Red ink
Hilarious. Jon’s got a serious point though. Newspapers worldwide are in trouble. Many predict they will soon have to be handed out free […]
Class divide
Taken a matter of minutes ago, the Workers Party protest outside John Key’s multimillion dollar Parnell mansion. Just to remind you that we’ve […]
Dulce et Decorum est
Imagine: you are a new MP. Tens of thousands of your fellow New Zealanders have shown a great faith in you; they have […]
Keith Rankin: Controversy over National’s Tax Cuts
If you’re feeling lost in the discussion around National’s tax plans there’s handy analysis from Keith Rankin who point out: … persons earning between $14,000 […]
Valuing children
I know I won’t be alone in being disappointed in the results of the Unicef survey, which says that “New Zealand has an […]
The Standard Week: 5-12 December
National/ACT won the election, fair enough. They won the right to govern and attempt to pass their laws. What they did not win […]
Calculating
Risk
If you’re still wondering what the Fire at Will Bill (about to become law just over a day after it was first made pubic) is all about take […]
Kids need fun, politicians need to think
It seems like only yesterday that we listened to arguments about how exams unfairly punished some students. The National Party initiated the NCEA […]
Long live the Free Speech Coalition
David Farrar, champion of democracy. We salute you for speaking truth to power, no matter who’s in charge. [Original here]
Minister of Education lies to teachers
Here’s Anne Tolley telling teachers before the election that they would not be covered by the fire at will legislation. Turns out she […]
National’s abuse of Parliamentary process
Audrey Young writes on her blog that National would do well to heed the opinion of the Human Rights Commission who have today […]
Present
I was sent this by a comrade in the union movement. You can download the A3 poster here to do poster runs. There’s […]
On the Mapp defense
Jafapete might be in LA, however that hasn’t stopped him from raising some cogent points on the 90-day bill. His post Nats hurry […]
Training wheels
On the first day of Parliament, Gerry Brownlee made a complete hash of his role as Leader of the House. Despite having repeatedly […]
Tax increases into law
The tax bill has just been passed into law. The Maori Party voted for it. They also voted against the Cullen amendment that […]
Maori Party does the right thing
Well, it’s a relief to see that while the Maori Party might have voted to take money out of the pockets of the […]
No longer so critical?
Our new Attorney-General, National’s Chris Finalyson, on the importance of select committees: Select Committees are the engine room of Parliament. They are also […]
Something to go to in Auckland tonight
We Won’t Pay for Their Crisis Public Meeting convened by Socialist Aotearoa with John Minto, Unite Union Catherine Delahunty, MP Green Party Frank […]
Happiness? How much can you sell that for?
We’re told that every country in the OECD except New Zealand and Denmark has a probation period like National/ACT’s Fire at Will law. […]
On mandates
The National/ACT line in defending pushing through legislation like the Fire at Will Bill under urgency, without any select committee process, without any […]
Arrogant and out of touch
The Manawatu Standard has a good op-ed piece today on how National has squandered its honeymoon with its arrogant and out-of-touch behaviour on […]
All I want for Christmas
This viral email from the Council of Trade Unions is doing the rounds. Make sure you click on through and tell John all […]
Tough law for tough times
Against the backdrop of tough new employment laws there’re predictions that “35,000 jobs could be lost in the construction sector.” No wonder that there […]
HRC calls for consultation on fire at will
This just in: the Human Rights Commission has called for the fire at will bill to be put to select committee: The Human […]
The prideful cowards
So far, the Maori Party has refused to take its opportunities to contribute to the debate on the tax bill before Parliament. They […]
Incompetent or just undemocratic or both?
No Right Turn points out in What’s in the urgency motion? exactly how much of shambles the NACT government is. At present they […]
F*ck Democracy II
This from Lew in the comments section of my last post: Shortly after the House resumed at 0900, Darren Hughes requested that the […]
Guest post: those Euro bright sparks follow us
Have you heard the sad news that the EU may be next to join the international communist nanny-state conspiracy against incandescent bulbs? It […]
Caching Fixes
There has been a on-going issue with some readers not getting updates through in a timely fashion in the sidebars when posts and […]
Will Hone keep his oath?
Yesterday, the MPs were sworn in. After the section ‘pledge true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the Second, her heirs and successors, according to […]
F*ck democracy
No Right Turn has an excellent post pointing out that National is misusing urgency in a manner unseen since the bad old days […]
Some questions for Kate
Kate Wikinson, John Key’s hapless Minister of Labour, has told NZPA the public shouldn’t get to have their say on the fire at […]
Courting the ethnic vote
I’ve just watched the first part of the Address in Reply debate which included maiden speeches by two new National Party MPs – […]
Oh dear
Rodney Hide on National and ACT’s select committee into the ETS: “I am especially pleased to see that the issue of the scientific […]
Spin-busting: Probationary periods
National has been working hard to push the idea that its fire at will policy introduces a ‘probationary period’ of employment. This is […]