A rare opportunity
It is not often that I compliment the authors that write for No Minister. However I have to compliment SageNZ for his prescient […]
Keynes and Hayek rap
In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century go […]
Stifling dissent
The letter warning school boards not to speak out over national standards is an outrage, but John Key and his National Party have a long and dishonourable record of trying to shut down those who speak out to oppose them.
Labour, don’t stand by while English lies
Journalistic independence, or why Radio NZ matters
There’s no better illustration of why we need a properly funded Radio NZ than the way the debate over National’s funding cuts have played out on Radio NZ compared to its commercial counterparts.
Return of Editing the Herald
Guess what? Editing the Herald is back for the new year and it’s as sharp as ever.
The Herald is still full of casual idiocy, incredible stuff ups (like the headline that went to print on page 3 as “HeadXXX”), and the bizarreness of Garth George.
EtH skewers it all brilliantly.
Pansy Wong bids for worst minister award
When you’ve got a Finance Minister who can’t get stats right, a Social Welfare Minister who can’t define her flagship policy, and an Education Minister who can’t explain her flagship policy, it’s easy for an incompetent Women’s Affairs Minister to slip through.
Key laughs off minimum wage earners
John Key’s recent stint at the Big Gay Out wasn’t all target marketing and niche political branding. He also had a run in with living-wage campaigners who took him to task for his government’s poor response to minimum wage earners and asked if he could live on the minimum wage.
A sign of the times
The Northern Action Group has, with the support of 80% of Northern Rodney District, been petitioning the Government to leave Northern Rodney out […]
Phil Goff trips up Sloppy Key
Click through to see Phil Goff take John Key down a peg. Sloppy home insulation. Sloppy, broken cycleway promises. Sloppy, unfilfulled Youth Guarantee. Sloppy & uncaring on unemployment. Sloppy abuse of the people of McGehan Close. A sloppy, do nothing PM.
Financial literacy – Educate adults.
While measures to fix problems in investments are good, the best approach is increase financial literacy. However Anne Tolly has already shown she does not understand education. Her idiotic decisions to destroy adult community education has removed the best channel for promoting knowledge amongst current investors. This suggests that the government isn’t serious and we are seeing more PR than substantive measures.
Open mike 19/02/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Nats substitute tax cuts for economic plan
An interesting piece from One News. Bill English gave another underwhelming speech on National’s economic plan, which basically boiled down to ‘tax cuts!’. A young businesswoman in the audience told English she wanted a real plan. His response: ‘tax cuts’. But he could give no proof his tax cuts would improve the economy.
Coleman bites off more than he can chew
The backlash to National’s attack on Radio NZ is beginning, and it looks like Jonathan Coleman may have bitten off more than he can chew.
Take the Save Radio New Zealand group on Facebook. In less than 24 hours it has 1700 2800 3500 supporters, with 10 more joining every minute.
Armstrong on Clueless Tolley
John Armstrong: “Anne Tolley’s reluctance to explain [national standards] left the distinct impression she was less than 100 per cent sure.†It was a bit more than an impression, and it was a bit less than 100%. Tolley clearly had no clue what she was talking about.
Clark on RNZ
Have a listen to today’s interview of Helen Clark by RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan on the UNDP and aid strategies during times of international […]
National moves to trash RNZ
Jonathan Coleman has described public broadcasting as being like North Korean propaganda. Turns out the wee fella isn’t afraid to force operational changes on our most independent broadcaster and threaten to sack the board if he doesn’t get his way.
Whanau Ora defined-ish
BLiP gives the best definition of the Key Government’s billion dollar Whanau Ora plan to date: “Whanau Ora = privatisation of social services.â€
Yeah, it does. But I’m still struggling to understand what social services. Will Whanau Ora providers be running hospitals and clinics? Will they be running schools? Will they be making dole and super payments?
