensus seems to be that John Key's an angel sent to earth to do very little but keep enough of the middle class happy…
Post
Over the next few posts in this series I'll be looking at the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCCC) 2012 report "Child Poverty in New Zealand evidence for action". It's a substantial document, prepared by an Expert Advisory Group after an extensive process of consultation,…
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
The poor tend to be understood as the rational inferiors of the well-off, to the extent that political arguments now largely revolve around their management rather than their representation. Olwyn
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
2.5% GDP growth last year. The Right's jumping out of their skin at finally achieving the long-run average growth rate (btw, from 1999 to 2008, the average was 3.4%). But even on their good days, they're doing it wrong: "The "consumer-centric" mix of growth was…
Post
No Right Turn asked an interesting question yesterday about how the appointment of Susan Devoy was made. Yesterday Justice Minister Judith Collins appointed former squash player Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner. Other people have already argued strongly that this is a poor appointment, and I agree.…
Post
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The revenue portfolio looked like a pretty big step down for someone of Cunliffe's experience and skill - it's usually a training ground for first-termers - but that experience and skill has allowed him to make something of…
Post
Rather than add my two cents to the debate about whether she's up to the job or not (she's clearly not), I'd like to point out that this is essentially Judith Collins telling liberal New Zealand it can go f**k itself. Given this fact, the…