Always an excuse to do nothing
Remember FART (Farmers Against Ridiculous Taxes)? Shane Arden driving Myrtle the Tractor up the steps of Parliament? Bill English with his poster carrying […]
Let them drink… bottled water.
Not surprised to see that the Government has confirmed the Drinking Water Subsidy Scheme is being put on hold and reviewed. The subsidy […]
Capitalism, it’s not a love-in
I find the Right’s assumption that the bosses are acting in some greater interest fascinating. There’s this unwillingness to believe that the bosses […]
Devil in the detail
I’ve had a further read of the select committee report on the Emissions Trading Scheme, and found a huge problem – National, United […]
Stop pandering to the modern flat earthers
ACT as part of its coalition agreement, and probably as a result of their funders conditions, forced a review of the Emissions Trading […]
“Science”
ACT Party Press Release 1/4/2010: ACT has now identified the number one threat to personal freedom, to unbounded economic growth and to vast […]
Wee gripes
Seeing as Zet’s taken to writing serious posts these days, I thought I’d try my hand at a few wee gripes: – I […]
NZ for sale
I was browsing through our image archives and came across this, which I think is from a protest before the election: Well, they […]
Victory for Zeal320 workers
A good outcome from the Zeal320 dispute. The deal doesn’t quite close the gap between Zeal320 workers and other AirNZ flight attendants but […]
Telecom and the logic of capitalism
There’s nothing like a Tory Government in power and a monopolistic corporate flexing its muscle to remind you that capitalism is all about […]
Congratulations Maori Party
Looks like the Maori Party has decided to stand by their principles and oppose weakening the Emissions Trading Scheme. Their stinging minority report rules […]
Emissions Trading Scheme report released
The report of the special select committee on the Emissions Trading Scheme has been released. I’ve only had a chance to read the […]
Classic Moreu
Note to DPF: stop playing victim and take some responsibility for your blog
It seems I’ve hit a sore spot with David Farrar over the business of death threats to Sue Bradford. He’s now claiming I’ve […]
Why no referendum for Auckland
How come the Government says that the people of Auckland should decide whether they want Maori seats in a referendum after the supercity […]
Two referendum editorials
In the aftermath of the “smacking” referendum I was struck (as I often am lately) by the range in quality of editorial / […]
The emerging landowner class
Why are house prices rising at the same time as mortgagee sales are hitting record highs? More people than ever are unable to […]
Sharemarket/Hitler lolz
Stopping the thugs
The Sunday Star Times reports that Sue Bradford’s security has been stepped up following a series of death threats being made against her […]
Hijacked by climate change?
Richard Black, environment correspondent for the BBC News website asks an interesting question – Has climate change hijacked the wider environmental agenda? If so, […]
To my friend
We haven’t talked lately and that has partly been my fault. Just doesn’t seem that we share as much in common now that […]
The F word
It probably isn’t possible to have rational discussion about the F word. It has been trivialised by overuse as a meaningless term of […]
Rape and Pillage
The Conservation Minister, Tim Groser is quoted today: “If you can extract wealth from that [conservation land], that’s what we should do.” Stuff […]
Guardian readers’ standup: the winner
Last month, the Guardian launched their first YouTube standup competition. They’ve put up their findings here: In the end (and it was close, going […]
10-20% Pure New Zealand
Top 10 reasons why Key’s visiting New York
10. I got lost on my way to Afghanistaniania. 9. It’s much more fun than running the country. 8. Textes from Kevin Taylor […]
Trippin’
How’s this for some positive spin? Australia is coming off worse in the battle for trans-Tasman tourism, with New Zealand reporting a record […]
Minority Report
National is attempting to re-write the Emissions Trading Scheme. The new version it has come up with through the special select committee would be weaker […]
Who do you think you’re fooling, Kate?
“I’m not going to resign” – Kate Wilkinson It’s one of the truisms of politics that when you’re a minister and you say […]
Labour finally on board?
I was shocked but not surprised to hear that National are considering opening our National Parks up for mining. At the same time, […]
100% Pure Opencast
This must be Minister of Tourism John Key’s idea of a sick joke. Letting Gerry Brownlee run rampant and declare NZ National Parks […]
Transport: on the wrong track
The government’s 3-year transport spending plan is out. Where’s all the cash going? Surprise, surpise it’s state highways. We’re going to spend $1.5 […]
Reaching out to the ‘No’ vote
I must confess that Key’s position on the repeal of s59 has puzzled me from the moment he started cooperating with the Labour […]
Collins’ smear backfires
Excellent piece by Patrick Gower in the Herald today on Judith Collins’ attempt to smear Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon. Collins has leaked […]
Contract and converge
There’s a limited amount of carbon emissions we can make as a world in the coming decades if we are to avoid runaway […]
S59, an opening for Winston?
In 2007, 113 MPs voted for the Bradford amendment to s59 of the Crime Act. Eight voted against it. One of them was […]