British austerity budget
The first budget from the new Tory-LibDem government is a shocker, with massive austerity cuts and a rise in VAT to 20%. This is the bill for the £850 billion bail out of big banks coming home to roost.
Open mike 24/06/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Rudd for the chop, Gillard to take the reins
Kevin Rudd has lost the support of the powerful Australian Workers’ Union and an array of the ALP’s factions to Julia Gillard. It’s been a dramatic fall for Rudd, who was so incredibly popular for his first two year’s as PM (if it can happen there…). Gillard will make a stark contrast to the strange conservative leader of the Liberals, Tony Abbott, but has a lot of work to do.
Public holiday on All Whites win?
Asked if a win against Paraguay should warrant a public holiday, John Key replied “Damn fine idea. I want the country to enjoy this. They’ll be dancing all over the place”. Trevor Mallard has taken up the cause and will ask Parliament’s permission for it to debate a Bill that will create a one-off public holiday on Friday if the All Whites win. There’s strong public support.
What would you have done, Prime Minister?
A very strange statement from Timaru financier Allan Hubbard in this story from the Herald after his company had been put into statutory […]
The media
The frequently brilliant xkcd on the state of the media.
Free speech zones
The most disturbing aspect of the handling of the Chinese security guard’s assault on Russel Norman is the way that the Nats are going to use it as an excuse to further restrict free speech. Don’t let them set us on the path to America’s notorious “free speech zones”.
Credit card scandals & false economies
It is good to cast light on ministers putting personal spending on the taxpayer but the media is attacking legitimate spending too. As a result, MPs are being prevented from doing their jobs properly for fear of appearing profligate. Is this the desired effect of the chill wind blowing from the media on our representatives’ expenses, that even John Key warned about?
They’re white and rich, so it’s news
Why should we care about five dead rich mining executives? Makes me feel pretty sick thinking about the warped coverage these stories get. Deaths of poor dark-skinned people by the hundred are so routinely ignored. And anyone ask what they were mining there? Foreign mining interests in that part of the world triggered the Great War of Africa. But who cares, eh?
Privacy Commissioner refers Bennett complaint
After many months the Privacy Commissioner has ruled on the Paula Bennett case, referring it on to the Director of Proceedings. Will Key now take action? Of course not – there don’t seem to be any consequences for any kind of illegal or unethical behaviour in Key’s government.
Open mike 23/06/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Transcript: John Banks to Colin Craig
John Banks’ supercity mayor campaign is failing. A month of smears hasn’t worked. The rot is so deep competition from the Right is emerging. The guy who spent $100 per marcher on on the anti-smacking march, Colin Craig, looks set to run. I’ve obtained a copy of the transcript of Banks’ call to Craig when he heard the news.
Petitioning for education
Good to see that the Greens presented to Parliament today a 37,000 signature petition expressing concern about the Government’s National Standards policy…
Finlayson’s undeclared company
It appears Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has been failing to declare his interest in a company for years. David Parker stood down as Attorney-General when he thought he had signed a false declaration. Will Finlayson? Will John Key match Phil Goff’s standards? [Update: Finlayson says he has no pecuniary interest. Irrelevant. All directorships must be declared. The A-G should be able to read the rules]
Brownlee concerned about safety? Yeah right.
The New York Times has a excellent article on the failure of the last line of defense on the sunken Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Even as they are lambasting the regulatory framework that allowed the failure to happen, I’m looking at it and seeing how pathetic our regulatory framework is by comparison. Somehow I don’t think that Gerry Brownlee is capable of making it better.
Why you don’t give the State too much power
The Police should never have been given the power to take DNA off anyone they arrest. It should be handled by an independent group and only on conviction. Letting the Police take DNA off anyone they arrest gives them too much incentive to bend the rules, and that seems to be happening with Police pressuring people they haven’t even arrested into giving over their DNA.
I’m not sorry
I’m not sorry about Russel Norman standing up to Chinese imperialism, I’m proud that he did. While I don’t personally have a lot of […]
Authoritarian Key
Once again the government is employing the power of the state against someone who has embarrassed them.
Perhaps when Key talks warmly about Singapore it’s the authoritarianism he likes.
