Focus on suicide
The Government has launched a new suicide prevention action plan. Suicide is a tragedy that has touched several Ministers personally and it is […]
The Hawke’s Bay DHB report
The report into the Hawke’s Bay DHB is out and, like everything to do with DHBs, it makes boring reading. That tireless muck-raker, […]
Colmar Brunton
TVNZ had another Colmar Brunton poll last night. The gap between National and Labour remains substantial, but has closed by four points since […]
Family First to support “love vacation”?
Finnish MP Tommy Tabermann (SDP) has proposed granting all employees a paid 7-day “love vacation” once a year. According to Tabermann, the purpose […]
John Ansell’s reverse Midas touch
Oh dear. It started with Roger Douglas and now political ad-man John Ansell has got on board the ACT train to electoral oblivion […]
SST recycles discredited National party spin
Rob Stock apparently holds several awards for personal finance reporting but looks unlikely to win another based on his rehash of National Party […]
Reacting to the Tibet unrest
The clashes between rioters and police in Tibet that have left up to 100 dead are a particularly tough issue for New Zealand […]
Communists on the move in Germany
Here’s a lead line from a Washington Post article that will strike fear and horror into the heart of any self-respecting rightwinger: “Nineteen […]
A modest proposal
Every year the Remuneration Authority, an independent body, reviews the pay of MPs. It sets the salaries without needing approval by Parliament or Cabinet, to keep […]
The Key Problem
The somewhat irregular and frequently misguided Chris Trotter occasionally hits it on-the-head. Today’s Sunday Star Times has Trotter running over John Key’s inability […]
Fairtrade: More than just branding
Do you buy Fairtrade products? Or do you think of it as just another marketing ploy? This recent article “Teach us how to […]
New talent at the Herald
I imagine this by-line is an error, but given the way the Herald’s been evangelising for the Right lately you do have to […]
Good for the ears
For those of you who haven’t already found it, Left Business Observer editor Doug Henwood has a bloody good economics-based radio show that […]
Sabotaged truck under labour
Earlier this week a reader drew our attention to Michael Hansen, a candidate in the recent local elections who drew 423 votes in […]
Dream of sliding to work?
Google have just opened a new European engineering headquarters in Switzerland, according to a report from the BBC: “Dotcom companies were defined by […]
Birds of a feather…
Frogblog covers Muriel Newman’s column in the Dom yesterday: “Climate change, we didn’t do it” [whew! back to my environmentally pollutive and destructive […]
National’s bad fortnight
A bad week last week from John Key got worse this week as other National MPs joined Key in a game of drop […]
Adapting to the oil endgame
Today oil broke US$111 a barrel. Two weeks ago the record price was $101. Just six months ago the price broke $80 for […]
Journalists react to attack on media freedom
Yesterday in Parliament, Winston Peters tabled a letter of protest from the Herald journalists’ chapel to APN chief executive Martin Simons. The letter […]
Tax cuts = no rise in the minimum wage?
From the ABC site: “A peak business group says the Federal Government’s promised tax cuts should be taken into account when deciding on […]
Viva Obama
Following a_y_b’s post about the deliciously punny Yes, Pecan! ice cream, we’ve found some more Obama-flavoured silliness which is also, incidentally, the best […]
Yes, Pecan!
Ben and Jerry’s icecream endorsed Obama when Edwards pulled out. To celebrate Obama’s win in Vermont, Slate recently ran a competition to name […]
PSA on core public service
Richard Wagstaff from the PSA was interviewed by Sunrise on John Key’s plan to undermine the public service this morning. He notes Key’s […]
Connell evasive over trip
Brian Connell won’t say whether he’s planning on taking his wife on the taxpayer-funded Speaker’s tour. In the clip below Faafoi asks Connell […]
Key to scrap research fund
From Radio NZ: National says it will scrap a major new research and development fund for the pastoral and food industries if it […]
National confirms Landcorp would be sold (?)
We have an interesting mixed message (once again) from National on asset sales. David Carter is quoted in the NZ Farmers Weekly as […]
Slippery John in search of a hot-button
To follow on from Steve’s post earlier today, it looks like National’s focus groups have thrown them up another hot-button issue – Key […]
Canadian Pension Fund’s asset-strip plan
The Canadian Pension Fund is planning to asset-strip Auckland Airport. Once they have control they would demand ‘hyper-dividends’ three times the size of […]
Supply Side Jesus
Now to be perfectly honest I’ve never really thought that seven sins was enough. I was delighted to see that the Vatican has […]
Which jobs would Key cut?
It’s hard to get a straight answer out of John Key, so this is probably an exercise in futility, but Key’s announcement that National […]
Reactions to New Zealand Fast Forward
Groups that issued press releases welcoming the Government announcement of the $700 million research and development fund for argiculture (press releases on Scoop): […]
Clinton’s 3am ad
Hillary Clinton’s ad warning of a national emergency at 3am and featuring sleeping children has been considered highly politically effective. It’s spawned hundred […]
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y’all
Days after saying ‘we’ve always said, we aren’t that worried about, um, whether the Crown needs to borrow a bit of money [for […]
Yawn
Well National’s finally got their line straight on the research fund and, despite me old mate Dancer’s prediction, they are not supporting it. […]
Flying the Standard in Spain
Congratulations to the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party for winning their second four-year term under Prime Minister José Zapatero. Zapatero’s surprise victory in 2004 […]
$700m for R&D
The Dom reports that “Prime Minister Helen Clark unveiled the $700 million funding boost for research, development and innovation projects today and said […]