On Thursday last week hundreds attended a public meeting in Mt Albert, and on Saturday thousands of people marched in 11 centers all round NZ to protest against John Key’s spying Bill. Key’s response? They are either “politically aligned” or “misinformed”. Like the Law Society and the Human Rights Commission, no doubt.
Key’s new spying law will mean our own spooks can legally spy Kiwi journos. Experience shows it will happen. Time for that ‘democracy under attack’ Herald campaign. Time for journos to start taking this seriously. In a democracy, we don’t give the State powers that it doesn’t need and/or that are open to abuse. We don’t create a turn-key totalitarian state just because it’s ‘convenient for the spies’.
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Contactless (“wave and go”) features are becoming a compulsory feature for credit and debit cards. Hi-tech equipment can pilfer from such cards as people pass by. Plus other problems. But, they ensure banks and merchants make more money.
David Shearer on Q+A just set out new policy on housing, proposing restrictions on overseas buyers. It’s another big policy move from Labour…
A Sunday feature – each week a random section scanned from a copy of The Standard, September 15th, 1938. Find out more here.
Nicky Hager’s investigative journalism explains why the government uses state surveillance against investigative journalists, academics and political activists. Jane Kelsey explains why spying is used to prevent legal activities, democratic processes and NZers speaking truth to power.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Some photos from today’s Auckland protest. It was a great occasion. The question needs to be though, where to from here? This momentum needs to be built on.
I haven’t seen many photos of the Dunedin anti GCSB Bill protest around, so here are a few of mine. 500 people in the Octagon. Best slogan: “Look in your own Key hole”.
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, the NBR “rich list” and the sick joke of “trickle down” wealth.
Well known Labour supporters John Armstrong and Fran O’Sullivan are bursting with advice for David Shearer. I’m sure they have the Left’s best interests at heart. O’Sullivan says Shearer must be more pro-capitalist. Armstrong says he needs to pick fights with the Greens. This is based on a premise that flies against the polling evidence that Labour is seen as too Left or too close to the Greens
The New Zealand veterans of the Korean War got a sharp lesson from John Key yesterday as to what they and their comrades […]
This cartoon by Mark O’Brien at monsta.co.nz probably accurately reflects the distasteful uncertainty that many of us feel about the purpose and intent […]
Jono Hutchison invented a story that aired on 3 News last night. He took a single inaccurate comment expressing an opinion and wrapped a story around it as the angle. The comment he used was in my observation quite inaccurate and has escalated my opinion of Jono to that of being a lazy dickhead unworthy of being called a reporter.
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Over the coming weeks I’m going to go through each of National’s changes to employment law to show how they will make our workplaces less fair and reduce Kiwis’ pay.
The first is the change allowing the boss to refuse to negotiate a collective agreement.
The stop the GCSB Bill meeting in Auckland last night was well attended and had a series of high quality presentations made. A series of protests are planned for this weekend. Momentum is building …
The public trusts Kim Dotcom more than John Key (no surprise), and Journalist Selwyn Manning describes “some breaking news from Dotcom” on what Key knew, and when…
The Nats have created a beneficiary bashing culture so rigid and so nasty that crazy stuff happens. They cry some crocodile tears about it – but only for cases publicised by the media.
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Philip McHardy was killed while working in a pine plantation block in Overton Forest Winton on 31 August 2011. He worked for Don Contracting and was working in a Southern Forest NZ Ltd managed forest.
It is a national evil that any class of Her Majesty’s subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions… where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad and the bad by the worst; …
UK children born on the same day as the new prince will get a silver penny: but their lives will be vastly different. Left foot Forward spells out the inequalities between these new born. John Key gushes over the new prince, while his government slashes, burns and fuels inequalities.
Generation Zero are running petition targeting the Auckland transport system. You can sign it here.
Winston Peters may be the king maker after the next election. No wonder that John Key has started to court the person he said as a matter of principle he would never have in his Government.
The Employment Relations Act Part 6A ensures that jobs are transferred to a new contractor, on the same terms, if a firm is restructured. Naturally the Nats plan to abolish it.
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… and if you don’t like them, I have others. Key once said he’d never have Peters in any government he led, now he’s reconsidering. Peters is playing hard to get, and Gower tries to be part of the story as usual, promoting 3 News’ own poll.
Check out this post by former All Black Captain Anton Oliver on the blog over at New Zealand Story.
To say that the GCSB law changes are misguided is the kindest possible interpretation, but many people including myself tend to view them as being quite malevolent. They aren’t going to provide any more security for citizens and residents here. But they are going to provide more security for incompetents in the security and police forces from both public and legal scrutiny. There are series of protests planned, and one in Auckland tomorrow. Updated – packed.
Key’s wringing his hands, saying that the Reserve bank is likely to bring in loan to value ratio requirements without an exception for first home buyers but claiming that first home buyers are still his priority. If that were true, he would have done his part to tackle the real problems in the housing market: speculators, foreign buyers, and lack of affordable home building.
Peter Dunne said that the GCSB should not spy on New Zealanders “under any circumstances”, but he will now vote to let that happen. He has made himself a liar and a hypocrite. Why? 3 News and others speculate on what Dunne might have got in return. What was his price?
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The latest poll results are [fantastic/terrible]!
