Exclusive: New evidence shows Lee lied about NZ on Air funding
Newly uncovered correspondence between Melissa Lee and NZ on Air shows that she and her leader, John Key, seriously misled the media, the […]
Give a goat for Christmas
Got too much stuff? Know people with too much stuff? Do something different for your friends and family this Christmas. Instead of giving […]
Open mike 06/12/2009
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
O Canada
Depressing reading in this piece by George Monbiot on Canada: So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation […]
Minor tweaks
I did some small interface changes on Friday morning. The main effect was to widen the page from 950 pixels to 1024 pixels […]
In a land of plenty
Alister Barry’s other classic documentary on the effects of the Right’s neoliberal revolution on every day New Zealanders, In a Land of Plenty, […]
Govt tries to silence dissent
The Government, stung by criticism of its inept education policies, is trying to silence teachers. Their plan is to make teachers, principals, and […]
Open mike 05/12/2009
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
What the government wants to dig up
[Post reproduced with permission from No Right Turn] This is a picture of the north-western part of Mount Aspiring National Park, which the […]
Wee gripes: get it right
Some dude sent me this from the awful Trans-Tasman: “More than five months after Richard Worth resigned as a minister and quit Parliament […]
More people considering…
According to Vernon Small: Labour leader Phil Goff will be asked to explain his controversial “nationhood” speech at next week’s party caucus meeting. […]
Key is going. Now who pays?
So John Key has finally dropped his veils* and is going to Copenhagen. Well, Rob Emmerson correctly predicted how the ineffectual Emissions Trading […]
Ethical meat on its way
Jon Stewart covers developments in the science around making meat without raising and killing an animal. Jon has a laugh of course but […]
Planet A – Saturday!
Tomorrow Saturday it’s the Planet A Concert and March (the concert to be webcast live): In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, you’ll be able […]
Open mike 04/12/2009
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Goff: Scrap the 2025 Taskforce
We all know the 2025 Taskforce is a farce and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The Government has disowned it, the critics have […]
Hone back but Maori Party divisions laid bare
So Hone Harawira has been readmitted into the fold of the Maori Party. It’s hard to see how excluding him from Parliament until […]
A world gone crazy
It started with me agreeing wholeheartedly with Fran about youth unemployment. Now I can add Garth George and Bruce Sheppard to this strange […]
Words of wisdom from the 19th century
One of the most amusing things in the granny today is Garth George, our iconoclast from Rotorua ripping another hole into the credibility […]
Greens release Green New Deal pt 2
Anyone who thinks that our economic troubles are over because the economy grew 0.1% is delusional. And no-one seriously believes that we don’t […]
Oram on the Brash Report
Always worth listening to, Rod Oram rips the Brash Report on Nine to Noon, not just on the findings but on the quality […]
Key of the seven veils
Here’s a wee gripe in the morning. John Key. Did you ever see such a prima donna? Headline on Newsroom this morning: “Key […]
Obama – war president
Well, any lingering hopes that Obama was something different can now be out of their misery. He’s just another American establishment politician after […]
Open mike 03/12/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Need an exemption from the law? Just ask a corrupt Nat
Doug Schmuck owns and runs a boatyard in Opua in the Bay of Islands. The boatyard borders a public reserve. Schmuck wants to […]
Jon Stewart’s Glenn Beck parody
Caught this on The Nation. Brilliant. Jon Stewart has done it again, and this time he even brought out his acting chops. In […]
Systemic failure of the media
felix in comments points out in his usual sarcastic style about the media response on Don Brash’s 2025 Taskforce report. For example, consider […]
What works?
As the dust settles on the cynical theatre that was the 2025 Taskforce, one fact is becoming abundantly clear. The political Right haven’t […]
Guaranteed minimum income + capital tax, the way forward?
Occasionally something in politics really surprises you. Like when I turned over to Campbell Live last night (I’d seen the Family Guy episode […]
Tax working group disappoints
I’ve had quite high hopes for the Tax Working Group. I thought it would be a genuine, ground-up review of the tax system […]
Open mike 02/12/09
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
President punches kid in face
The Associated Press reports: Romania’s government has collapsed and its economy is in shambles but its presidential campaign has been dominated in recent […]
With some time to consider….
I’ve been thinking about the reaction Phil Goff has had to his Nationhood speech, and whether Team Labour would be happy with the […]
Dubai: Subprime state
Dubai is the subprime folly writ large. In the US, they built ‘exurbs’ in the Californian high desert, two hours each way from […]
Undoing the trouser button
Recall that last week Speaker Lockwood Smith tried to heavy the press, demanding that they stop doing stories on MP’s expenses or he […]
Tony Abbott elected Liberal leader
According Melbourne paper The Age, Tony Abbott is the new leader of the Liberal Party, winning the leadership by one vote over Malcolm Turnbull. […]