Hickey slams Key’s get rich quick scheme
Is it just me or does this ‘financial hub’ idea of John Key’s sound a bit too much like a get rich quick scheme? Apparently all we have to do is exempt foreign owners of foreign assets stored in NZ-based trusts from tax and the money will roll in.
Open mike 18/02/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Labour pins clueless Nat ministers
It’s hard to decide which is worst: Do Nothing John Key flouncing around the country while thousands of Kiwis lose their jobs, the Joyce cabal pushing their hard-right economic agenda, or the rest of them who don’t have two brain cells to rub together.
Brownlee lying over mining on conservation land
According to The Press Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee is denying he trimmed a South Island conservation park after being lobbied by mining company L&M. However, documents posted on The Standard and No Right Turn show he was lying.
Electoral finance reform hohum?
I’ve been looking for feedback on Simon Power’s electoral finance reform package but I can’t find anything from Labour. After the hell that rained down on them over the EFA (much of it richly deserved) I can only assume that Labour thinks National’s got it about right.
Dompost learns not to take English’s word
The Dompost has repeated English’s false claims on GDP growth. They trusted the Minister of Finance to get his maths right. But English’s numbers are completely wrong. He can’t do simple maths, no wonder there’s no government leadership on the economy.
MMP campaign heats up
The business elite wants to drag us back to the days of unfair elections and weak democracy, when business interests held even more sway than now. We don’t want to return to those days. We want to keep the best electoral system in the world – MMP.
Key too busy doing nothing
Tongue in cheek, George notes: When asked in Parliament why he hadn’t paid closer attention to his share portfolio, Key replied: “small technical issue, I’ve been busy running the countryâ€. That statement must come close to misleading Parliament.
Guyon tires of Key’s empty grin
Guyon Espiner isn’t exactly what you would call a critic of John Key’s government, so when he has a blog post titled “John Key’s sloppiness as costly as it is charming” you know things are bad.
David Farrar’s conflict of interest
David Farrar is well know as National’s main pollster. But should he also be polling on political issues for internal affairs? And what other non-tender contracts has his company, Curia, been doing for the public sector?
Open mike 17/02/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Public: GST should pay for cuts to bottom rates
Key doesn’t have the money to keep his promise to make everyone better off or at least no worse off from tax reform. He doesn’t have pixies in the garden to make more money. But he can cut the bottom tax rates, and a new poll shows strong support for that move.
Key’s “sloppy” excuse on uranium shares
John Key has tried to excuse himself from owning shares in a uranium company by saying he was “sloppy”. I’m afraid that’s not good enough for a Prime Minister worth millions, who likely pays top dollar for a lawyer to advise him on just these kind of problems.
Our innumerate finance minister & friends
Bill English claimed in the House today that the economy only grew by 0.9% a year in Labour’s last three years in power. Unfortunately for him the problem was his maths, not Labour’s economic policy. English can’t get simple percentages right, can we trust him with the nation’s finances?
No ideas? Bash some beneficiaries
John Key says sickness and invalid’s benefit numbers are increasing because “the previous government encouraged a move off the unemployment benefit into those categories, which aren’t work testedâ€. You’ve been caught out on this lie by The Standard authors before, John. Did you think it would slip by us now?
Espiner spears PM puffery
Colin Espiner: “Is that uranium I can smell on John Key’s breath? Or too much garlic in the lamb rack the prime minister cooked for his wife on Valantines Day? Go on, laugh. But both seem to be legitimate topics of journalistic interest today”
Copying Iceland & Ireland bad idea for NZ
You know how the world has been through the worst financial crisis in decades? You know how countries like Ireland and Iceland who had made themselves into financial hubs via tax breaks for banks are now deep in the crap with burgeoning debt and unemployment? Why don’t we do what they did?
Right turns a blind eye to middle NZ
In their attempts to justify putting up GST on all New Zealanders to give huge tax cuts to the wealthy few, the Right are going so far as to argue that middle and low income New Zealand doesn’t even exist.