Post
Weekend social 01/03/2013
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?
Explore the archive
Search · 2013-01-01 to 2013-12-31 · Page 59
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1,741–1,770 of 2,055
Post
Caption contest
Post
Transmission Gully: $60m before a sod even turned
So far, the government has spent $33 million on Transmission Gully. They're planning on spending another $30m just to sign the contract on the Public-Private Partnership. That's over $60m down the drain on a project with only $360-$500m of benefits before a single metre of…
Post
Greens announce non-racist policy; 3News decides to make it racist
The Green Party are supporting moves to limit the ability of non-New Zealanders to buy property in New Zealand, following a poll which showed 2/3 of respondents agreed with the idea. 3News decided in its infinite wisdom to jazz up this story by staking out…
Post
“Minister for Small Things”
Yesterday, David Cunliffe, in response to Peter Dunne's Student Loan Amendment Bill, labelled Dunne as "Minister for Small Changes" (to the student loan and child support Bills), and "Minister for Small Things". Small, but significant in relation to Dunne's MO. Cunliffe talked about the growing…
capital gains class war david cunliffe housing overseas investment tertiary education tv
Post
The last piece of the Hobbit story
On the 20th of October 2010 Sir Peter Jackson went public with claims the Hobbit was endangered by a union do-not-work notice he described as “blacklisting”. The resulting fracas and the final deal done between the Government and Warners are now all too well known.…
Post
The Government must be crazy
Apparently National are considering 3 asset sales this year. Mighty River in May / June, and perhaps 2 in November, as there are only 2 windows you can really make a sale in (due to rules around accounting numbers etc). Can they really be serious…
Post
The Daily Blog
Today marks the launch of a new leftwing political blog in NZ, The Daily Blog. Driven by Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury and featuring a line-up of over 30 writers! Should become a blogging force to be reckoned with. Go check them out...
Post
Open mike 01/03/2013
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
Latest Roy Morgan… a bit shit
I guess the title says it all. The latest Roy Morgan has National at 47.5% (up 3.5%), Labour 30.5% (down 4%), Greens 12.5%, and NZ First at 3%. I'm not really in the mood to piss around with analysis tonight. You've heard me moan about…
Post
Project complete (at least for the moment)
Regular readers of this site will have been noticing my relative absence over the last few months. That was because we have been finishing off a project at work. Well this morning the final release of the code (revision 6085) got stamped on to the…
Post
Caption contest
Post
John Key: High dollar works for me
John Key was unexpectedly forthright today as he said that the high dollar was good - for him. Look, it keeps my petrol prices down, so I can keep the old gas-guzzler turning over. And you should see how many HD TVs I can get…
Post
Regulate this!
There is a lot of call in the comments here for Labour to come out and say they will buy National-sold assets back (at sale or market price, whichever lower) - or indeed take them back. An announcement will render the assets unsellable. The view we've…
Post
Child Support (Almost) Amendment Bill: Cunliffe speech
I caught the end of another excellent Cunlife speech last night on my TV. He was speaking to the Child Support Amendment Bill (Committee Stage Schedule 2). Cunliffe was on fire, with some very pertinent points, highlighting the government's callous disregard of child poverty and single/separated (usually…
child welfare class david cunliffe families greens labour same old national
Post
Open mike 28/02/2013
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
Charles’ valedictory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X4eex99cxzk Labour has lost a fine legal mind. Good luck Charles, you've done good, and hopefully David Shearer will heed your advice.
Post
Breaking: Supreme Court dismisses Maori Council appeal
Unanimous decision by the 5 judges to dismiss the Maori Council's appeal. The sale of Mighty River Power will proceed - John Key said that if the decision was this month then they would have it floated by the end of June. Bill English is…
Post
Caption Contest
Post
Marriage equality bill progresses
Good news, as Louisa Wall's Marriage Equality Bill progresses through select committee. Here's THe Herald coverage: A Parliamentary Select Committee has recommended that a bill to legalise same-sex marriage be passed into law. The Government Administration Committee said the private member's bill should progress, but…
Post
Derisory minimum wage
The minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour (as Labour MP David Clark's bill proposed). A living wage is estimated at $18.40 per hour. So what have the Nats done? Raised the minimum wage by $0.25 per hour to $13.75. It's a derisory…
Post
Lies and sanctions
What are we as citizens to do when a government deliberately and shamelessly lies to us? Because it's now clear that that is what the Nats have done, as even The Herald reports: The Hobbit documents released: Govt knew union ban lifted The Government was…
Post
Towards a more inequal New Zealand
The average CEO got a 10% pay rise last year. The average worker got 2.6%. Minimum wage workers will get 1.9% - a 25 cent an hour token gesture. And 30,000 fewer of us have jobs than a year ago and are not earning at…
Post
Open mike 27/02/2013
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
JK wants to inject life into zombie
John Key is keen that the ACT party is "regenerating". Apparently a weekend bash at super-rich Alan Gibb's Randian paradise means they can now put baby-name stealing, Brash takeovers, internecine coups, Banksian donations and memory failures behind them. That's if a party that registered 0%,…
Post
Hobbit emails show Jackson’s dodgy dealings
The government has released the Hobbit documents. The Ombudsman ordered them to. The full release is available at stuff and what stands out (apart from the insistent and narcissistic tone of every film industry correspondent) is the fact that Peter Jackson himself noted the "do…
Post
Low priority: pedestrians & wheelchairs
Yesterday's appalling accident with a woman in a wheelchair being caught in the tracks at Morningside rail crossing, highlights several problems with the hierarchies operating in our transportation systems. In the end, all the rescuers could do was tip the chair on its side and…
Post
Pariah Parata
I'm starting to feel sorry for Hekia Parata. In his column yesterday Armstrong referred to her as "something of a pariah figure" in the education portfolio. Her colleagues clearly don't take her seriously any more - her decisions are now being "rolled by her cabinet…
Post
Bad taste of Sky City lingers
The Auditor General's report on Key's dodgy dealings with Sky City provoked a real storm of commentary. I covered John Armstrong, but at the time I missed this strong piece by Vernon Small: SkyCity stench demands restart No corruption but a corrupted process. And because…
Post
Key shoots back(wards)
John Key is under real pressure over the Solid Energy debacle. Smile and wave doesn't cut it any more - so he's got out his six-shooter. He dug out a speech by Trevor Mallard to try to blame Labour for Solid Energy's woes. Trouble is…