First days on the job disappoint
The journos don’t seem to have been very impressed by Key now that he has returned to take up the reins of government. […]
Mythbusting: we can’t cut emissions from agriculture
This classic myth is used by National/ACT as an excuse to not do anything about climate change and, now, to attempt to undermine […]
More to worry about
John Key said yesterday that he expects growth in “the next financial year to be pretty close to zero”. That means he’s anticipating […]
ACT snaps up Hollow Men star
The Sunday Star Times reported yesterday that ACT had “snapped up” former Brash advisor Peter Keenan, one of the lead stars of Nicky […]
CTU calls for fairer tax cuts
The Council of Trade Unions is calling on National to re-jig its tax package to give it more balance. And fair enough too […]
The housing question
Good housing is a foundation of a healthy society, and it is something that New Zealand has long lacked. Despite leading the world […]
Anatomy of a honeymoon piece
Most of our political journalists are more than capable of producing informative, insightful pieces. For instance, Claire Trevett wrote an excellent series of […]
Act lied and gets away with it
At the Media Law Journal, Wellington based media lawyer Steven Price has been looking at the recent decisions of the Advertising Standards Complaint […]
The Mt Victoria Supplement
We were emailed the Mount Victoria Supplement a while back but I forgot to post it. It’s, um, it’s extraordinary. A good Sunday […]
More upgrades
I’ve added two front-end features to the site. Automatic comment closing and a WSIWYG comment editor. Comments get automatically closed on posts older […]
Wailin’
Foreign Minister and Whaling Spokesperson Murray McCully has announced that New Zealand will be breaching international law by not undertaking search and rescue […]
Just wondering
“National’s honeymoon has to run its course. The public – not Labour or the media – will decide when that honeymoon is over” […]
Nats scrap citizens’ jury on electoral reform
Frogblog reports: The Green Party initiative to have electoral reform reviewed and managed by a citizens’ jury has been scrapped by the National […]
The Standard Week – 21-28 November
The Standard Week has been on hiatus due to a combination of elections, forgetfulness, and binge drinking but it’s back. This week saw […]
Basin Reserve flyover
Over the last few weeks I’ve heard the odd grumble in Wellington leftie circles about the proposed Basin Reserve flyover but until now […]
The slow pols-news day quiz #1
Seems there’s so little news today, apart from the Mumbai attacks and the plane crash, that the Herald hasn’t even bothered to update […]
Brownlee’s blow-out
National/ACT has only been in power a week, but the flip-flops keep coming. Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee will not confirm that that National/ACT will […]
‘Become a nation of savers’
That’s Finance Minister Bill English’s message to Kiwis. So, that would be why he is cutting our Kiwisaver nesteggs in half to pay […]
A plea to National
Don’t let Key go abroad representing us again until he has had some diplomacy training. I can’t believe, I literally can’t believe, the […]
Small-target governing
Yesterday it was a $7bn rescue package. Today it’s preparing a contingency plan to bail out big business. But do we get details? […]
Another upgrade
Another upgrade complete. As per usual let me know if any problems (that I didn’t find in testing) show up. Please let me […]
Attention turns to local government
Seems the commentators are definately picking local government as one of the issues to watch in terms of how the new Nationaladministration handles […]
Kids set back children’s franchise 100 years
The results are in from the NZ Post-sponsored Kids Voting project, and while it’s a worthy project it nonetheless shows why we don’t […]
PPPs? No, please
I’ve never seen the sense in Public-Private Partnerships. How is it ever going to be cheaper to get a private profit-making company to […]
The departed
The UK has announced plans to increase departure tax from its airports for flights outside Europe to pay for offsetting their carbon emissions. […]
‘Cos I say so
Following Tony “cos I say so” Ryall’s media success with his plan to cut down waiting lists using the King Canute model of […]
Free trade no answer to credit crisis, part 2
I’m a bit concerned to see people welcoming APEC’s commitment to re-igniting the Doha Round of free trade talks as if they are […]
Ryall: do it or else
Health Minister Tony Ryall’s first policy will be to impose maximum waiting times for hospital emergency departments. No word on extra funding for […]
Why is there a media honeymoon?
Why do new leaders get honeymoons? When you think about it, there’s no objective reason why a leader should get an easy run […]
TVNZ cancels Agenda
No Right Turn reports that TVNZ has cancelled Agenda, New Zealand’s only in-depth political interview and analysis show: According to Dennis Welch on […]
All the facts
National’s David Farrar has been running a series for some time trying to paint NZ Labour as out of step with Labour Parties […]
Signature performance
Before our new Prime Minister went to APEC I wrote “it’s not an opportunity to get some names in your autograph book”. I […]
Work choices
Watching this new ad from the Australian Council of Trade Unions on employment law reform was kind of depressing – while the Aussies […]
Redundant
I was talking to a friend the other night. Her job is disappearing. Fortunately, she is getting a decent-sized redundancy payment. I asked […]
In the driver’s seat
Free trade no answer to credit crisis
Free trade is basically a good idea. We live on a world of limited resources, we should use those resources as efficiently and […]