Turia on ACC
Here’s Tariana Turia on Q&A last Sunday, responding to a question from Guyon Espiner about National’s plans for ACC: I’m very concerned and […]
Who is John Key?
OK, so this might be only slightly more intellectual than the usual quality of political analysis in our msm, and obviously it could […]
John Key at CTU conference
Heard over the lunch time news that John Key was the keynote (oh how he must never tire of that) speaker at the […]
Labour Day, a time to celebrate
Next Monday, you have a paid day off. Do you know why? Because workers organised themselves into unions and fought for better pay and […]
Battle to keep MMP set to heat up
It’s a pretty special situation where you get praise just for not cheating but John Armstrong heaps it on Simon Power today. Power […]
Maori Party supports foreign business over working Maori
It is a reflection of the schizophrenic nature of the Maori Party that one day they’re professing to care about poor Maori who […]
The invisible hand gets frisky
Hide’s invitation to corrupt fundraiser
Click here for a PDF of Local Government Minister Rodney Hide’s invitation to local government stakeholders to a breakfast speech titled “The Future […]
Hide’s corrupt abuse of office
Another government minister has been caught in corrupt behaviour, and this is arguably the worst of the lot. Rodney Hide is speaking at […]
Open mike 21/10/09
We’re trying a daily “Open mike”. This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and […]
EMA busts another privatisation myth
When asked to explain why they want to start privatising a world-leading institution like ACC, National and ACT tend to fall back on […]
Another day, another sell-out
The Maori Party has decided it will support National’s changes to ACC despite Tariana Turia just two days ago saying she was “very […]
Reminder: Drinking Liberally – Auckland
Drinking Liberally is returning to the London Bar for a session with Greenpeace Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid. When: 7pm WEDNESDAY 21 October Where: […]
ACC fracas ‘truly dumb’
Tim Hazledine, a professor of economics at the University of Auckland, has a nice piece in the Herald today that lays out just […]
Take a stand Phil
John Dalley makes a good point in the comments section of our last ACC post: About now would be a good time for […]
Farrar says: carpe diem National
An interesting post from David Farrar calling for National to implement radical rightwing policies while it still has the support to get away […]
Labour where art thou?
I’m not going to repeat the list of all the things that are starting to make people angry and scared or catalogue the […]
Campbell on political ‘management’
With the absolute dearth of informed political commentary in this country it’s a breath of fresh air to have Gordon Campbell back from […]
Big bucks for Aussie insurers in ACC privatisation
It seems certain National will begin the privatisation of ACC starting with opening the work account to private competition. As happened in 1998, […]
Another broken promise
Before the election National made promises about extra resources to tackle problems in schools: Schools Policy Strengthening the Ladder of Opportunity National is […]
Open mike 20/10/09
We’re trying a daily “Open mike”. This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and […]
Aroha is love, you can give it away…
“You can get away with anything, as long as you’re respectful about it” – former Maori Party strategist Matt McCarten on National’s dealing […]
Talk about politics
On RNZ’s Nine to Noon today Andrew Campbell rips the shit out of National‘s grotesque mismanagement of the Rugby World Cup fiasco and […]
Images of the ’00’s
Pausing for a moment from the steamroller of local politics – here we have some of the significant moments of the last nine […]
ACC protests send clear message to NACT
Today hundreds of people around the country marched against the cuts to sexual abuse counselling due to be implemented by ACC next week. […]
DL Wellington – Celia Wade-Brown
Wellington’s Drinking Liberally speaker is Celia Wade-Brown. Celia is a sitting Green member of the Wellington City Council, and one of the first announced […]
Told you so: Right pushes ACC privatisation
Last Thursday, Colin Espiner was mocking all of us who said that National and other rightwing groups were trying to create a sense […]
Smith still lying with numbers
Last week, David Parker asked Nick Smith what the “whole-of-life cost to ACC of all new claims” for the last year were. Smith’s […]
Woodhouse: ACC not in crisis
A fascinating interview with the Sir Owen Woodhouse in the Herald today. Sir Owen has led an amazing life – after helping supply Yugoslav partisans […]
National’s repeated abuse of democratic process
The current National led government clearly regards the processes of democracy is an inconvenience to which it must pay lip service, but nothing […]
Open mike 19/10/09
We’re trying a daily “Open mike”. This is a place for anyone to post comments on topics that might be of interest, and […]
It will happen, not today, not tomorrow but…
As I scanned the stuff website I came across the latest TV3 poll results. Scarcely what I’d regard as cheerful Sunday night reading […]
Kicking the tyres at ACC
The Sunday Star-Times details hitherto secret proposals from the John Judge-chaired ACC to cut back entitlements and increase user-pays. The hidden agenda: Introduce […]
Reflections on Aisling
Two readers offer their reflections on our collective reaction to the Aisling Symes tragedy: The Best of Us, The Worst of Us, revealed […]
Yeah, but who are the criminals?
I think I might have joined the dots in what it is that is causing me such unease about the arrival of Crime […]
Banks panic
Len Brown seems to have the Right in a bit of panic. Remuera Mayor John ‘in your guts you know he’s nuts’ Banks […]