Weekend social 04/10/2013
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Vote!
There is just over a week to go before the 2013 local elections finish. Turnout so far has been disappointingly low and this presents a threat and a challenge. The threat is that progressive incumbents will lose because their supporters do not vote. The challenge is to get family and friends to vote to maximise the prospects of progressives being elected to office.
Large representative bodies – “slow”, “unwieldy”
That would be Steven Joyce describing university councils, but he could be describing any democratic governance.
National playing catch-up on affordable housing
Earlier this year, National attacked the Greens’ Progressive Ownership housing policy, a ‘rent-to-own’ scheme that effectively gives first homebuyers access to the Crown’s low cost of capital. Nat fanboi John Armstrong said “It is a dog of a policy. It should be put out of its misery”. Now, National’s nicked it. The problem is, they’re just doing it on a token scale.
Open mike 04/10/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
Our boat is faster than theirs
In the wake of the astounding victory of the NZ team in San Diego, Scott at Imperator Fish offers these words of sage advice to those on the left looking at recent polling. For those of you convinced by the current winning trend, some of us hope that you will take his advice (so the rest of us can carry on with the work that needs to be done).
An expensive shit sandwich
There’s a way of giving people bad news called in PR circles a shit sandwich – basically you give people something happy and fluffy, then the bad news, then something happy and fluffy so you can brush on past it.
(Un)affordable rents in Berm City
Central Auckland, gated city candidates get cosy about their grass verges. The west has a crisis in affordable rents & homelessness. Labour & Nats housing policies bow to the middle class home ownership agenda. Greens & Mana look to state & council housing.
Simon Bridges caught fibbing again
Simon Bridges has been keeping a low profile lately but he’s in the news again today, and onceagain he’s been caught being somewhat less than honest.
It turns out he’s been caught trying to bury a report showing a huge quarterly jump in electricity prices.
Open mike 03/10/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
Useless
So John Key goes out into the world to represent our interests and what does he get? His good mate David Cameron tells […]
Labour surges in latest Roy Morgan
The latest Roy Morgan is out and there has been a surge of support to Labour. The Labour/National gap is now 5%, the smallest gap in many years. The next election is going to be very interesting …
Kiwiblog’s Dunne deal – breaking the law or breaking the rules?
Banner ads for UnitedFuture’s signature policy on flexible superannuation have been appearing on Kiwiblog for the last week or so with no promoter’s statement. Yesterday a post promoting the policy with David Farrar’s byline included a photo of Peter Dunne and the parliamentary crest. After several commenters queried whether it was indeed written by Farrar, DPF responded: [DPF: It’s not a press release. It’s a paid advertisement as indicated by the tag, and also the use of the parliamentary crest which is required for advertisements by MPs]. It didn’t have a promoter’s statement either.
Your Brighter Future: Burn.
“I just utter one fear…”
Remember that?
NRT: The biggest failed state on the planet
As I write this, the US Congress is in the final minutes of running out the clock before shutting down the federal government. From midnight, budgetary authority will expire, and the government will not be able to spend any money. Except, of course, on waging war – no matter what happens, the US War On Us will continue regardless.
Crony Capitalism and Chorus
The Axe the Copper Tax campaign has stepped up a notch with the release of a peer review of the original analysis that the tax would cost Kiwis $600 million. The review states that the original methodology was sound and the findings conservative. The issue itself has galvanised opposition from some of the Government’s most staunchest friends. This is probably the first Standard Post ever to rely on comments from the Herald, the NBR, David Farrar and Matthew Hooton to justify a claim that this Government is engaged in the most basic form of Crony Capitalism. Yes things are that bad for the Government.
Open mike 02/10/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
National’s screwed up new housing policy
We know there is a massive home affordability problem, especially in Auckland. So, here’s National’s plan: don’t build any additional houses, just sell some ‘surplus’ state houses in provincial towns… where there isn’t an affordability crisis, and give 500 families these houses up to $20,000 of taxpayer money. That’s not a home affordability policy, it’s a parody of one.
