Key’s legacy
Authors here have been saying for a while that Key may well quit during this second term. Even John Armstrong can see the writing on the wall. So what will Key’s legacy be?
Open mike 12/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
The circling vultures
People are waking up to National’s plan to remove the democratically-elected Christchurch City Council and replace it with its own hand-picked commissioners, who will then give a green light to Brownlee’s developer mates and the sale of council assets. You can already see the vultures circling – waiting for the chance to seize more public wealth for themselves.
Open mike 11/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Weekend social 10/02/2012
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
National standards fail in America
New Zealand schools achieve excellent results and are very cost effective. The Nats are determined to break this great system via the introduction of national standards. They’re ignoring the advice of their own experts, and all the international evidence. But will they be able to ignore the now self-evident failure of standards based testing in America, as Obama pulls the plug on No Child Left Behind?
Dictatorshipwatch: Christchurch City Council
When National decided to seize control of Canterbury Regional Council to remove roadblocks for unsustainable irrigation by their mates in the dairy industry, they didn’t do it overnight. They spent months creating a crisis. The same thing’s happening in Christchurch. Brownlee’s building a ‘crisis in the council’ to justify replacing the councilors with commissioners. The only question is when.
Armed police storm Key mansion
Armed Police assisted by the Eagle helicopter, the counter-terrorism unit, customs officials, and the police launch towed on its trailer have raided Prime Minister John Key’s Parnell mansion, executing warrants relating to the illegal ‘DJ Key’ election ad. Simultaneously, a joint Police-SAS taskforce has stormed RadioLive, deploying teargas and tasering all present.
Open mike 10/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
PM’s office cuts Radio Dead
An internal memo in the PM’s office after they received the Electoral Commission’s advice on the Radio Live’s PM Hour broadcast says: “So the Electoral Commission has replied, and basically said they can’t make a judgment on a radio show without seeing a transcript. But they have been pretty clear about putting the responsibility on the broadcaster, which is useful.” Key’s office knew they were skating close to the wind but were happy to cut Radio Live loose. Lesson here for media.
Electoral Commission, Radio Live, Key and the BSA
Radio Live and the Prime Minister pushed the boat out in the PM’s hour programme. Radio Live sought Electoral Commission’s advice two days before broadcast, though they had been planning it for months. When Key’s office got the Commission’s warning to be careful, an internal memo said “the Electoral Commission have been pretty clear about putting the responsibility on the broadcaster, which is useful”. The Electoral Commission has now sunk Radio Live’s argument that it was ok if it didn’t discuss politics.
Dotcom
There’s a few interesting threads to the Kim Dotcom saga. Should merely providing a tool that can be used for piracy be a crime? Did the alleged offences justify a 70-strong armed police raid or was this more heavy-handed showing off by the cops? And, if Dotcom really is such a bad guy, why did National let him come to live in New Zealand in the first place?
Opposition parties hammer Key on asset sales
Yesterday, the opposition parties worked together to hammer John Key on asset sales. He faced questions from four parties during one question; the breadth of opposition showed, and Key was stumbling. Some say Shearer should be taking a more leading role but, for mine, this was far more effective than Goff uselessly slogging out a primary and half a dozen sups without landing a blow. How’s that anti-asset sales coalition coming?
NRT: Nats censoring the media
I/S at NoRightTurn writes – Fresh from his attempt to censor programmes likely to embarrass the government during the election, National’s hack on the NZ on Air board, Stephen McElrea, is now actually selecting the topics of political documentaries to receive NZ on Air funding. Its amazing how the topics chosen all just happen to align with the government’s political agenda.
DJ Key broke the law
The Electoral Commission’s decision on the ‘DJ Key’ hour on RadioLive has been leaked. It shows that Key’s hour-long DJ spot was an election ad. It’s the only sensible decision. Key was clearly on the show to promote his brand to win votes. He made several political comments. RadioLive now faces a $100,000 fine for perverting our election. And Key’s reputation takes another hit.
A reply to Steven Joyce
Steven Joyce’s piece on Tuesday was a transparent and hypocritical attempt to frame political opponents negatively, and soften us up for more asset sales, mining, deep sea drilling and the like. Thing is, it’s the Nats with their misguided austerity cuts who are the real nay-sayers holding the country back.
