Be bold on smoking
Very good piece by Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times: The Maori Party is pressuring the government to take tough new anti-smoking […]
Says it all
From the firefighters’ protest against John Key’s pay freeze: Really highlights the double standard in a government that tolerates Bill English’s rorts then […]
Another lagging indicator
The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services has released its annual Vulnerability Report. Due to rising unemployment, 219,000 children now live in households […]
No good faith from Nats
Finance Minister Bill English has told doctors, teachers, and other public servants that they will not be getting pay-raises when their collective contracts […]
Just put it away
I know this free condoms idea is just a remit, not Labour Party policy, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that the […]
SIS? Or who’s spying now?
On Thursday Animal Rights Activists did a protest outside the Norwegian Embassy against the fur trade there. This was to support the campaign […]
Examining the scientific consensus on climate change
There was an interesting preview paper published back in January by by Peter Doran and Maggie Kendall Zimmerman. It sheds light on how […]
A bit of culture
If you’re looking for something to do on a Sunday that’s a bit more uplifting than arguing politics, why not check out some […]
Those pesky boundaries for Auckland
There are a couple of things that I hadn’t realised about the rather strange changes to the Auckland super-city boundaries. They are just […]
Which side are you on?
Following on from the workers’ rights/class war theme of the last few days, here’s an old classic:
Labour needs to get back to its roots
Goff is using Labour’s national conference to swallow some dead rats, distancing himself and the party from the social reform agenda of the […]
Jim Anderton on organisation
The most interesting feature of the Labour conference so far has been from Jim Anderton. It looks like the Progressives are now able […]
Ninny state
Phil Goff is quoted today as saying “we made mistakes” with policies that were perceived as “nanny state”: Asked if he would apologise […]
Redundancy protection – it’s only fair
A coalition of unions, Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and community groups has come together to support Darian Fenton’s Redundancy Protection Bill. […]
Battlelines
We’re seeing a new pattern in work relations emerging. The big employers, emboldened by having their party in power and using the recession […]
National-linked dairy company threatens six week lockout
There’s a nasty dispute brewing at Open Country Cheese involving a six week lockout threat, some highly aggressive anti-union PR, calls for the […]
Welfare for whom?
Remember the iconic photos of the first Labour Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and his cabinet celebrating the introduction of State Housing by […]
Time for Telecom to come to its senses
Today, 200 Telecom engineers in Auckland and Northland will be fired. Not because there’s no work for them but because Telecom and it’s […]
Labour and the RMA
No Right Turn and Frogblog both have pieces up on Labour’s decision to vote in support of the Government’s moves to gut the […]
Brash and Banks try to profit off vulnerable
Former National Party leader Dr Don Brash and Auckland Mayor John Banks love making the big bucks. And what better way to do […]
Labour conference bits and pieces
The Labour party conference is on in Rotorua this weekend, so I’ll be heading there Friday morning. If the writers and readers want […]
Telecom solidarity fundraiser
Socialist Aotearoa have organised a Telecom solidarity fundraiser on Friday night. Not for $7m man Paul Reynolds, but for the lines engineers his […]
It ain’t over ’til it’s over
The economists think the recession is probably over (for now). If you’re one of the lucky ones, you may very well be thinking ‘well […]
Currency too high, recovery could falter – Fed Farmers
“I’d really like to know what Treasury is on for it to be so bullish about the economy, as it must be good […]
Firestarter
r0b’s post on John Key’s ‘uprising’ comment (which was written last night) seems grimly ironic in light of this morning’s news. Someone has […]
How big is an uprising?
There was an odd little piece in The Herald on Tuesday: Uprising would force Super City changes: PM Prime Minister John Key says […]
Why Supplementary Member sucks
National and the business elite led by former Telecom chairman Peter Shirtcliffe (who led the pro-FPP campaign back in the 1990s) want to […]
A beautiful mind – read it and weep
An email doing the rounds of the women’s networks found its way to me today. It’s link to an article about the late […]
Fran lets the plan slip
Fran O’Sullivan has rather given the game away on the MMP referendum. Frog has explained it so well, I can’t do better than […]
Wee gripes: speakering
John when you say ‘overtly’ you mean ‘overly’. Like on Monday when you told Paul Henry “I’m not overtly stressed..”. Sometimes, you say […]
Clueless
John Key has admitted he didn’t bother to get detailed briefings before sending our SAS to kill and possibly die for a corrupt regime in Afghanistan: […]
Climate cast aways
That prolific climate campaign – Sign On – has been casting its mark across the Capital, with a new motif popping up on […]
Abuse of process
National put Parliament back into urgency yesterday. It is ramming through the extension to the retail deposit guarantee, the RMA amendments, changes to […]
Look what I found
Does anyone really believe a Treasury official just happened to accidentally drop a notebook full of secrets on The Terrace then one of […]
Key’s lies on housing rort exposed
As I alluded to yesterday, the claims from John Key that he has slashed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cost of […]
Backdown from Infratil?
Infratil-run NZ Bus has called off its planned capital strike for tomorrow. The company had been going to prevent bus drivers and other […]