Take the blinkers off Granny
Granny Herald tries to defend itself against National Party bias by saying it ran a headline “I am not a liar” over Brash […]
Electoral finance: link roundup
Tony Milne’s got a good piece on the Electoral Finance Bill over at his blog I See Red – electoral finance reform is […]
Students as stakeholders
Interesting to see Onslow College is giving its students a say over the hiring of their teachers. Recognising students as stakeholders in their […]
Ask not what your country can do for you, DPF…
Interesting to see National Party blogger David Farrar is inciting his readers to start a political party to bypass/oppose the Electoral Finance Bill. […]
Burqa Bob speaks out
Bob Clarkson’s never been one of the sharper tacks on the National party backbench, his only contributions to the debate being his infamous […]
Speech: Labour is the Party of Ideas
The other day we published an extract from Evan Thornley’s speech to the Labour Party conference. We’ve finally managed to get hold of […]
SCRABBLE success
Nigel Richards, formerly of Christchurch, has become our first world Scrabble champion. Richards apparently led from the start, needing just three of the […]
The cost of the war in Iraq
From the BBC: “The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing nearly double the amount previously thought, according to a report set […]
Sharpen up your climate change arguments
The BBC has a good roundup of the top 10 climate change denier arguments with rebuttals from scientists who agree with the Intergovernmental […]
Latest Cosmopolitician on shelves now
Thanks to the reader who sent us the latest edition of Cosmopolitican, a nifty little publication that did the rounds just before the […]
Time for an upgrade
So the Herald links to us from the front page of their website this afternoon, and the resulting traffic knocks out our server. […]
NZ Herald to investigate Nats’ funding
Matt Robson’s newsletter has a real scoop on the Herald’s next propaganda campaign: NZ Herald investigation into large, secret party funding I have […]
What’s National got to hide?
During the debate over the Electoral Finance Bill John Key’s made a lot of noise about National’s willingness to clamp down on anonymous […]
History repeats, part II
There’s a famous line from Joyce’s Ulysses in which the main protagonist Stephen Dedalus states “history is a nightmare from which I am […]
History repeats
The Dominion, election day 1938: If the socialist government is returned to power your vote today may be the last free individual vote […]
Tell the full story Audrey
Grannywriter Audrey Young’s story headlined “Exclusive Brethren’s email sets stage for Electoral Finance Bill” is more National Party spin. The Brethren’s email to […]
NZ Herald openly campaigning against Govt
So the NZ Herald has finally admitted it’s running a campaign against the government. Check out this ridiculous, chest-thumping, self-congratulatory piece from their […]
Laila on unions
Laila Harre’s Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture is now available in full over at Scoop. It’s titled Union Relevance in Aotearoa in the 21st […]
Electoral Finance Bill – some sense at last?
I’m not always a fan of Colin Espiner’s work, but thank goodness someone’s injected a bit of sense into this morning’s hysteria over […]
National’s hoax on unemployed workers
Last week Stats NZ announced unemployment had dropped to a record low of just 3.5%, after reaching double-digit figures under National in the […]
‘Political commentator David Farrar’
You do have to wonder sometimes who’s making the judgment calls in our newsrooms. Last night One News decided to use a National […]
Robertson to win Wellington Central candidacy
Charles Chauvel has withdrawn his nomination for Wellington Central. This leaves Grant Robertson the uncontested Labour candidate, likely to be confirmed on November […]
International flip-floppery
Thought that we had a worldwide monopoly here in NZ on right wing flip-floppers with Don Brash, John Key et al? Think again. […]
Benson-Pope won’t run as an independent
The Herald reports that “Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope says he will not stand as an independent if he is not selected as […]
Jon Stewart on torture
Via onegoodmove
Belated Halloween post – vampire maths
Vampires can’t exist. It turns out that their existence would contradict ours. Here’s the maths to prove it: “Let us assume that a […]
Quoting out of context
DPF and the National Party have made much of a Helen Clark quote unearthed from her conference speech in 2000 on tax cuts. […]
Kerik indictment likely to tarnish Guiliani
Bloomberg reports that Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner under New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who withdrew his nomination to head the […]
Larry Lessig talks creative freedom at TED
About a year ago I discovered the TED website. It’s rapidly become a staple in my internet diet. From their ‘about‘ page: TED […]
Record low unemployment: 3.5%
From Ruth Dyson’s press release: The latest Household Labour Force Survey quarterly results from Statistics NZ confirm the Labour-led government’s employment policies and […]
Roy Morgan poll
There’s a new Roy Morgan poll today, and it’s good news for the left. Gary Morgan says: “The vote for the Labour Government […]
The power of the web
All election addicts are casting their eyes to what is happening in other countries & especially over in Australia and in the States. […]
Reclaiming the high ground of morality and economics
Evan Thornley is a member of the Upper House of the Victorian State Labor govt. He spoke recently at the NZ Labour Party […]
More gossip from the right
Crown Prosecutor Simon Mount is rumoured to be replacing Bob Clarkson for National in Tauranga next election. Which is a bit rough considering […]
Jockeys change at National – Return of the Hollow Men
Chris Simpson has suddenly gone as manager of the National Party, and Steven Joyce and Jo de Joux are back. According to The […]
Terrorism charges blocked
The Solicitor general has decided against allowing prosecutions under the Terrorism Suppression Act for all 12 people referred to him by the police […]