Open mike 09/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Save our Port
It’s slipped down the news agenda but is about to come back up it: The Ports of Auckland Dispute. Tony Gibson is wasting our money on his union-busting campaign that will result in reduced profits for ratepayers. Sign up to make him see sense.
How to wreck your brand in one easy step
Publicly attack an All Black and loving father for how he chooses to raise his child. This isn’t about the rights and wrongs of breast vs formula vs expressing. I can’t speak to the science of that. But I’ll tell you that La Leche, Plunket, and the Council of Midwives have done massive damage to their own cause with this PR fiasco. Just pure, arrogant stupidity.
ImperatorFish: Each Time We Say “Protect The Environment” Steven Joyce Eats A Baby
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Steven Joyce writes in the Herald that the answer to our economic woes is to open up resources to entrepreneurs, and to hell with the social cost or environmental impact.
Congrats on raising the minimum wage John
Shame you couldn’t raise it to a living one though. The working poor will appreciate the extra $1000 per year coming this April, but it still won’t cover their bills…
Steven Joyce and the ‘can’ts’
Steven Joyce reckons that the ‘can’ts’ are holding us back. I agree, just look at these facts:
- National can’t create growth
- National can’t create jobs
- National can’t grow wages
- National can’t get people to live here
- National can’t get debt under control
- National can’t reduce poverty
A sustainable future
The UN High Level Panel on Global Sustainability has delivered a report about creating a future that’s sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. Our government and political parties should be looking at it and measuring themselves against it.
Open mike 08/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Resignation-watch: Tariana Turia
Tariana Turia is making hollow threats to leave the government but she might be pushed first. Winston Peters has wasted no time showing how opposition politics is done, using his first question time back to skewer Turia, exposing the massive rorting her Whanau Ora programme. Turia made a slush fund for her mates with our money. She has to go.
Time for an anti-asset sales coalition
Mana, NZF, the Greens, and even the Maori Party, are suddenly grabbing the asset sales issue from Labour, just when it actually started to be a really valuable issue to lead on. Shearer should stop playing pundit on whether the Maori Party will go and how ‘unstable’ that makes the government. Instead, realise the broad base of opposition to asset sales and build a coalition to stop them.
Caption contest
Inequality: a big issue for our time
The Herald looks like it has an excellent series this week, on Auckland: A city divided by income. It’s an issue that has […]
Open mike 07/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Epsom government – unstable and unequal
I’ve just watched John Key say on Sky Australia “We don’t need the Maori Party – we have the votes for stable government.” But without the Maori Party, all we’ve got is an Epsom government. It hangs by a thread on the teacup meeting between Parnell resident Key and Epsom candidate Banks. Key’s dogwhistle to Epsom voters is all that guarantees National’s “mandate” for asset sales.
Not a bad idea
David Shearer wants to move the New Year’s and Queen’s Birthday honours to Waitangi Day. I reckon that’s a goer. If honourees were advised ahead of time, they could attend a public ceremony at Waitangi, to add to all the other events. With thousands there, it would be a much more public celebration of their contributions to our society and bring a positive focus to the day.
Super sized problem
The superannuation problem isn’t going away. The Nats will be fuming that Treasury have just dropped in their laps again.
Key gets what he wants at Waitangi
While Key was away on his 4-week holiday in Hawaii, the world economy deteriorated, reports on the dire state of poverty in our country came out, and access to strategic resources became a pressing issue – both with our farmland being bought and Iran threatening to close off the globe’s oil supply. But Key was working on a plan – to stoke up racial dissent at home.
Open mike 06/02/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Key runs from Waitangi
National’s honeymoon with Maori is well and truly over, as Key beats a hasty retreat from Waitangi.
Fran O’Sullivan: a shill with diversions
Fran O’Sullivan took objection to RedLogix criticizing her articles on Crafar farms. It helps our traffic, but really she should relook at the utter crap she has been writing before attacking the questioner. She talks about everything except why the OIO within their legislation limited framework should or should not have approved the sale. The more that I reread her work on this subject, the more I ask: what in the hell is she trying to hide?