Will DunnoKeyo Lead National into Next Year’s Defeat?
Te Reo Putake starts speculating on when, how, and by whom John Key will be knifed in the back by. The question of if it is before or after the losing the next election. So far only Keith Holyoake has managed to retire as a leader of National, so after Labour’s tidy leadership changes we’re all looking forward to the political splatterfest that only National can provide.
13,000 (and a bit) posts
I’ve managed to miss a milestone on this site (again). As you can see, we’ve passed 13,000 published posts over the weekend. That […]
The seat of Napier is now in play
Chris Tremain’s announcement that he will not se re-election to the Napier seat next year creates a real opportunity for Labour to win back a seat it has not held since 2002. Will Stuart Nash become Napier’s next MP?
Sign the TPPA petition!
Tell our government they shouldn’t sign such far reaching international agreements without public consultation. It’s not democracy and it’s not right. Also: celeb video.
Open mike 01/10/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
ImperatorFish: Hear Me!
A Pundit’s call to listen. Gotta love Talking Heads. You know they’re important, or at least they certainly do…
Breaking news on the Keep Our Assets Referendum
John Key has today announced that the keep our assets referendum will be conducted by postal vote later this year. He has also announced the Christchurch East by election will occur on November 30. And National MP Chris Tremain has announced that he will not seek re election next year.
Warfare of welfare
3 billion reasons to be…cheerful?
Kris Faafoi on Broadcasting
On The Nation Kris Faafoi laid out the bare bones of Labour’s policy on public broadcasting: strengthening public broadcasting across a range of platforms; continuing funding for NZOnAir to commercial broadcasters; balancing commercial & public service broadcasting; a new youth oriented public radio station. [Update: boycotting RNZ – you know why]
Matthew Hooton apologises … sort of …
Matthew Hooton has issued a public apology to David Cunliffe for his comments last week. It is a begrudging pale imitation of a proper apology and it is tucked behind NBR’s paywall but a backdown it is. All ears will now be on Radio New Zealand today and if Hooton does appear then there will be interesting issues raised about balance.
How?
The Herald and John Key are whining that National will have a ‘moral mandate’ to govern after the next election if it is the highest polling party, even if it can’t form a majority and the Left can. But the Herald and Key don’t answer the critical question: how? How would a National Party that can’t secure a majority in Parliament govern?
Meridian on the block
If you weren’t paying attention you could easily miss the fact that Meridian shares are opening today. that’s because there’s been a lot less mainstream hoopla about it than there was with the sale of MRP. Despite the face there’s been a whole host of taxpayer funded sweeteners attached to the deal.
Open mike 30/09/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
On merit
Which Labour MP has Matt McCarten today described as “Another Cunliffe loyalist rewarded.” and scored 5/10?
Now, which Labour MP got the government on the ropes with a member’s bill to the point that Bill English had to threaten a rarely used and politically damaging financial veto?
Sunday Reading
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. This week: google vs death, poverty vs policy, freewill, temptation & prejudice, and humans vs climate change.
We’re really stuffing up, aren’t we?
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report makes, well, pretty damn depressing reading. Over a century after the basic mechanism of global warming by greenhouse gases was understood, and quarter of a century since the world’s nations signed the framework convention on climate change, emissions are still rising and the outlook is getting worse.
Open mike 29/09/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step […]
IPCC AR5: Thank the oceans
The levels of agreement in IPCC AR5 preliminary report on oceans are no longer ambiguous. Enough data has (finally) been collected.
Ocean warming dominates the increase in energy stored in the climate system, accounting for more than 90% of the energy accumulated between 1971 and 2010 (high confidence). It is virtually certain that the upper ocean (0−700 m) warmed from 1971 to 2010, and it likely warmed between the 1870s and 1971.