Houses are seriously unaffordable, especially for first-time buyers. Labour’s policy settings will help first-time buyers, the Reserve Bank under the current government is proposing tougher requirements that will make matters worse for them. Parties of the Left need to take this issue and run hard!
A visiting Professor of Economics says he was bullied by Bill English when they met between their respective Q+A interviews. His crime was to point out that National are governing for the rich. Seems English can’t handle the truth.
So, Tariana Turia is finally dropping the pretense that Whanau Ora is anything but a scheme to privatise social assistance and put it in the hands of unaccountable private groups. Not content with funding family reunions and other bollocks, Turia is now handing the funding decisions to three private groups. Oh, and she doesn’t want them to be covered by the OIA.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
It looks like it’s not just workers’ rights and health and safety that Simon Bridges has truth issues with…
No Right Turn points out how useless our security minister is. To say this is astonishing would be an understatement John Key’s chief […]
I have collected up the available documentation on the men killed in the forest since 2008. I am going to try, using the […]
Joining the dots: David Cameron is under fire for his links with lobbyists for big tobacco & big oil, via his link with Lynton Crosby. John Key, with links to Crosby Textor, has also bowed to big tobacco. Networks of Influence.
The Generation Zero speaking tour kicked off last night to a packed house in Dunedin. Generation Zero are asking – “What’s the holdup?” Why is there no action on carbon emissions and climate change?
Len Brown has announced that he will again seek Auckland Super City’s mayoralty. I know this will provoke a mixture of views but style wise I think he is great and substance wise he has had successes but should have done more with MUNZ, the living wage project and Sky City.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
According to the tip line the farcical duo of Lusk and Slater will soon be kicking off a large negative campaign against Len Brown.
There have been strong and compelling criticisms of the Nats’ spying Bill, similar to the situation that occurred under the previous government with electoral finance. But the responses of the two governments are very different – and very revealing. Where Labour revised its errant Bill to address the criticisms, John Key has threatened the HRC with funding cuts. Predictably, the response of The Herald to the two cases has been very different too…
Sweeping changes to NZ’s Social Security system begin today. This is a major shift from the the 1938 Social Security Act: a shift from support of those in need, to treating them as potential criminals, self-serving addicts, and malingerers. Shame on John Key & Paula Bennett! [Update: RNZ & BAF & AAAP]
A UK study has found that public perceptions of key issues that the Right tries to win votes on are vast exaggerations of reality. What this shows is that Rightwing politicians are succeeding in whipping up false perceptions as a way of wedging working people against each other and against their class interests, and the Left is ceding the ground.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
The ability of doctors to refuse to provide proper healthcare if God says it’s bad is again in the spotlight, with a Blenheim GP refusing to prescribe the Pill to a patient because he decided she needed to have babies, and her views on the matter don’t mean shit. But are we seriously going to label that as an act of “conscience”?
NZ signed a new trade agreement with Taiwan this week. For the first time the reference to labour standards is squarely in the […]
A significant proportion of the media is now heavily invested in the narrative that David Shearer is about to be rolled as Labour leader. As Matt McCarten puts it today “Truth no longer matters” and “civil society is poorer for it”.
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: the problem with Gen Y, Big Data and surveillance, part-time work, happiness and pessimism and Australia’s political culture.
A Sunday feature – each week a random section scanned from a copy of The Standard, September 15th, 1938. Find out more here.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Malala Yousafzei must be one of the bravest young women in the world. She was shot by the Taliban for advocating for education of young women but refuses to be silenced. She recently had the opportunity to speak to the United Nations.
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, extracts from a piece by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In contrast to our own disinterested government, it sets out what is really required to break the cycle of poverty.
Edward Snowden, now applying for temporary asylum in Russia, has been labeled both as traitor and as whistleblower. Is it a breach of trust to expose state use of surveillance to spy on citizens, especially if it is on behalf of powerful multinational corporations?
Five and a half years ago, Labour’s Electoral Finance Bill was subject to strong criticism, including from the Human Rights Commission. The Herald launched its ‘Democracy Under Attack’ campaign to drive Labour from office. Now, the same voices are coming out against Key’s GCSB law. I assume the Herald has launched a new ‘Democracy Under Attack’ campaign.
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
The dispute over Judith Collins’ Wikipedia page has made it into an NZ Herald article, with both Brooking & Clarke43 accused of political bias. Team Collins claim they just edited out defamatory entries. The Herald is looking for Clarke43, who surely does poor PR – praising Collins’ twitter performance.
John Key has criticised the Human Rights Commission for not submitting on time about the GCSB bill. But he fails to understand that the HRC has the obligation to report to him any time a bill may affect human rights. And to compound things he has made a veiled threat about the HRC’s funding.
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Eric Holder’s connections with New Zealand’s justice system and GCSB is justified by linking international surveillance with transnational organised crime and crimes by citizens: 5 Eyes’ (alleged) defence of democracy, reaches into homes via “domestic terrorism”, (sexual) violence against women & children, and child pornography.
The knuckleheads (tm John Key) in the parliamentary press gallery are concerned about their privacy. Are they concerned about ours too?
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Robert Wade will speak on “Inequality and the We st” in Christchurch tomorrow Friday – 4pm in Lecture Hall A3, Arts Centre, University Drive, Christchurch. His lectures in Auckland and Dunedin have been packed – had to move the venue in Dunedin and could have filled it twice over in Auckland. He is speaking in conjunction with the launch of Max Rashbrooke-edited book “Inequality; A New Zealand Crisis” produced by Bridget Williams Books. All welcome.
