Everyone had pretty much assumed that Kerry Prendergast was a sure thing to win another term as Wellington’s mayor. But a Dompost poll shows Celia Wade-Brown is in the hunt. With a small gap and low turn-out every vote matters – so cast yours for Wade-Brown today.
The Dompost has joined the chorus of outrage over CERRA (The Gerry Brownlee Enabling Act). Parliament got it badly, badly wrong in signing away its powers but it’s not too late to make things right. The Greens are calling for a review. Labour should join them.
The weekend headlines make it seem like Brown has the Auckland Mayoral election all but won. That’s an invitation to self-defeating complacency. Team Brown needs to keep up the hard work — it ain’t over ’till it’s over.
New Zealand’s most infamous anti-Ambassador Paul Henry has shamed us all once again. On TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, Henry asked John Key (at […]
The tiny island nation of Kiribati puts the “developed” world to shame.
When National announced it would create an ‘Environmental Protection Agency’ and a short-cut resource consent process for projects of ‘national significance’, the implications were clear. The new agency and process would be used to override local opposition. Sure enough, that’s what’s happening with Waterview.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
So, Chris Carter is threatening a ‘tell-all’ book on the Fifth Labour Government published at the next election. But he says he won’t publish it if he gets to stay in Labour. It’s blackmail, a further act of treachery for which he deserves to be evicted from the party. Carter’s rot is the corruption of all MPs who forget who they were elected to serve.
OK, so it’s quite up with the best campaign ad ever, but Yani Johanson and James Dann’s anti-Bob Parker rap brought a smile to my face. Yani is running for councillor in the Hagley-Ferrymead ward and James is going for the Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board, both on the People’s Choice ticket.
Helen Kelly has brought the two parties in the hobbit dispute together.
That’s a job well done and a big step in settling this dispute.
But there is still the broader issue of independent contracting being used to circumvent employment law and whether it could be fixed by legislation.
It’s been pretty painful watching the media coverage of the Delhi games buildup over the last few weeks. What a lot of xenophobic nonsense we’ve been served up.
Early childhood education is great stuff. Those first few years shape a child’s future more than any other. Getting into learning and into socialising early on leads to huge rewards later in life. Parents can go back to work if they want or need too. For every dollar spent on ECE, society gets 13 back in benefits.
Wondering who Actors’ Equity are and what they do? Well here’s a video from AE explaining just that. Actors’ Equity also have a […]
One of these things is not like the other, One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one […]
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John Banks has made bashing South Auckland part of his campaign “strategy”. That didn’t work out so well for Melissa Lee, and it won’t work out so well for others that are now trying the same tactic…
The Hobbit dispute is being run to a very familiar playbook.
Let’s have a look at the employers’ tactics and what the union can do to counter them.
This question is something that has been on my mind for some time. In this article, Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at Princeton, sets out four examples of current policy that he believes those in the future will look back and say “What were people thinking?”
Treasury in their first year under National tripled their expenditure on contractors whilst forcing all other departments into cuts. Bill English decided against having any public accountability, and left Tony Ryall talking rubbish trying to explain it.
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The crime stats are not good news. Homicides are up, violent offences are up, sex offences are up, harassment and related offences are up, drug offences are up, public order offences are up. Oddly, though, the total number of offences is down (by 0.1%). The decrease is all down to a 25.6% decrease in recorded fraud offences. What’s up with that?
As you sit there reading this, think about how industrial action is growing across the country – Secondary teachers, Junior Doctors, Radiographers, State Servants, Actors. There is a lot more to come as National and business try to force wages down. Do you want to wait for them to come for you?
Remember how John Key used to talk about GST? Here is a video reminding everyone of the past before he did his usual flip-flop to favour the rich while increasing costs on most people. The GST increase and the consequent inflation will make almost everyone worse off unless they are wealthy enough to bribe the NACT’s.
Peter Jackson’s in the paper today whining about being denied entry to a union meeting.
There’s a really simple reason for that – union meetings are for union members, not for employers.
The fifth of 6 in a series summarising the argument of The Spirit Level. This post looks at how a more equal society may also be a more sustainable one.
Why does our Minister of Tourism always take his holidays overseas?
The Herald’s editorial today is a strong rebuke of National’s anti-democratic power grabs. Close on the heels of CERRA is the World Cup Empowering Act, giving unfettered powers to ministers that they don’t need. The Herald’s opposition shows, again, how badly wrong Labour and the Greens got it when they voted for CERRA.
For a long, time National and the Right have tried to convince us that all we need is tax cuts. You can understand why: their other policies are deeply unpopular, cutting taxes is a roundabout way of cutting public services, which they hate, and tax cuts deliver the most to their wealthy base. So will we see any actual benefits from the great tax swindle?
John Banks has been slagging off South Auckland. Ooops. That’s the same mistake that Melissa Lee made in the Mt Albert by election. The same mistake deserves the same fate. Banks cannot credibly operate as mayor of the SuperCity.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
A Capitalist Ten Commandments.
Do unto others…
Do you watch 5 second films?
If not, you’re wasting your life.
Now, waste some more. In five second increments.
John Key tells a businesswoman he “would love to see wages drop“. National makes sub-inflation minimum wage increase. National makes no effort to […]
Arts Minister Chris Finlayson has backed the Hobbit producers’ refusal to negotiate with Kiwi workers.
He’s citing a Crown Law opinion that backs Jackson’s claim he can’t negotiate with workers collectively.
But he’s deliberately asked a very narrow question to get the answer he wants – an answer he’s using to back foreign big business over the rights of Kiwi workers.
