The Golfball and Sickle
Personally, I think it’s hilarious. A brilliant piece of activism that got the public’s attention and raised the issue of why we have American […]
Right answer, wrong question
It’s not often National gets something right but their latest flip-flop, on bio-fuels, is a good policy (well, partially and for the wrong […]
Herald Digipoll
Today’s Herald Digipoll has National up 2 points and Labour down 2, a result the Herald describes as the “Nats pulling away”. As […]
Tweaking the updates
Yesterday’s site issues were due to a combination of inadequate Expires (causing a lot more files being transmitted) and the web-crawlers grabbing the […]
Aloha means hello and goodbye
Strangely, given the fact the National Party is doing so well in the polls and looks to be the favorite heading into the […]
National on personal attacks
Greenwoman just flicked us this:
Child beating petition falls short
Family First’s petition for a referendum on reversing the amendment to s59 of the Crimes Act that removed the defence of reasonable force […]
Put it on the kids’ tab
Some may have noted an odd series of questions in Parliament and press releases from Bill English around government borrowing over the last […]
On child poverty
The Child Poverty Action Group has released a report [PDF, 400k] showing there were 185,000 children living in poverty in New Zealand in […]
7 reasons why cutting GST on food will not help
Scrapping GST is a classic, populist issue that sounds delicious in times of high food prices but at closer inspection – it doesn’t […]
Repeating the mistakes of others
Remember National’s policy of charging a $50 levy on everyone convicted of or, maybe, charged with (Key keeps on mixing up the terms) […]
Interview the leaders VI: United Future
Thanks to ACT leader Rodney Hide for participating in our ‘Interview the leaders’ series this morning. Our next leader is the Maori Party’s […]
Clem Simich stepping down
Clem Simich has just announced he will be stepping down at the election. As regular readers may have noticed I’m not generally a […]
Buy it back
I see that the Wellington lines network has been sold. Given the network has been in in the hands of foreign investors before […]
Dunne: feathering his own nest
Peter Dunne is once again touting his plans to introduce income splitting. It’s a policy aimed at helping out the wealthy. New Zealand […]
Pepsi vs Coke
Last week, Campbell Live ran an article about the framing of Key as slippery. It could have been an excellent piece on the […]
Right question, wrong answer
Interesting to see people gradually waking up to what Fidel Castro, last year, called “The sinister idea of converting food into combustibles”. Even […]
Rodney Hide answers your questions
We’re very pleased to have ACT leader Rodney Hide respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of […]
Upgrades
I upgraded the site tonight. There have been a lot of security fixes since we pushed a test site together in August 2007. […]
Mistakes, I’ve made a few
David Farrar’s three more prominent weaknesses came together in a speculator PR disaster yesterday. The weaknesses are his ego, his trick of using […]
Fairfax reporting staggeringly awful
This morning’s Dom Post buys into National’s “Aussie exodus” spin with a lead story claiming “A staggering one in 10 voters are considering […]
Helen Clark answers your questions
We’re very pleased to have Prime Minister Helen Clark respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of […]
If I were National’s campaign strategist
National will not win by running on its rightwing principles and policy. For 20 years, New Zealanders have consistently said they do not […]
Roy Morgan
No real surprises in the latest Roy Morgan poll, but Gary Morgan’s hilariously bad political analysis continues. You’ll remember in the last Morgan […]
Bad Comics
So, one internet comic writer challenged another internet comic writer to draw 200 bad comics and this was the result. Awesome on so […]
Clark’s answers delayed
We had hoped to have the answers for our ‘interview the leaders‘ series from Helen Clark today. I talked with the PM’s office […]
Does money buy happiness after all?
In 1974, economist Richard Easterlin, published a study in which he argued that economic growth didn’t necessarily lead to more satisfaction. In poor […]
Flat-Earthers heart climate change deniers
The Climate Science Coalition is the last of a dying breed; a rabid, climate change denying lobby group. Of late, they have been performing a desperate, last-ditch attempt […]
50 ways to help the planet
Check out 50 ways to help the planet. My favourites? Shower with your partner Invest in your own reusable coffee cup Picnic with […]
A broadband world
So John Key has announced that a National-led government would spend “up to” $1.5 billion on fibre optic cable to the home. Well that’s […]
The cart before the horse
The internet is awesome; you can use email, learn heaps, and read sites like The Standard. Faster internet is awesomer; you can watch […]
I’ve got a solution, what’s the problem?
The junior doctors’ strike is a difficult issue. On the one hand, these are highly valuable workers whom we can’t afford to lose […]
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
The NY Times reports on the symbiotic relationship between media “military analysts” and the Bush administration. Records and interviews show how the Bush […]
Extra weight
A reader pointed out a set of hidden spam links that had attached themselves to the footer of the site. I’d noticed them […]
Twin peaks
We have all heard of the peak oil crisis that is already manifesting itself in fuel prices. Now, consider peak food, the point […]
Owen Glenn’s secret shame
As Robinsod notes below in his insightful review of Wishart’s Absolute Power it’s abundantly clear that the author specialises in a particular brand […]