Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 36
Post
The text of David Cunliffe's speech to the 2014 Labour Party congress. Tena tatou e te whanau o te Roopu Reipa i tenei ra. Tenei te mihi kia koutou katoa. It’s 2014. It’s election year. And we are going to win. President Moira Coatsworth, ALP…
Post
Following on from yesterday's announcement of proposed help to equip young students with technology David Cunliffe's speech today is expected to announce reduced class sizes using the money set aside for the so called super teacher policy. From Radio New Zealand: The Labour Party will…
Post
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Post
I have spent a large chunk of the this week digging my way into Labour's fiscal plan after the Liu smear collapsed. I think that the fiscal plan is a work of art, and very classy art at that. Of course you have to read it closely and…
Post
David Parker's speech at Labour's Congress today was passionate, comprehensive, and fully thought through. Respected for his intellect, Parker also said "My political heart lies in what has become something of a quaint notion these days, the notion of an egalitarian society. Perhaps it's because…
Post
Since 1976, I've been living on one side of the digital divide. That was the year that by biology teacher, Graham Bean at Mt Albert let me play on his HP25C with its 49 programming steps and a moon-lander program. It was an instant addiction,…
Post
Reposted from Bryan Gould Murray McCully draws a substantial salary as a Minister and seems to enjoy the prestige and perks that come with being New Zealand’s Foreign Minister. He doesn’t seem quite so keen on facing up to his responsibilities. What is admitted by…
accountability conservative party International national Parliament Politics public services same old national
Post
The media has this really frustrating practice whereby big issues raised by the opposition are broken down into simplistic analysis of stray collections of words and then this is used as a means of attack. As we saw this week a Minister can absolutely drop the…
david cunliffe equality labour making shit up Media poverty spin
Post
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Post
Reposted from No Right Turn. One of the core principles of our public service is that Ministers have no role in staffing decisions. This is not the era of Seddon, where a Minister can hire or fire at will, and stack "their" department with cronies…
Post
Responses to TV3's miniseries, Hope and Wire, based on the Christchurch quakes & aftermath, have been mixed. The main cause of the division is likely to be that it is an Auckland outsiders* view of the events, and that it deals with some general themes. For people…
Post
I realise that journalists have to show some column inches sometimes to justify their existence on the payroll. However the "Investigations editor" Jared Savage at the the NZ Herald appears to be overdoing that and just dropping journalism to new lows of stupid reporting. The…
Post
It's true, Labour does have a plan to win this election. And the plan's a good one. Campaign Manager David Talbot and Polity's Rob Salmond presented it to members and media this morning at the Loaves and Fishes in Wellington, so it is out in…
Post
Reposted from Polity. The Expert Advisory Panel on Domestic Violence reported back to the government this week. It says New Zealand’s record is not good enough, victims deserve better, and politicians need to show some real leadership to prevent an escalating series of national tragedies. Here…
crime families national Politics same old national Social issues
Post
Labour has announced its policy on eliminating violence against women and children. From David Cunliffe's press release: Labour will take decisive and far-reaching action to address violence against women and children, says Labour Leader David Cunliffe. “On average 35 New Zealanders are killed by a…
Post
In days gone by the concept of Ministerial Responsibility would mean that any significant failing by a Department would see the responsible Minister take the blame for what happened. Following the Malaysian diplomat incident it appears to have been replaced by a substitute concept, that not…
Post
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Post
Reposted from No Right Turn. Today the government announced the final version of its national standards for freshwater. They're trying desperately to pretend that these will improve water quality, but nothing could be further from the truth. The standards have been panned by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment,…
Post
A young woman was attacked in her own home by a Malaysian diplomat. He attempted to rape her. Despite Malaysia being prepared to have the diplomat tried in New Zealand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade suggest that Malaysia may use diplomatic immunity and…
Post
Reposted from No Right Turn. NewstalkZB reports on the woeful state of police enforcement of our electoral laws: The Electoral Commission is saying nothing about apparent police inaction on breaches of the electoral law. Information provided by the Commission reveals that since the beginning of 2011 there…
Post
The story about the Malaysian diplomat who relied on diplomatic immunity to avoid New Zealand's justice system grinds on. And the longer it grinds on the worse it gets for the Government. There seems to be a divergence of views between the New Zealand Government and the Malaysian Government…
Post
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike ...
Post
In its handling of the case of the Malaysian Diplomat accused of attempted rape in NZ, the government has marginalised the concerns and sensitivities of the victim. Their own arse covering was given a higher priority. Jan Logie argued that this indicated the government was reinforcing rape culture…
Post
Reposted from Labour's website. Speech by Hon Phil Goff MP, Labour Trade Spokesperson, Victoria University, 2 July 2014 The Central Committee of China’s Communist Party’s decisions at a Plenary meeting would, two decades ago, have been of limited interest to New Zealand. The situation today…
China Economy Environment exports farming farming food International labour phil goff Politics trade
Post
Reposted from No Right Turn. Yesterday SSC released its Performance Improvement Framework Report for the New Zealand Intelligence Community (SIS, GCSB, NAB, and bits of DPMC). The short version? Our spies are completely dysfunctional: A dismal picture of New Zealand's intelligence services has been painted in an official…
Post
When I was little, I went to a very well-to-do decile 10 public primary school. The kind of place situated in a neighbourhood full of private schools and a little bit insecure about it. So we did our best to fit it, with assemblies every Friday…
Post
Reposted from Polity. When I first saw DPF quote some anonymous correspondent talking about voter turnout, I thought he was having everyone on. But over the weekend John Key was quoting this exact same research as a justification for why National need to Get Out The Vote…
Post
Reposted from Polity. Here's your New Zealand Herald opining on policies that Labour should announce this weekend: The Labour Party holds its pre-election conference this weekend. It has every chance of producing a policy that might give its supporters a sense of direction. Labour already has announced…
Post
Reposted from No Right Turn. The Office of the Ombudsman issued its Statement of Intent yesterday, setting out what they plan to do over the next five years. we've been hearing a lot recently about how the office is failing to deal with the deluge of complaints…
Post
Last night the GlobalDairyTrade auction gave more prices drops. Stuff reports Dairy prices have resumed their slide, falling 4.9 per cent at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight. The drop, the second-biggest of the year after an 8.9 per cent plunge at the April 1 auction, was…