Possible $1.5b in tax cuts in 2008
From Stuff: Cullen said “uncertainties” still existed, but Treasury had “significantly” lifted its revenue forecasts which meant the $1.5b in tax cuts in […]
CommitteeCaller.com
Here’s a cool idea. From the site: I’ve just finished building CommitteeCaller.com, a site that allows one person to target an entire congressional […]
Minimum wage rises good for workers
Reports suggest that the government is set to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour. Coming toward the start of 2008, this […]
Progress on new superunion
The NZ Herald reports the Service and Food Workers Union, the National Distribution Union and Unite have agreed in principle to merge into […]
John Doerr on “Greentech”
Another video from TED: “I don’t think we’re going to make it,” John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and […]
Entitleme.com – tax comparisons
From the site: “The only two universal truths. Death and Taxes. Entitleme is an effort to deduce an individuals effective tax rate. The […]
Polls
From The Dom: A One News Colmar Brunton poll last night has National on 54 per cent, 19 points clear of Labour. A […]
Renewal, renewal, renewal in Palmy
Today the hotly contested four horse race to become the candidate for Palmerston North (the position being left vacant by the tenth hottest […]
Don’t panic
A few readers have written in complaining they’re getting a strange message in their browser when they visit the site. Turns out that […]
Two new faces for Labour line up
Yesterday two more bright young things were confirmed as Labour candidates for the 2008 general election: Kate Sutton in Epsom and Hamish McDouall […]
Two drunk backbenchers
A mate of mine had a rather interesting run-in last night with a couple of drunken Tory backbenchers. Here’s what happened: Last night […]
Turning attention inward: looking at the media
Some interesting observations from Steven Price on DomPost editor Tim Pankhurst’s keynote address at the Jeanz conference called “The Power of Print”. His […]
National reopens Selwyn race
Local Nats don’t want David Carter as their candidate for Selwyn. Looks like the threats, intimidation and bullying tactics used to get him […]
You asked for it Auckland
From The Herald: The Auckland City Council has scrapped its plan to build affordable housing. The last council signed a contract with the […]
NZ leads the world on climate change in Bali
Here’s a clip that aired last night on TV3. It shows NZ leading the world in our response to climate change in Bali. […]
John Key DVD – Director’s cut
John Key is the epitome of “style over substance” and his DVD showed us just how desperately he wants to be everything to […]
No democracy for the Selwyn National Party?
Colin Espiner has a story in yesterday’s Press saying that the heads of three National Party branches in the Canterbury district supported by […]
National and the wage gap
I see National’s complaining about the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia again. As usual they have no answers on what to […]
Memo to all National Party staffers:
Listen up guys and campers, there are some disturbing bits of info coming back from our ‘plants’ in the media world, including David […]
Style over substance: no real answers
In a continuation of Key’s “style over substance” policy approach, his consultants have found him a new buzzword – “infrastructure”. “Australia’s been more […]
Nats ruin the party
Well I might be drawing a long bow there but last night’s press gallery party was the worst I’ve ever been to and […]
ODT on the Electoral Finance Bill
Here’s an article from the ODT. It’s by Simon Cunliffe, “a senior Otago Daily Times journalist”. I’m loathe to reprint it in full […]
Bush absent at Bali conference
Al Gore has just accepted his Nobel Peace Prize for advocacy for action on climate change. In his speech he’s lauded Kevin Rudd’s […]
Classic Winston
Winston Peters just stood up in the house. Everyone expected he was going to announce he’d paid back the $160k. Instead, he announced […]
What is the price of believing?
Oprah is a global brand, so when she went public with her campaign to support Barack Obama it was part of our news […]
Republican AdStravanganza
Talking Points Memo have put together a great compilation of Republican presidential candidates’ campaign ads stripped back to nothing but key lines. It’s […]
Argentina gets first elected female president
We’ve been writing about Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark (btw – yesterday was the 8th anniversary of signing Ministerial warrants for the first […]
Xmas trees & when all that glitters
It was once a matter of personal preference. Now it’s part of the sustainability story. Do you prefer the uniform shape, colour, ease […]
Dole figures at 28-year low
From the Beehive site: Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson said that in December 1999, when Labour came to power, there were 161,000 people […]
Greencabs – Toyota Prius taxi fleet
There’s a new taxi fleet servicing Wellington and (in three days time) Auckland. The vehicles are all Toyota Prius hybrids and the company, […]
Rap battle: Howard vs Rudd
Somehow I missed this when it was originally posted. In case you did too…
Petty politicking and the Xinyao tragedy
Reuters reports that the death toll from China’s Xinyao mine tragedy has now surpassed the 100 mark after 50 rescue workers were sent […]
KiwiSaver enrolments pass 300,000
I wonder if the Nats still want to bin it? Remember it was only last May that John Key told Morning Report “Oh, […]
A decade since Shipley
How remiss of us! Our pals over at Kiwiblogblog have just pointed out that we’ve just missed the 10 year anniversary since Jenny […]
Herald censors criticism
From frogblog: The New Zealand Herald has censored part of a 200 word article that the Greens were asked to submit on campaign […]
Key pledges to sack prison and parole staff
I’ve just listened to John Key’s interview on Radio Dunedin last week: powered by ODEO “I also think we need to get a […]