According to Treasury, Kiwi workers’ combined incomes will be $1.5 billion lower when Key leaves office than when he entered. But the Nats aren’t done. The next stage is to attack holidays. The method of calculating sick and holiday is going to be changed to shaft shift workers. While the ‘choice’ to sell one week’s annual leave to the boss will see your work hours go up more than your pay.
The sun is emerging from its deep sleep of the Solar Minimum. The increased sensitivity of human networks from satellites to power grids […]
On Wednesday night John key was in Christchurch. He was met by protesters, angry at the abolition of democracy in Canterbury, and the plans of the newly installed dictatorship to allow over-farming to poison the water and kill the rivers. How did TV news handle the coverage? I think it’s fair to say that it was up to their usual standards…
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
McCully and Groser put their drinking habits on the taxpayer bill. Jones charged his own, um, habit. Carter played far too loose. All broke the rules. Carter and Jones paid the money back eventually. Groser and McCully better soon.
I say we deserve better. And if one’s gotta go, they’ve all got to go. Goff, Key, which one of you is going to set the standard? Sack ’em all.
Journalists’ reaction to the Ministerial credit card fiasco fell right into the National government’s lap. It was a classic set piece by the 9th Floor of the Beehive that did not warrant the saturated coverage it received. My message to the media: Come on guys get spin wise!
For me the main scandal about taxpayer funding this week is the fact that we have all contributed $209,000 towards helping Nick Smith […]
National’s budget broke a number of economic promises. One that’s not been emphasised enough is their commitment to be fiscally neutral. Labour got New Zealand to $0 net government debt. Now we are headed back into the red again and National is making it worse, not to create jobs to help ordinary Kiwis through the recession, but to fund tax cuts for their rich mates.
I wasn’t going to comment on the credit card witchhunt as I think it’s prurient. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favour […]
The credit card records of the ex-Labour ministers are out. Phil Goff has made it clear that any money claimed outside the rules must be repaid and some wrongful claims were paid back at the time. The test the Auditor-General set after Phil Heatley’s bizarre resignation over $70 worth of wine is whether claims intentionally breach the rules.
Take it or leave it, says John Key to the Maori Party over the foreshore and seabed. So much for consultation and collective decision making with their government partner. Like the trader he is, Key’s made his offer – symbolic change and nothing more. If the Maori Party don’t want to buy, he doesn’t care. Key doesn’t need to make the deal. The Maori Party does.
According to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, the welfare debate could get nasty: “we may even see an ugly side of New Zealand”. Well here’s a newsflash – the welfare debate is already ugly. The Nats have worked long and hard to make it ugly. Paula Bennett the ugly side of New Zealand is you.
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The Press reports John Key was greeted by angry protesters at the South Island forum in Christchurch tonight. About 100 people waved placards protesting the undemocratic dismissal of the regional council by the Key government.
So John Key is going to get to fly over and see the All Whites at the World Cup. Maybe he could do a match report for Radio New Zealand whilst he’s there. The World’s biggest sporting event by far, the Football World Cup, features New Zealand for the first time in 28 years. Can Radio New Zealand afford to send someone to cover this major story for our country? No.
The best form of welfare is a decent job. During it’s nine years in power, the fifth Labour government cut the number of beneficiaries by 150,000 by getting people into work. So assisting more sickness and invalid’s beneficiaries into work is a good idea. But you can’t help people into jobs that don’t exist. The danger is that the government will simply make it harder for people to get the help they need.
National was forced into a back down by the extremely negative public reaction to Bill English’s kite-flying over selling Kiwibank. Now, after initially supporting the idea of a sale, John Key has emphatically ruled it out… unless he changes his mind later. When it comes to other public assets, Key is giving us the semantic run around. National’s true intentions are clear.
Each person gets the same right to vote, regardless of wealth. That’s a fundamental principle of our democracy. But it’s not true. Those who own land across local government districts can vote in all areas under a ratepayer franchise. It’s time to restore “one person, one vote”.
There has been a series of posts at Hot-topic and other sites looking at the actions and background of climate change skeptical scientists. But what is fascinating generally is that many are retired professors far from the cut and thrust of the peer reviewing of their work that is a major and critical part of the scientific process. Many people seem to imbue a larger mantle of authority over a title than its meaningless value deserves.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Over the weekend, I read the right wing blogs with interest and their frequent references to left-wing politicians troughing at the taxpayers expense and other such instances of abuse. I then lent my mind to the National-led Government and how they have fared in this regard over the last 18 months.
This is what I came up with:
We all know what a disaster America’s ‘No Child Left Behind’, the inspiration for the Nats’ National Standards has been. It seems Australia has gone down a very similar track and the results have been the same – teaching to the test, grade inflation, and institutional cheating as teachers and schools find themselves being judged solely on their students’ grades.
The way the votes will be counted in the Government’s MMP Referendum Bill is highly unusual and in my view undemocratic. There will not be any independent scrutiny on election day of the votes cast or spoiled in the referendum. Independent scrutiny of the ballot in my view is essential part to retaining confidence in the democratic process.
The dearth of long weekends this year has made me feel cheated. And now with Queen’s Birthday over it’s a long wait till Labour weekend in October. That’s not fair dammit. It’s time to give Matariki its due and celebrate with a Monday off in July.
Aussies are looking more and more likely to elect Abbott. Terrible. Guy’s a chauvinistic prick who admitted you can’t trust a word he […]
According to a new report: “New Zealand is a great place for children if their parents have a good income, live in a warm dry house and are well educated.” However if you’re not born into a privileged household, then death and disease “is worse than that of all but two [developed] countries, Mexico and Turkey.”
Last Queen’s Birthday Weekend 10 people died on the roads and 32 were seriously injured. Last Easter another 12 dead, the highest toll in 18 years. This Queen’s Birthday police announced a massive crackdown on speeding. Idiots such as DPF denounced it as a “revenue gathering exercise”. But events have proved them very wrong, with the lowest toll in 54 years.
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One of the most popular uses of trusts is to hide income for tax avoidance or evasion. So, I was happy to read about the IRD’s success in a recent court case against two surgeons. The court found these two very rich men had used trusts to avoid tax to the tune of $168,000. The case will have big ramifications, potentially shutting down one of the biggest tax rorts in the country.
Wayne Eagleson isn’t doing anything wrong by going on holiday with rightwing lobbyists but there are parallels with John Key’s Highwater-gate. Eagleson doesn’t have the apparent conflicts of interest that Key has (more on that later) but both incidents give us an insight into the company that National keeps and the interests they really represent.
At a recent meeting about 100 Iwi leaders rejected the Government’s proposed reform for the Foreshore and Seabed Act. That means the issue remains a ticking time bomb for Key. He is going to have to enrage either the Maori Party or his core Iwi/Kiwi constituency. Either way there’s trouble ahead.
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 story goes that David Lange he was informed of the Rainbow Warrior bombing while lining up for the Tuckshop at Waiwera Hot Pools. As a young fella I guess I had a view of a PM as kind of distant, so I thought it was fantastic that Lange actually just stood in line like everyone else. Has ‘Brand Key’ paradoxically forced Key into a distance where he can’t act like previous PMs?
With Len Brown beating Banks in the polls the right have come out swinging.
Let’s take a quick look at the anatomy of this dirt digging beast.
Long serving MP for Dunedin North, Pete Hodgson, will step down at the next election. Nominations for the next candidate will open on July 1, and Labour’s Council has said that it is leaving the selection up to the local electorate.
