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An open letter to Andrew Little

Written By: - Date published: 6:08 pm, June 26th, 2015 - 433 comments

A respectful open letter to Andrew Little with suggestions for how to win the next election!

Universal Basic Income Experiment

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, June 26th, 2015 - 97 comments

Income in a world of climate change.

Sacrificing mental health to dragons

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 26th, 2015 - 44 comments

The Labour Party has had a sneak peek at the process our government is using to pick “providers” for its mercenary social impact bonds scheme, and it’s like something off television.

As the economy stalls it’s a great time to be a bank!

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, June 24th, 2015 - 34 comments

Ho ho – what am I saying? It’s always a great time to be a bank.

The death of trickle down economics and the mess we’re in

Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, June 17th, 2015 - 139 comments

Trickle down economics is pronounced dead by the IMF. Housing, the working poor and the economy – the policy settings are wrong everywhere.

Pope Francis on Climate Change

Written By: - Date published: 1:07 pm, June 16th, 2015 - 66 comments

No beating about the bush.

Deadly “social bonds”?

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, June 16th, 2015 - 56 comments

The Nats want to turn over social problems to the private sector for profit. This account from the UK should give them pause.

Ghost houses and the invisible hand

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, June 16th, 2015 - 243 comments

Auckland has an urgent deficit of 20,000 to 30,000 houses. Meanwhile 22,000 houses are sitting empty. Behold the efficiency of the market!

The third way according to Tony Blair

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, June 14th, 2015 - 70 comments

Supporters of Tony Blair’s third way and the need for Labour to be aspirational should reflect on recent reports of his huge wealth earned with taxpayer support while he has been engaged on official business.

The TV3 boycott

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, June 13th, 2015 - 121 comments

Boycotts are a two-edged sword. The call to boycott TV3 is not a simple matter.

White Man Behind A Desk: Social Bonds

Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, June 12th, 2015 - 13 comments

White Man Behind A Desk on the death of government, social bonds, and more. Perfect for a Friday!

TPP designed to cripple our health system

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, June 11th, 2015 - 80 comments

“[The TPP] appears to be designed to cripple New Zealand’s strong public healthcare programme and to inhibit the adoption of similar programmes in developing countries.”

Flip Flop isn’t just another word for a Jandal

Written By: - Date published: 7:08 am, June 9th, 2015 - 69 comments

IN a breaking news update, the New Zealand Prime Minister has a revelation on Health and Safety

Shaw interview – we have a crony capitalist state

Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, June 2nd, 2015 - 61 comments

New Greens co-leader James Shaw on: climate change, ruling out coalition with National, creeping crony capitalism, and more…

The stupidest idea this Government has had yet

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, June 1st, 2015 - 92 comments

One News has reported that the Government is on the verge of introducing Social Bonds whereby investors in social services will be rewarded if targets are met.

Sheepgate

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, May 28th, 2015 - 103 comments

It has emerged that the New Zealand Government has paid money to a Saudi businessman allegedly to settle a legal dispute that does not exist but more probably to persuade the Saudi Government to enter into a free trade agreement.  Update – and maybe there was a threat of legal action but because of the actions of National, not Labour.

Epsom has its finger on the pulse of the people

Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, May 25th, 2015 - 14 comments

So what is important to the people of Epsom? Paul Goldsmith in his Newsletter recently told us what is important to him and suggested what might be important to us.

Human Synergistics, Richard Prebble, and the end of government

Written By: - Date published: 6:08 am, May 17th, 2015 - 64 comments

Back in March 1988 David Lange had a clear idea about what lay ahead for New Zealanders as the long-term consequences of Roger Douglas’ psychopathic worshipping of the metaphysical Invisible Hand gradually materialised.

TPPA circling the drain

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, May 13th, 2015 - 40 comments

As widely reported today, the TPPA has taken a probably fatal hit in the US Senate. Good riddance.

Dear NZ Labour. Listen up.

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 12th, 2015 - 48 comments

For the sake of reference – Nye Bevan was a Labour mp and the architect of the British NHS. Michael Sheen’s  speech was a defense of that institution, but the underpinning message is, well…

Fear, Loathing and Denial.

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, May 10th, 2015 - 49 comments

There’s a major and rather obvious contributory factor to UK Labour’s failure in the UK general election that doesn’t seem to have drawn any comment. Until now…

Pull the other one… ponytails, minimisation and male privilege

Written By: - Date published: 5:48 pm, April 25th, 2015 - 407 comments

From pulling ponytails to police minimisation, there is a deep problem in our country with attitudes towards women and to sexual violence.

ANZAC 4 SALE

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, April 21st, 2015 - 37 comments

Has the spirit of ANZAC Day become subsumed by the commercial imperative?

Wikileaks – Sony Archives

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, April 17th, 2015 - 6 comments

A Wikileaks dump of documents relating to Sony shows a close working relationship with the US government. Implications also for Kim Dotcom.

Dear Maccas, Burger King and Wendys, about those zero hour contracts

Written By: - Date published: 4:56 pm, April 10th, 2015 - 11 comments

Following its success in persuading Restaurant Brands to do away with zero hour contracts Unite Union has set up a webpage where people can email these organisations.

Dollar Parity

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, April 7th, 2015 - 309 comments

As New Zealand’s dollar approaches parity with Australia’s a responsible Government should be pondering the implications and acting in the country’s best interests.  No such luck in Aotearoa …

Alternatives to banks

Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, April 6th, 2015 - 96 comments

We need an alternative to fattening the coffers of Australian banks.

Trends in America

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, April 6th, 2015 - 29 comments

Here’s some slow Monday reading to ponder, on political trends in America.

California drought

Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, April 3rd, 2015 - 47 comments

The California drought gives us a case study in how the effects of climate change are going to play out.

Screaming left-wing conspiracy theorist shocked at spying on Diplomats

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, March 24th, 2015 - 84 comments

In the NZ herald today, Terence O’Brien has been questioned about the recent revelations of spying to get Minister’s jobs after politics. Despite a Press Corp being with the PM in ROK, none has yet bothered to as the Koreans, or the former Foreign Minister GCSB spied upon, for their comment, instead relying on Honest […]

The rich want to hide their wealth because of kidnap threats

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, March 22nd, 2015 - 173 comments

The Liberal National Party Coalition in Australia want to overturn a requirement for corporations with a turnover of $100 million to disclose tax information on the grounds that kidnapping will occur even though the rich’s ostentatiousness is plain to see without the information being published. And in America it has been estimated that Wall Street’s bonus pool is twice the amount paid to full time American employees living on the minimum wage.