The housing policy
Labour is due to release its big housing policy at conference and I suspect it’ll be either a Kirk style subsidised mortgage scheme for first home buyers or a substantial increase in state housing stocks.
Open mike 16/11/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Auckland housing market bubbling
Like many other well-paid people in their 30’s. Lyn is getting depressed watching a toehold Auckland property disappear out of her grasp. Of course the well rounded gits in Wellington will get ‘worried’ about this and want to make property available 50kms away. But spending an hour or two of your life driving each day is hardly useful to anyone apart from the land bankers, property developers and used car sales who seem to be of such importance to the National party.
There is a way forward – if we are wise enough to take it
Unemployment at record highs, current account deficit in trouble, the economy is stagnant, exodus to Australia, National is failing by every performance measure that they set themselves. The completely frustrating thing is that there is a clear and rational way forward, if only we have the wisdom to take it.
English puts us on a slippery slope to Greece
The amount we have to borrow from the rest of the world is due to hit $17b a year by 2016. Our current account deficit is already the 2nd largest in the developed world and will soon be hitting disastrous levels. But English says ‘don’t worry, if that happens, our economy will just collapse, Greece-style’. I’m not reassured.
Too much stupid; too little time
I don’t really have time to write something, but there’s just too much stupid this morning to let it pass. Nathan Guy heads today’s list, but Craig Foss, Tariana Turia, Bill English and Hekia Parata also need mention.
Kiwis lose jobs, Nats make jokes
Didn’t it make you sick to your stomach when smug Tories getting fat on quarter of a million dollar taxpayer-funded salaries get up in the House and make jokes to deflect from the dire jobs situation?* Well, I know 410,000 Kiwis who are looking for work and aren’t laughing when Key and co make jokes about it.
The enemy isn’t on your side
Politics 101 for Labour leaders: when a right-wing columnist tells you to piss off your party and your base to ‘win the centre’ she probably doesn’t have your best interests at heart. The truth of it is, Labour didn’t lose the last two elections by losing the centre and it won’t win by trying to win back votes from National. It’s the Labour non-vote that matters.
Open mike 15/11/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Crushless Collins drops lawsuit
Judith Collins pledged to take Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little to court for defamation after they suggested she was involved in leaking Bronwyn Pullar’s name via Slater-Lusk. Today she dropped the suit after a letter from Mallard and Little in which a) don’t concede defaming her and b) deny intent to do so. A huge back down from Crushless.
Collins folds
And so Collins’ “defamation” case against Mallard and Little ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.
Oops – doubled up posting with Eddie – read both posts!
Pagani to lead Labour to victory!
In a bold and exciting move Labour MP David Shearer stood down at today’s Labour conference and handed the reins to mild mannered media commentator Josie Pagani. Shearer said it became clear he had too much parliamentary experience for the role and the public was calling for someone ‘less like a politician’ than he was.
ImperatorFish: A Statement From Hekia Parata
A statement from Education Minister Hekia Parata to concerned parents, teachers and children in the Christchurch area.
Any way you cut it, National’s failed on jobs
It was a bizarre Question Time yesterday with Key, English, and Joyce all answering questions on the dire jobs numbers and giving contradictory excuses. It was statistical noise, the wrong statistic to look at, the rest of the world’s fault, pretty good comparatively… But the truth of it is that, any way you cut it, National has failed on jobs.
Break For The Future
When Margaret Thatcher was asked about her greatest achievement, she promptly answered: “New Labour.” And she was right: her triumph was that even her political enemies adopted her basic economic policies. True victory over your enemy occurs when they start to use your language, so that your ideas form the foundation of the entire field. Today, when neoliberal hegemony is clearly falling apart, the only solution is to repeat Thatcher’s gesture in the opposite direction.
Looking for a new left direction: more than just one housing policy
A policy focusing on increasing state housing and affordable rents would be a good start. However, my current criticism of Labour leadership focuses on the policy direction of the leadership team. This requires more than just one policy. A bold new left wing plan is needed to deal with the difficult challenges ahead. Updated
Yet another reason to move to Australia
Here’s an entry to add to the already very long list of why people move to Australia. Apparently, they have much better taste in media there.
Open mike 14/11/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Labour Conference 2012: how is social media formed?
So, in an effort to make a post not calling for the head of David Shearer, I decided to take a look at […]
Shearer Says – on leadership
Nonsense
NZ Herald: ‘David Shearer is brushing off a crescendo of calls for him to step down by left-leaning bloggers and commentators, saying it is “nonsense” and should be ignored.’
Don’t worry, be happy
Nats in the bunker of stupid
The bunker of stupid is where you go to hide from facts you don’t like. John Key is there, hiding from the latest record unemployment figures. Joining him today is Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew, reportedly denying the rapidly increasing gender pay gap in NZ.
We have a lemming instead of a leader
John Key doesn’t want NZ to be a leader in the fight against climate change. Much better to be a lemming (sorry – a “fast follower”) and follow all the other lemmings off the cliff.
Jobs and wages
While Audrey Young was giving the Key cabinet a glowing report card yesterday as they lurch from crisis to crisis (so many crises the Novopay scandal can’t make the front pages after 3 months of stuff ups), the economy continued to struggle.
At conference, vote for a members’ democracy
The Labour Party conference this weekend is crucial for the democratic future of the party. A party member outlines his view on how to vote. His main point? In U.K. Labour you only need 20% of caucus to allow a vote on the leadership. That’s about right.
Open mike 13/11/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
ImperatorFish: In Praise Of John Key
I am filled with admiration for our Prime Minister. The latest employment figures are a disaster, and appear to show that this government does not know how to grow the economy. But our Mr Key is made of sterner stuff. He knows in his heart that these figures aren’t to be relied upon, because everything else tells him that things are getting better.
NRT: This week’s distraction
No Right Turn on this week’s offering from the Nat roulette wheel of political distractions…
Shuffle the caucus deck
By all means, get rid of the unfortunate experiment that is the David Shearer leadership. But the problem is really with the NZLP’s parliamentary caucus who appear to have lost sight of what we want them to achieve. Until that problem is fixed the party will continue to shed people willing to exert effort supporting them.
Thanks DPF for my laugh of the day
DPF is peddling a conspiracy theory that The Standard is acting on instructions for a coordinated attack on Shearer. I can see how he’d make that mistake, being used to a command and control structure for his Nat blog – but here at The Standard we don’t take orders from anyone.
Remember Waihi 1912: who now has the courage?
Tomorrow is the centenary of the death of Fred Evans on 13 November 1912, during the Waihi gold miners strike. Out of this struggle of ordinary, but courageous NZ workers, grew the NZ Labour Party. Who now has such courage to lead NZ politics in a new direction? Update: Allison McCulloch’s article on the Waihi strike.
Which Parata to believe?
Hekia Parata September dressed up plans for school closured and mergers in high-sounding language and pushed them hard. Hekia Parata November says that some of those plans were crazy. Which Hekia Parata should we believe?
Open mike 12/11/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Don’t panic
Twice this year we have seen Labour leaders turn around perceptions of them and their party with one speech; Ed Miliband at the UK Party conference in November and Julia Gillard in the Australian parliament in October. I think that calling for David Shearer’s head in the week before the Labour party conference is a sign of panic.
Who could replace Shearer?
Some people are Anyone But Cunliffe. Some people think Cunliffe is the One True Leader. Some people want more options. So let’s make a case for it.