Mustn’t complain

I know we’re meant to make do with what we have. Sometimes wonder what we would have if a couple more MPs had thought beyond themselves, given the party membership the choice. Here’s two guys. One talking Labour values, recognising injustice arises from an unjust system. The other looking at a half mil house will touting affordable housing.

This reeks of kickbacks

It appears that someone in the government is leaking private information from the asset stripping of SOE value. Serious questions are being asked about how a sharebroking firm managed to obtain the details of a woman who’d just registered her interest in buying Mighty River Power shares. Is there a kickback system in operation? Perhaps to help fund the exorbitant upfront costs of sale?

Strategic blunder

Amidst the froth of predatory “excitement” about the sale of our power generation assets, it was refreshing to read in The Herald yesterday a single lone voice who was thinking long term.

$425,000 for scapegoat

That’s how much we’re paying for Lesley Longstone‘s being forced to resign on 19 December last year, hidden in the Christmas rush. At […]

TPPA: US, corporate dominance – let’s do ACTION!!

TTPA talks under way in Singapore. Jane Kelsey leads critical discussion in NZ: Obama skewing the agenda in favour of US corporates; pharmaceuticals,  internet, copyright & more; John Key’s dodgy figures.  In Aussie today, a seminar on the TPPA & corporate dominance over women’s rights & health provisions.

Throw another mil on the barbie

National’s going to spend a million taxpayer dollars just on advertising trying to convince Kiwis to sign up to buy something we already own and just in the ‘pre-registration’ phase of the Mighty River sale. God knows what the full cost of the sale will be. They’ve wasted $26m already and seem determined to keep throwing good money after bad while ignoring Kiwis’ howls of protest.

Annoy Prosser and vote Muslim!

After reading Queen of Thorns complaint about the limited gender options in the census, I was considering the census. For me and almost […]

Gender and the census

The 2013 Census is pretty limited in its treatment of gender. Unfortunately, there’s no practical way to make your feelings heard this time around.

What now for Sky TV?

News Corp is selling shares in NZ Sky TV.  What does these mean for the on-going decline of public broadcasting?  It is possibly part of the shift away from media moguls, and towards control of news media by bankers.

The Silence is Killing Them

The NZ Forestry Sector is completely unmonitored – It is one of our most dangerous industries and no one seems to know what is going on.  From my perspective it appears within officialdom and the Forest Owners themselves, no one really cares.

Sunday Reading

My 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: Killer robots, Al Qaeda on marriage equality and private prisons sponsoring sports teams.

Sequester USA

As the result of their political deadlock, automatic sequestration (budget cuts) have been triggered in America. This won’t end well for the economy – or the Republicans.

Brilliant policy

I’ve got to stay that I stand in awe of this latest tax policy suggestion from the IRD. Simple, fair, easy to implement, it will be wildly popular. I think the Nats should adopt it at once.

Poverty Watch 21

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, more from the Children’s Social Health Monitor 2012 Update Report, and the British government’s maneuverings on the definition of poverty…

Ageing population

A British report on the implications of their ageing population structure highlights, yet again, the lack of any planning on this issue from the Key government…

Transmission Gully: $60m before a sod even turned

So far, the government has spent $33 million on Transmission Gully. They’re planning on spending another $30m just to sign the contract on the Public-Private Partnership. That’s over $60m down the drain on a project with only $360-$500m of benefits before a single metre of road is built. All up, the cost will be $3.4 billion – trebled by using the PPP model.

“Minister for Small Things”

Yesterday, David Cunliffe,on Peter Dunne’s Student Loan Amendment Bill, & the related inter-generational swindle, labelled Dunne as “Minister for Small Changes” & “for Small Things”. Dunne further showed his support of the “neoliberal” swindle, with a couple of tweets on non-residents buying NZ property, smearing the Greens as racist.

The last piece of the Hobbit story

Emails released on the Standard today show that, during the Hobbit “dispute” the Government and others lied to the people of New Zealand to maintain a perception of a crisis.

It was a shameful moment in New Zealand’s political history.