Open mike 22/06/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Assets the big issue for 2011
The post-Budget bump for National in the Roy Morgan polls was there but was small and it’s already evaporating. Fundamentally, National’s policies just aren’t popular,as the poll showing 80% opposition to asset sales proves. National is still pursuing privatisation by stealth (whanua ora, PEDA, water etc), giving the Left an opportunity make public assets the big issue of 2011.
The more things change
Colin Espiner says MP’s shouldn’t protest but then gets some basic facts wrong trying to show why.
I guess he’s made a point. But not the one he meant to…
Latest polls
Two polls: Roy Morgan who say “The latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows support for John Key’s National-led Government has weakened to 55.5% (down 2%)” and TV3 “National are up 3.2 percent to 55.3 percent, Labour are down 3.3 percent to 30.5 percent and the Greens are down to 7.7 percent.” Wish I was a pollster…
Uranium on the breeze
The Environmental Risk Management Authority has given approval for shipments of uranium to pass through New Zealand on the way to the United States. This seems to violate the principles of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
Money for tax cuts for rich, none for doctors’ pay
Tony Ryall, like Anne Tolley, is facing a big fight over wages. The health budget is chock-full of cuts as it is and Ryall says there simply isn’t any money to give doctors pay rises as they and other workers face nearly 6% inflation next year. The government can find billions for tax cuts for the rich but not to pay doctors and teachers. Priorities.
Groser and McCully’s booze breaches the rules
Tim Groser and Murray McCully charged thousands of dollars to his ministerial credit card when it’s clearly against the rules on Travel, Accommodation, Attendance, and Communication Services Available to Members of the Executive: 2. Examples of goods and services that will generally not be paid for:… (i) Alcohol unless it relates to a portfolio/ministerial function. They’ve got to go.
Speculators – Our Evil Overlords
Many think that Capitalism has been corrupted, socialised. It hasn’t – it’s been purified. We used to have capitalists that produced things; they […]
Open mike 21/06/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
English misleads on PEDA money
Georgina Te Heuheu and Bill English have been saying the money allocated in the Budget to PEDA might go to some other organisation. That would be a huge abuse of the Budget process, whereby the Government asks Parliament for permission to spend money on specific activities. Of course, really the Nats are just trying to muddy the water as questions on PEDA continue.
All Whites game 2
No, I’m not staying up for it. Have fun, those of you who do! Guess I’ll be kicking myself if the All Whites […]
Chinese democracy
According to Chinese State media. The Key government has secretly apologised to the Chinese dictatorship for allowing Russel Norman to protest new vice-dictator Xi Jinping. Since when was a peaceful protest something we apologise for? No apology from the Chinese appears to have been sought or recieved. Shameful, corwardly behaviour from our kowtowing government. [Update. The Herald reports our PM personally called the Chinese to apologise. Jaw-dropping]
Heroes
Good interview on RNZ this morning with the author of a book on the early life of Nelson Mandela. Reminded me that I have been meaning for a while now to try a Sunday occasional post series on heroes. Heroes, past and present, of democracy, the labour movement, or the environment.
Open mike 20/06/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Do we now kowtow?
The police won’t lay charges against the security guard who assaulted Russel Norman. Fair enough I guess. They’re out of here today. Probably too minor to justify a prosecution. That doesn’t make what happened OK. A thug for a foreign power violated the rights of one of our MPs on the grounds of our Parliament. A display of contempt for our sovereignty. And our democracy.
Numbers I pulled out of my arse show Brown unhurt by Nat smears
My new poll shows Len Brown will get 90% of the vote. Even though the survey is unscientific and consisted of a self-selected group most of whom think like me, it provides an interesting take on the two weeks of intense political and media scrutiny of Mr Brown’s credit card expenses.
The harsh reality of climate change
The most comprehensive collection and analysis of global temperature trends comes from NOAA.Their global temperatures report for May 2010 makes sobering reading. Since 1880, the globally hottest 10 years have happened in the last 15 years. It looks like 2010 will beat the previous hottest year in 2005, and we’re still at the least energetic part of the sunspot cycle.
After the goldrush
“After the goldrush†Oil painting and words – Chuck Joseph 2010
When the circus left town, we had a parade,
the band played on and floats were made.
I looked sideways as they passed,…