Search Results » bill fear
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On Democracy
democracy under attack, democratic participation, political alternatives, political education, PoliticsKJT defends the principle of Democracy against the same old arguments. Most of the objections apply to any system which allows the public a say in Government. As again we have the party in Government telling us, “We won the election. We can do whatever we want. A dictatorship.
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Labour, WTF? – a collection of posts
We’ve received a set of guest posts arising from the Stab In the Back comments that Duncan Garner reported on Tuesday and Su’a William Sio. We’ll compile the best here. As always, we exercise judgement in not publishing truly nutty stuff but there’s no editorial line, no endorsement of guest posts we publish – they just have to pass the test of being informative, lucid, and left.
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The luxury of an ethical opposition
Although Key’s privatisation programme has hit plenty of problems with Maori water rights, his job is made a whole lot easier by the luxury of an ethical main opposition party.
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The Political Scientist: Underneath the ‘underclass’
Many of those who participate in the comments here at The Standard also run their own excellent blogs. We regularly feature No Right Turn and Imperator Fish Today we’re reposting (with permission) pieces from two other blogs that attracted some attention in Open mike recently. Here’s the second one, from The Political Scientist…
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Just a domestic?
It’s been 16 years since Susan Snively’s ground-breaking report on the economic cost of domestic violence in New Zealand. In 1996 the prevalence rate of domestic violence was estimated at 1 in 7 people – 301,691, including 129,556 children – with an economic cost of $1.2 billion annually. In addition 40% of all homicides were the result of domestic disputes.
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Sunday Reading
I’m going to try and put up a piece each Sunday of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring). This week: the bread & butter line, bankers, racism and the corporate speak of John Key.
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Key’s comments a blank cheque for investors
Now, I’m no big city lawyer, but it seems to me that John Key may be walking on some mighty thin ice by telling prospective investors in Mighty River not to worry about the Maori Council’s water claim. If it goes wrong, isn’t he exposing himself (actually, us taxpayers) to some major law suits and very expensive damages payouts?
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Positive Money & the Wizard of Oz
In our current system, we give men like Bob Diamond the immense power to create money. Need it be so? The Positive Money movement wishes to change that, and give that power back to Government. The first Labour Government used the power to create a better NZ – we could do that again.
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Time for Govt to bring the cops to heel
Looks like the Police have cost us a fortune in an inevitable lawsuit from Kim Dotcom. Not only were the warrants they used to raid his house illegal, they took things they weren’t entitled to even under those illegal warrants. They aggravated this by playing FBI wannabes, causing distress and public humiliation. Then they gave their illegally obtained information to the Yanks.
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ImperatorFish: Teacher Development and Smaller Class Sizes: We Can Have Both
Scott thoroughly fisks libertarian Damien Grant’s Herald on Sunday Column. And if teacher development is so important (as indeed it is) why have National cut it massively since they came to power, and are now dropping their budget plans to expand it. Money could be found from those tax cuts if they wanted…
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Do Economists have the answers?
Austerity: another great idea brought to you by the same people who got us into this mess. But some economists are able to think outside the orthodoxy: There Are Real Alternatives. See you at The Voyage.
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Postcards from the “brighter” future
Hey John – where’s our “Brighter Future”? Hey National voters – was this what you voted for?
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Save our Port
It’s slipped down the news agenda but is about to come back up it: The Ports of Auckland Dispute. Tony Gibson is wasting our money on his union-busting campaign that will result in reduced profits for ratepayers. Sign up to make him see sense.
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Inequality: a big issue for our time
The Herald looks like it has an excellent series this week, on Auckland: A city divided by income. It’s an issue that has […]
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Why the acronyms PIPA and SOPA should worry Kiwis
Green’s MP Gareth Hughes explains the new US internet laws that have the likes of Wikipedia upset, and why we should care: The Green Party is deeply concerned about the Stop Internet Piracy (SOPA) and PROTECT IP (PIPA) Acts currently causing quite a stir in the US and its impacts on New Zealanders access to a free and open Internet and online businesses.
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Racism more than skin deep for Nats
This post originally appeared on the Hand Mirror and we reproduce it with their permission. It is an account of a National Party meeting in the Wairarapa, and a stark reminder of the dark heart of the Right that hates and fears anything different, which wants a New Zealand built for a rich, Pakeha, male, straight business-owning elite.
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Acshully John, you will be a monkey’s uncle
John Key was really revving the crap out of his denimic environment generator today trying to discredit Labour’s costings for its policies. Either Key really is shit at math or he’s no clearer on Labour’s policies than he is on National’s.
hattip: a very prescient Jackal
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Do you feel lucky PREFU?
