What is important to voters?
DPF reckons “that issues of policy are less important to voters than issues of competence”. What an impoverished view of democracy! Perhaps he should look a little deeper than last week’s poll…
Open mike 23/04/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Cleaning up after the royals
Buckingham Palace cleaners aren’t even paid the London living wage while the British taxpayer will have to pay for the royal wedding cleanup. That’s one reason why I’m a republican. The Globe and Mail reports: “The cost of cleaning the streets of Westminster the day before the wedding is estimated by the council at $83,000.”
SAS: torturers’ henchmen?
The Herald has summarised a report in the new Metro on the New Zealand SAS’s role in arresting Afghanis and handing them over for torture. Delivering prisoners for torture is as culpable an act as torture itself. It is a war crime. Everyone who wants our defence forces to be respected must demand it is purged of people who have committed these acts.
Emergency housing
Here’s some images of emergency housing from Japan and from Christchurch. I wonder if you can spot the difference.
Sleezy old granny
The Herald asks: “Is Kate Middleton the best looking UK royal ever?“. I say: what about Mary of Orange? Phwoooar! Get a load of that! Seriously, who gives a fuck that some dickhead who might some day be the nominal boss of our figurehead vice-regent is marrying someone? Why are we meant to swoon like morons over this?
So what’s changed?
In 2008 John Key attacked the Labour government on high prices and low wages.
In 2011 he’s telling us the government can’t help.
So what’s changed?
Education and wealth
Turns out the teachers have been right all along. Family wealth is the overwhelming predictor of educational outcome. That means there are no quick fixes. The best way to improve educational outcomes is to improve the incomes of the poor.
Open mike 22/04/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
A correction
I’ve long held to the principle of owning your mistakes and as such I’ve gotta say I was wrong about one aspect of the “stop asset sales” campaign – the signs are authorised.
Weekend social Easter 2011
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
First Amongst Equals
I heard David Cunliffe on Morning Report on Tuesday, and he was superb. But as soon as he finished I knew the Right would try to deflect from the substance by writing it off as leadership ambitions. And sure enough we have Audrey Young, making exactly that connection. Labour can turn that on its head.
ECE costs increasing
The Nats’ attack on early childhood education (ECE) is starting to bite. As surely as night follows day, the cuts in funding for childcare centres are showing up as increased costs for parents.
The photo-op PM, a ‘nice to have?’
Key’s helicopter rides. Huge waste of money for what? A V8 photo-op then a golf club dinner. Why are we paying this guy $7750 a week to do nothing but photo ops? Where’s the recovery package for the West Coast? Where’s the Chch plan? Where’ the brighter future? Sorry, PM’s been too busy playing race cars and eating fancy dinners.
Expansionary austerity – fail
Expansionary austerity is the idea that cutbacks in government spending can stimulate economic growth. Empirical evidence shows that it doesn’t work. Current experience shows that it’s not working in Britain, and it isn’t working here. Like “trickle down economics” this favourite of the political Right is not so much a theory as a deluded fantasy.
Open mike 21/04/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Amateur hour – or how to take a good idea and turn it into a bad campaign
Labour’s stop asset sales campaign should have been good but it wasn’t.
Not because of its legal cock-ups (okay not just because of its legal cock-ups) but because it was rolled out in a vacuum.
“Politics of envy”
National Party blogger David Farrar is whining about the “politics of envy”.
He seems to think we shouldn’t be mean to Key because he’s rich and making us poor.
Cry me a river.
Fabians lecture
Bernard Hickey speaks about “The Plan for the Productive Economy” Venue: Ellen Melville Hall, High Street, Auckland. Time: 6:30pm, Thursday 21 April.
Leave The Family Court Alone
The Family Court as far as I’m concerned is the only court that tries to act as the gate before the cliff, rather than the grave digger at the bottom. The costs to society both directly and in loss of potential can be astronomical when taken over a persons entire lifetime of not handling the family issues clearly and decisively. So why does Simon Power want to fiddle with it? Apparently to forestall urban myths which does seem to be his sole political ability.
Climate change: Our $1.2 billion a year credibility gap
The United Nations joins those voices pointing out that Nationals”policy” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a complete sham. Reposted from No Right Turn.
Tilting at drugmules
Rex Widerstrom has been a commentator and occassional guest poster here for a while. He has a unique point of view on the political process and its place in society. In this guest post he looks at the never ending “War on Drugs”.
Spending cuts I’d like to see – No 2
The government’s books are tight. We shouldn’t borrow more, so there need to be reversals of the tax cuts and spending cuts. What matters is what is cut – all cuts are not the same. I’d like to see the $110 billion dollars of subsidies for greenhouse polluters under National’s Emissions Trading Scheme cut.
The emperor’s new clothes
Fancy suits for John.
User pays family court for us.
Can’t help won’t help
John Key says that the government can’t help Kiwis who are struggling with rapidly rising costs. Rubbish. There’s plenty that they could be doing. If they wanted to…
Open mike 20/04/2011
Hot topics:
• Trotter on the left
• the PM on a chopper
• and more!
Operation 8: Deep in the Forest
Last night walking into the film screening in Auckland I was a bit apprehensive about how it would all be put together. Fortunately my fears were unfounded and the film did justice to the complex issues involved.
Appealing
No Right Turn put up a post on the latest in the police foulup that is Operation 8.
According to Stuff, the Urewera 18 are seeking leave to appeal the decision to deny them a jury trial to the Supreme Court. Good. Trial by jury is a fundamental right
Key SCF excuses fall flat
Michael Bott takes John Key to task for his claims over the South Canterbury Finance debacle. Key and English have tried to blame Labour for the deposit guarantee that covered SCF. But the truth is that National extended SCF’s coverage under the scheme again and again, despite knowing that SCF was in breach of the rules.
Caption contest
Pagani dead wrong
Former senior Labour party strategist John Pagani has written an extraordinary blog post where he says Labour ought to cuddle up to National because its policies are so popular and then, somehow, convince people to vote Labour for some reason. If this has been Labour’s strategy for the past few years, it explains a lot.
Reaching out to expat Kiwis
The Kea “Census” of expat Kiwis is under way. Unfortunately it coincides with government plans for a Crackdown on student loan repayments. Instead of chasing our expats for an entirely hypothetical return, we should be reaching out to them, embracing them, making them welcome back home.
Open mike 19/04/2011
Hot topics:
• earthquakes and oil drills
• what is “success”?
• and more!
Candidate Conference
This weekend just gone there was a conference in Wellington for Labour candidates to get us all up to speed with the campaign. We’re ready to go out there and make it happen.
Caption contest
