Act now to protect workers’ wages
Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set […]
EFA lets voters know who bankrolls parties
National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That’s all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar […]
Oops
For everyone who says apostrophes don’t matter, try telling that to the Bioethics Council.
Key promises productivity magic
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation […]
Creeping socialism in Australia
Kevin Rudd’s Labor government has begun the roll-back of John Howard’s unpopular WorkChoices legislation with ten new National Employment Standards aimed at providing […]
Slippery John’s “after-tax incomes” line
You’ll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing ‘after-tax incomes’. Even when he’s asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, […]
Hit and Run
I put a comment on one of Steve’s posts a few days ago and he suggested I put it up as a post […]
WhaleOil – Technically Challenged
I was just checking the links to the standard and I see that Whale is being his usual self. It looks like he […]
The 100 thing challenge
From Time magazine: Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can […]
Drinking Liberally email for the next event
“Hi all, Ok, we’re going to try to lock in a regular Drinking Liberally schedule now: first and third Thursdays of each month. […]
Not funny
Kiwiblog now has a cartoonist and it’s simply disgusting stuff. I’m not going to post the cartoon because I don’t want the image […]
Firefox download day
Sick of Internet Explorer for being slow and buggy and not open-source? Why not try out Firefox instead? It’s a free, open-source browser, […]
What went on at the ‘horn?
Reports have been circulating around Wellington for several weeks about a night on the town for John Key with a couple of senior […]
CFL FTW
And the winner is… the compact fluorescent lightbulb! Stuff reports that “from late next year, the old incandescent bulbs will be phased out as […]
Roger Awards open
Nominations have opened for this year’s Roger Awards, naming and shaming the worst transnational corporation operating in New Zealand in 2008. Previous winners […]
Petrol price hits parties in the polls
A reader sent us this graph. It plots President Bush’s approval rating and the price of petrol. (the price of petrol is upside-down, […]
Keeping it in the family
The ODT reports that Bill English’s brother, Conor English, has been picked as the new CEO of Federated Farmers. Once the press secretary […]
National ‘bereft of compassion’
That is the reported view of the secretary of the Sikh Council of New Zealand in response to some attention grabbing behaviour from […]
Fundrace
From The Huffington Post’s “Fundrace“ website: Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence? Whether that new guy […]
California to ban cell phone use for teen drivers
Apparently California is, on July 1, to become the 15th US state to ban cell phone use for teen drivers. In what looks […]
Facing up to peak oil
The Government’s independent report on petrol prices is bit of a sop to be the public, really. The world oil price is driving […]
Matt McCarten from the Herald on Sunday
Worth a read: Remember when George Bush’s administration promised the world that the invasion of Iraq would be over in a few weeks? […]
He would say that wouldn’t he
Stuff reports that National Party energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee has labelled the government’s inquiry into petrol pricing a cynical move that would not make […]
Kremlinology: National on ACC
In most countries, accident insurance is big business. Insurers and lawyers make billions off premiums, claims, and court cases but many people don’t […]
Key’s slippery promises on waste
National has staked it all on delivering bigger tax cuts than Labour. To remain credible, they need to deliver $20 a week on […]
The Standard Week – 06-13 June
Another week of shadow boxing, as National tried to keep its policy secret and hints leaked out. But it gave us the chance […]
Why is reported violent crime up?
As you know, crime is down in New Zealand, which is not surprising – crime is a symptom of social deprivation and we’ve […]
Political monogamy
Thought this might make a good followup to Steve/Trotter’s comments in the post below. It’s from the group TruthThroughAction.org – a group of […]
The dark side of the Right
Trotter is on the money today: …[A]ll of you young, confident women of the 21st century urgently need to pause and reflect upon […]
The gods of greed
The Guardian has extracts from a new book by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has […]
Comparatively, gingers have it easy
Last month Mike Hucknall, lead singer of Simply Red, asserted that ‘ginger jibes’ were a form of racism. Opinion was divided. As you ponder that […]
Monte Ohia
It’s sad to learn of the sudden death of Monte Ohia, the Maori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga. Ohia was a prominent […]
Treating the voters like children
Keith Holyoake used to say “tell the people, trust the people”; be honest about the benefits, trade-offs, and costs of policies and trust the people […]
The wage gap and the Nats’ crediblity gap
Remember when National was all about the wage gap, whinging about it every day? Heard them talk about it lately? The last mention […]
Behind the secrecy
Reading a_y_b’s piece on National’s policy talks with the Real Estate Institute I’ve got to say it struck me as having shades not […]
Benson-Pope rejects Legalise Cannabis Party offer
Reported today in the ODT: Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope will not be accepting an invitation to stand as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis […]