class war

RNZ: The 9th floor – Bolger

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:47 am, April 21st, 2017 - 12 comments

“He says neo-liberalism has failed and suggests unions should have a stronger voice. He says Treaty of Waitangi settlements may not be full and final and that Māori language tuition should be compulsory in primary schools.”

Missing voices

Written By: weka - Date published: 11:24 am, April 20th, 2017 - 39 comments

Former Trump supporter speaks Her Truth

Why National had to settle the Pay Equity case

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:19 am, April 19th, 2017 - 45 comments

National is trying to give the impression that it settled the pay equity case out of the goodness of its heart.  The reality is that the Unions forced it to settle through gritted teeth.

Motels are full of homeless so now what?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:15 am, April 11th, 2017 - 83 comments

Ordinary people are priced out of home ownership and increasingly out of renting, the state-housing safety net has been deliberately run down, and now the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff is full. National leaps into action – by asking the Salvation Army for ideas…

Welfare is making Kiwis lazy and unemployable

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:26 am, April 2nd, 2017 - 166 comments

This old chestnut is getting another outing on Stuff today.

Spinoff series – rent week

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:51 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 58 comments

While much of the coverage of the housing crisis focuses on buyers, the situation facing renters is just as bad. Last week The Spinoff ran an excellent series on renting in NZ: “It’s getting desperate out there”.

English flogging National’s one-trick pony

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:50 am, March 13th, 2017 - 73 comments

Never mind the record debt, the dropped contributions to the Cullen fund, the housing crisis, rising poverty, the deteriorating health system, the costs of quake rebuilds, the filthy water, the need to prepare for climate change – never mind all that, have an election bribe!

Household debt

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 11:47 am, March 8th, 2017 - 93 comments

The IMF warns that our household debt is far too high, as desperate tenants start raiding the Kiwisaver accounts to pay the rent.

The social damage wrought by homes as commoditites

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:04 am, March 4th, 2017 - 82 comments

A recent UN report highlights the waste of treating homes as commodities. It should sound awfully familiar in the NZ context.

Housing crisis what housing crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:02 am, February 27th, 2017 - 52 comments

The Government’s estimate of the extent of the housing crisis has recently been shown to be totally out of touch and to add further pathos it is counting kiwi families urgently housed in motels in tourism statistics.

Where to now for the left?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:43 am, February 26th, 2017 - 115 comments

With the right in ascendancy throughout the Western World what does the left do to change this?

Salvation Army report – NZ “Off the Track”

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:56 am, February 8th, 2017 - 61 comments

“The absence of any meaningful progress in reducing child poverty rates over the past decade—and the lack of interest by Government in using welfare and income support programmes to do so—points to wilful indifference toward the long-term personal and social impacts of this avoidable harm.”

Unemployment rate up

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:15 am, February 2nd, 2017 - 12 comments

Despite National’s fiddling the figures on the way unemployment is counted, the unemployment rate is on the rise again.

Lifeboat NZ

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 11:14 am, January 25th, 2017 - 100 comments

How do we feel about NZ becoming a lifeboat for the super-rich to run out on the problems that they created?

Sit-in Occupation to Stop Niki’s Eviction Tuesday 24th January

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:33 pm, January 23rd, 2017 - 138 comments

“These are the people’s assets” – Ioela ‘Niki’ Rauti.

State houses are being given to developers, and people are being evicted from their homes.