Retro
It seems 80’s retro has finally moved from being manifest only as the return of skinny jeans and naff facial hair and is […]
Cabinet announced
National’s cabinet has been announced. No major surprises, though Maurice Williamson has been dumped outside cabinet and unpopular newcomer Steven Joyce has taken […]
Undefeated
Paul Holmes wrote yesterday: “While Labour moves to the Opposition benches, it does so weirdly unmolested by the election defeat, weirdly undefeated” Damn […]
John Key’s victory parade
No, not the one the Herald’s organising. Over at Scoop Lyndon Hood’s unveiled his own victory parade for John Key and I gotta […]
Key reneges on PSA promise
Well, just days after a high profile meeting with PSA head Brenda Pilott and a promise to engage with unions John Key has […]
Local Govt minister wants to privatise water
As you’ll have read, John Key has made ACT leader Rodney Hide his Minister of Local Government. So, what’s ACT’s local government policy? […]
Some questions
The Maori Party voted against the ETS because they thought it doesn’t go far enough; they want a stronger ETS. Will they be […]
Snouts in the trough
No Right Turn blogs on the National/ACT coalition agreement. Of particular interest is the clause he’s pulled out that shows ACT will be […]
Nats step to the right with ACT
As we predicted, National has used a confidence and supply agreement with ACT as a vehicle for its true right-wing agenda. National has […]
More optimization
I’ve just put another round of optimizations into the system. In this case caching the p-code generated by php into shared memory This […]
The Bard offers chance for new Minister
This afternoon I read with a degree of surprise that Shakespeare’s days as standard classroom fare could be numbered: Shakespeare’s plays and other […]
Time for a Green New Deal
With a masterful awareness of the import of his actions, President Roosevelt termed his economic program to lift the US out of the […]
Crosby/Textor on repeat
The topic of Crosby Textor has emerged again with a story in the NZ Herald. While it is unsurprising to read that Crosby […]
Post traumatic Obama disorder
While there have been reports here of distraught voters calling the police and helplines for assistance in dealing with the trauma of a […]
Stimulating
One of the things I like about being left wing is how often the best moral decision is also the best economic decision. […]
Chainmail
Thanks to the two people have mailed election leaflets authorised in my name back to me. And such lovely messages you’ve attached to […]
Playing clever but playing with fire
On one level, the Maori Party’s dealing with National is smart work. Key needs to look inclusive even though he doesn’t need the […]
Polar bear returns
From Scoop: The hapless polar bear that emerged during the recent TVNZ You-Tube leaders debate has resurfaced to issue a plea to Prime […]
Unions offer better option for Kiwisaver changes
The unions have proposed an alternative to National’s plan to slash Kiwisaver in half. If Kiwisaver has to be cut, and with National/Act […]
Young Tory of the Year
A mate just sent me this, classic:
The first test
Michael Cullen has released the latest economic and fiscal update, the one Key commented on in today’s papers but which he refused to […]
Careful of them monsters, John
It’s amazing to see how quickly John Key got over his fear of five-headed monsters once it came time to cobble together a […]
Unbelievably awesome
Via Laughing Squid: This morning in NYC international pranksters The Yes Men recruited volunteers through the website Because We Want It to distribute thousands of copies of a […]
Cuts, three of the same kind
From Stuff: Mr Key said New Zealand had a significant advantage over other countries because official cash rates set by the Reserve Bank […]
National gives ACT consumer affairs
John Key’s got to be taking the piss with his decision to appoint ACT MP Heather Roy as Minister of Consumer Affairs in […]
Gordon Campbell: new Labour leadership
As we’ve come to expect, a thought provoking piece from Gordon Campbell, who says …the public may one day come to rue the […]
Threshold
[I’ll just preface this post by saying I have no love for Winston Peters’ politics and I’m happy to see New Zealand First […]
To do list
Getting elected is easy if you promise people the world and tell different audience different, contradictory things. It’s especially easy when you’ve got […]
Class and the Maori Party
The New Zealand Herald has a telling story today about how the Maori Party’s decision over whether to prop up a right-wing National/ACT […]
Not what they expected
I’ve been out and about over the last few days talking to people from the left and the right as well as a […]
Goff and King to lead Labour
As has been widely reported, Phil Goff is set to take the leadership of Labour with Annette King as deputy leader. We’ll hear […]
He’ll make us ruch as well as thuck
One Aussie view of our election.
A change to what? Part II
A few months ago I asked National supporters who comment here what they wanted to see in terms of hard policy from National. […]
How to stimulate the economy
During the debate over the economic stimulus package in the US earlier this year, Moody’s produced a model that shows which stimulus options […]
What will National’s cabinet look like?
Will it be the same tired old faces, the fresh noobs or a mixture of both? Will it be an all National cabinet […]