Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball
This guy writes what I would aspire to write if I had the time and the cojones. For a lazy Saturday morning rant, read on.
Landlord charges market rent
Thousands of tenants in Auckland’s CBD face rent rises from next year as the landlords start, after a 15 year moratorium, to charge market rental. Why is that news? Ahh well, read on…
Open mike 10/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Should’ve done it before, John
It seems John Key is now belatedly wading in to look at whether it’s at last time to cut Andy Haden loose as […]
Tolley lives behind The Wall
Anne Tolley is on record. She told the Principals gathered at their annual conference that rather than run to the media that they need to talk to her directly.
Lets see some of those who have voiced their opposition to Nationals Standards so far…..
Archives NZ merger set to be another “Super Stuff-up”
The ODT has obtained a report from the Crown Law Office via the OIA, which rather diplomatically suggests there will need to be some […]
Child support
According to the headlines “Inland Revenue is owed more than $1.8 billion by parents who have shirked their financial responsibilities”. Dig a bit deeper and the picture is not as bad as it looks. “Absent dads” don’t need to be demonised by the likes of Bob McCoskrie.
Party central
Enough was written yesterday about the latest instalment of the slow motion train wreck that is John Key’s “Party Central”. So here’s Emmerson’s visual take.
Open mike 09/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
The long goodbye
Newspaper and magazine readerships continue to plummet despite the end of the recession. The biggest falls are the major newspapers. The Herald has shed 92,000 readers since 2005. The Sunday-Star Times lost 90,000 readers (15%!) last year alone. It’s got to the point where they literally can’t give the SST away.
Back to the Future – Education in the UK
God knows what the National Standards are designed to do – it can’t be to lift achievement. Even the Minister says that is […]
Socialist football
I thought Germany were going to power in to the finals – but Spain had other plans! Funny old game. According to football legend John Barnes the best football teams are socialist in nature. They play for each other, and individual brilliance is often subservient to the common good…
NZ hero gets suspended sentence
Pete Bethune has had his sentence for bogus charges laid by Japanese whaling interests suspended. My warm congratulations to Pete and his family. […]
Urgent safety upgrades needed, not a holiday highway
Auckland Transport Blog saying the bleeding obvious about the aggrandizement project that appears to be Steven Joyce’s grand vision for the future of transport in Auckland. If he was concentrating on reducing the road toll on this stretch of road, there are simpler and cheaper ways than wasting taxpayers money.
Nothing better to be doing
Is $175 an hour to hire a clown a good deal? Because you and I might think we are paying $350,000 a year plus expenses for a Prime Minister but it seems not. Yesterday, he spnt his time opening a pizza place. Next week: Key attends opening of letter.
Cartoon says it all
The Herald has a headline article on John Keys “Party Central”. But their cartoon really said it all. The question is:- How many […]
A July election?
First term governments don’t usually go early but this isn’t your average first term government.
Will the tories go early to lock in a second term?
And if they do will we get a blitzkrieg policy run if they win?
Open mike 08/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
State housing decline will leave families out in the cold
Stuff reports that under Minister Phil Heatley, Housing NZ will manage additions of only 275 houses for each of the next two years. […]
Blubbering into oblivion
I had to laugh at this comment by Mako about my least favorite wingnut… More desperate anti-Brown smearing from Slater. His latest allegation […]
Bypassing the media
Not long after The White House Correspondents’ Association met with Obama’s Press Secretary to complain about limitations on their access, The White House […]
Supermarket capitalism
Supermarkets are squeezing producers while marking up the prices of fruit and vegetables by up to 500%. The worst side of capitalism in action. Support your local farmers’ market, and the Green’s call for a supermarket code of conduct.
Xenophobia
John Key is claiming that we need to defend our shores against a coming wave of boat people by buying into a detention center in Timor.
I don’t know whether he’s trying to flank Winnie or whether he’s just shooting off at the mouth after being influenced by the Aussies but whatever the reason the idea is plainly racist.
Standby for INCIS II… pfzzzt
For some time now National has been quietly making plans to subsume Archives New Zealand and the National Library within the Department of […]
What’s Key in Korea for again?
Key’s worried about us being even more bought out by foreigners. Key’s in South Korea about to sign a Free Trade Agreement. New […]
Open mike 07/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
World Cup according to genius bankers
Economists, bankers, Treasury officials, financial wizards of various kinds, they like to pretend that they know what they’re talking about. All too often they don’t. Predicting the behaviour of complex systems is hard. Consider for example, the big banks’ predictions on the winner of the Football World Cup…
Labour’s lineup emerges
Labour’s lineup for the next election is emerging, the usual balance between continuity and new talent. There will be some interesting electorate selections coming up. Such personality politics is always very popular of course, but more important than the people is the policy…
Key concedes Left has it right on foreign ownership
PM warns against Kiwis becoming ‘tenants’ – The Herald. John Key says that we’ve got to make sure we don’t sell too many of our assets and end up sending the profits overseas. Good stuff, it’s exactly what the Left has been saying and the opposite of National’s policy until now. I guess we’ll have to see if Key backs up his words with action.
Blowhard and the starry eyed suckers at the MED
There are a lot of risks New Zealand will face when more deeper water off-shore oil exploration goes ahead. The more you look, the greater the risks appear. Brownlee and the crazies at the MED don’t look like they know what a risk assessment is. Consequently they’re getting screwed. Perhaps they should read Gordon Campbell…
The Failure of Neo-Liberalism
Neo-Liberalism is a failure; not just in human terms, but by its own measures. Since the concepts of neo-liberalism were taken up by Roger & Ruth 26 years ago neo-liberalism has driven down wages as a share of GDP, massively increased inequality and stripped workers rights.
Open mike 06/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Pro-choice responses to Chadwick’s Abortion Bill
Been a bit disappointed that there hasn’t been a post up here yet on the news out on Saturday that Steve Chadwick is […]
God, she writes like she talks
Paula Bennett in a letter to Tariana Turia: “Because of that sort of addiction it can be really tough on them and you see, certainly, financial hardship being increased and I think also with that sort of stress you can look at domestic violence,”. I don’t think that sentence would pass the national standard.
We need staff to teach new students
There has been extensive coverage recently of universities’ tough new criteria to limit the number of students they will take next semester and […]
Sceptics face yawning credibility gap
We know that the vast majority of climate scientists support the explanation of anthropogenic climate change set out by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. That majority is now quantified in the first study of its kind published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Expert credibility in climate change.