The PREFU paints a pretty dismal picture of the economy. The worst case scenario is catastrophic, and (at one in five) I think that Treasury has significantly underestimated the odds. Do you feel lucky?…
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National’s undeserved reputation
National are seen by many as the party of business, and thus the party of the economy, who know what’s best for the country’s wallet. But the statistics don’t add up. Their reputation is undeserved.
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The Rena timeline: capacity and execution
The Herald has produced an extremely useful and detailed timeline of the Rena disaster. It raises several questions that you can divide into two categories: first, did the government have the plans and equipment it needed to deal with a spill and, second, was its response carried out effectively? The Nats know the lack of good answers hurts them.
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Small mocks sunnyside Key
If New Zealand’s economy could be powered by empty promises and pollyanna-ish optimism, then John Key would have the best economic record in the country’s history. Actually, he has one of the worst. Vernon Small today mocks Key’s unwillingness to put a downer on the RWC vibe by confronting the emerging global crisis.
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Gross National Happiness
Happiness surrounds us in our lives; our music tells us to be happy, our facebook profiles suggest we’re always happy, and most of us have a willingness to work for material happiness. Yet happiness is a subject often missing from political discourse in our country, suppressed by talk of dairy and the dollar which dominates the halls of Parliament.
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Chose a brighter future?
Once again recent headlines prompt me to ask if in 2008 we really chose a brighter future after all.
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Big trouble ahead
It’s interesting to watch the economists flip as the economic system implodes. The most dramatic (and welcome!) NZ example has been Bernard Hickey but many of his colleagues are also throwing off their neoliberal blinkers. In this post, a former NZ Reserve Bank adviser explains why the world economy is mired in crisis and why it won’t just fix itself.
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Time for the Robin Hood tax!
France and Germany are leading the way on the “Robin Hood” tax, and a Europe wide implementation could be the next step. Bring it on!
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Looting with the lights on
Naomi Klein writes how the world’s leaders didn’t take action against those responsible for the financial market crash but would “all go home and force sacrifices on the most vulnerable… by firing public sector workers, scapegoating teachers, closing libraries, upping tuition fees, rolling back union contracts, creating rush privatisations of public assets and decreasing pensions – mix the cocktail for where you live.” Sounds familiar.
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Ready for round two?
The global financial system, which has never properly recovered from the recession, is poised on the brink of a second crash. The headlines are a parade of bad news…
Update: US credit rating downgraded from AAA to AA+ with negative outlook (same as NZ). Announcement was made after close of markets. It’s gonna hit the fan on Monday.
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Drip, drip, drip of job losses
We are hearing no end of job loss stories in the news and the government has no plan for New Zealand jobs. Their best idea is to cut the wages of the young, rather than to create jobs of real value. We need workers paid a Living Wage so all Kiwis can have fulfilling lives.
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Time for a cross party consensus on crime
All of a sudden National and ACT are sounding vaguely sensible on crime and prisons. There seems to be a golden opportunity to reach a cross party consensus, and get some evidence driven policy and practice in this area. Who is going to make the first move?
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Jacinda Ardern’s ‘Dear Don’ letter
Labour’s Jacinda Ardern replies to Don Brash’s letter to John Key: “In many ways though Mr Brash, I fear that you have written off not just my generation, but New Zealand. There was no hope in your letter, no sense of aspiration or of the idea that we can build a prosperous country”
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Jackel’s week that was
This week in The Jackel’s week that was: deepsea oil protests continue, Prince Charles against business as usual, child poverty, Libya, bees, onshore oil protests, US flooding, Nats prepare for cuts as we pay for their mistakes, ACC’s hardline savings come at a price, Wikileaks, and more!
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Free speech hate speech
The free speech / hate speech boundary is always a difficult call. I’m glad to live in a country that tries to err on the side of the former. Even so, the latest bullshit from the “Right Wing Resistance” really rankles.
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The Jackel’s week in review
The Jackel’s week in review this week looks at single-parent families, drug laws, nuclear power in the wake of Fukushima, corruption in international carbon credit markets, cuts to DoC, the SAS’s handling of prisoners, skin cancer, NZ music month, food security, the Syrian uprising, and the Libyan bombing campaign. phew!
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Tilting at drugmules
Rex Widerstrom has been a commentator and occassional guest poster here for a while. He has a unique point of view on the political process and its place in society. In this guest post he looks at the never ending “War on Drugs”.
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Voting away our democracy
Just before the second Christchurch earthquake, Gerry Brownlee was being criticised for the lack of progress in recovery. People suggested what was needed was an independent commissioner to lead the rebuilding – an ‘earthquake Tsar’. Brownlee responded “the last Tsar got shot“. Now, the new CERA law makes Brownlee our Tsar in a very literal sense.
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Evidence-based policy
From the Dunedin Study, to The Spirit Level, to the IPCC – there is a lot of evidence out there that our government should be basing their policy on. Let’s champion that aim.
