Benefit reforms trigger surge in DPB births?
National, the party of beneficiary bashing that has lead a crusade against parents on the DBP, appears to have triggered a surge of new births to DPB parents.
On the accuracy of online polls
Open mike 25/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
More BS Numbers from the Right
Today we again have the Herald’s resident ignoramus Damien Grant sounds off about something he knows nothing about. As usual just looking at […]
Open mike 24/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Another day, another bullshit Family First/Curia poll
Oh look, once again Family First’s rhetoric fails to match its reality.
The Human Cost
The funeral was a very full house and hard. You may have even seen it on Campbell Live; The Herald gave it front […]
NRT – National: Restoring discrimination
I/S at No Right Turn on youth rates…
Granny Herald: from flawed data, false conclusions
Three of the Herald’s political staff has a crack at trying to explain why National polled 48.5% in the latest Herald-Digipoll. Consensus seems to be that John Key’s an angel sent to earth to do very little but keep enough of the middle class happy enough who’ll never lose. May I humbly suggest an alternative theory – that the Herald-Digipoll is broken.
Poverty Watch 24
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, we start on the 2012 report from the Office of the Children’s Comissioner. NZ is a signatory to UN conventions that give children the right to adequate resources…
Open mike 23/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
TS quote of the week
The poor tend to be understood as the rational inferiors of the well-off, to the extent that political arguments now largely revolve around their management rather than their representation.
Weekend social 22/03/2013
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
All that glitters
2.5% GDP growth last year. The Right’s jumping out of their skin at finally achieving the long-run average growth rate. But even on their good days, they’re doing it wrong: “The “consumer-centric” mix of growth was understandable, with low interest rates stimulating the housing market while a high dollar throttled exports, but it was the exact opposite of what was required”
NRT: Was Devoy’s appointment unlawful?
No Right Turn asked an interesting question yesterday about how the appointment of Susan Devoy was made.
..it is highly doubtful that Devoy meets that statutory criteria for the office she has been appointed to. The advice on her appointment should make very interesting reading…
Cunliffe off to a flyer in revenue
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The revenue portfolio looked like a big step down for Cunliffe but already he’s made a mark as the parliamentary voice of a business/union coalition against Dunne’s stealth taxes. The result: humiliating backdowns for Dunne, a stain that may threaten his hold on Ohariu, and Cunliffe and Labour on the side of the winners.
On Dame Susan Devoy
Rather than add my two cents to the debate about whether she’s up to the job or not (she’s clearly not), I’d like to point out that this is essentially Judith Collins telling liberal New Zealand it can go f**k itself.
Given this fact, the question to ask isn’t so much why put such an unqualified person in such a sensitive position so much as why does Collins feel the need to yell “look at me” so loudly right now?
Good poll for Shearer
The latest Herald Digipoll is mixed news for the left, but good news personally for David Shearer. Even John Armstrong is cautiously impressed…
Open mike 22/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
What a surprise
Government MPs vote down a request for an enquiry into Solid Energy.
Who was then the gentleman?
When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.
Democracy needs straight answers to straight questions
The current Speaker in the House, David Carter, is a disaster. Yesterday he let the government get away with avoiding providing serious answers to important questions: a government ploy? Russel Norman has complained. Democracy needs the government to be held to account.
GCSB cover-up an “operational matter”
The extent of the GCSB cover-up in the Dotcom fiasco is now clear. Key is pleading ignorance, claiming that it was an “operational matter”. If Key isn’t briefed on “operational matters” then what possible oversight can he provide? In fact he was briefed on this “operational matter” – the only question is when…
One day older and deeper in debt
There’s this almost puritan kind of myth that we’ve got so much international debt as punishment for our spendthrift ways. We ‘live beyond our means’, apparently. But it’s not true. If ‘our means’ is the money we make in exports, then most of the time, they exceed what we spend on imports. Yet, we run a $10 billion deficit as a country. Why? Because of the profit outflow.
Open mike 21/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
The failures of visual special effects
I “attended” a fascinating “town hall” meeting last week of artists from around the world in the Visual Special Effects sector. Ignited by […]
Punitive, anti-beneficiary Bill- opposition needed!
The Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill second reading is first up on the provisional order paper for today. It is a further step in Paula Bennett & NAct’s vicious, punitive, bennie-bashing campaign. MPs are urged to vote against it!
The difference
Key hid his Tranzrail shares while asking questions about Tranzrail because he’s a sneaky, avaricious bastard.
Banks filed a false election return keeping his big money donors secret because he’s corrupt.
Shearer forgot to declare his UN Bank account because he’s a bit of a munter.
Time will tell which the public tolerates more.
Dumping on Dunne’s taxes
The Nats are in trouble with their budget deficits and looking to raise money via increased taxes. But they are tinkering at the edges of the problem, and were quick to chuck Peter Dunne under the bus when the latest proposals didn’t fly.
Polling merry-go-round
The Roy Morgan polls continue their mad merry-go-round, and we bloggers continue to get too excited about it. The latest RM projects a win for Labour / Greens.
Billy Big Stepper
Our wee James Bond wannabes had a code name for Kim Dotcom (you know, in case their comms were intercepted by the bad guys). They called him Billy Big Stepper. So witty! But Labour’s uncovered something more serious too. It seems that the GCSB was aware in February that they may have broken the law and went into a quite a tizz, before covering it up.
Open mike 20/03/2013
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
This is rape culture: Steubenville verdict
Rape culture is a culture in which rape and sexual violence are common, and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape. (Thanks, Wiki!)
And if you want a really clear example of it, look no further than Steubenville, Ohio.
Selling out our education
Profit-driven private sector cowboys are damaging the reputation of our education system. Naturally, National wants to make matters worse by subsidising foreign owners of profit-driven charter schools. Brilliant.
News media: shifting ground
The withdrawal of News Corp from SkyNZ, & the new deal on press regulation in the UK are part of various shifts: from media moguls to financial investors, rise of the internet, & the balance between corporate media and politicians – not a fourth estate revival. [Update: tweeters/bloggers excluded]
NRT: Insanity
I/S at No Right Turn on the insanity of scrapping the home insulation programme.