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Child poverty – it’s not choice

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, December 15th, 2015 - 172 comments

child_poverty_2015

The mantra of ‘Poor Choices’

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, December 12th, 2015 - 195 comments

It is that time of year when poor people realise just how poor they really are – the season for giving, the season to be jolly. Well that may be so for some of us, but some people will be working on Christmas day instead of spending time with loved ones. These will probably be […]

Flagpole Sitta

Written By: - Date published: 5:56 pm, December 11th, 2015 - 138 comments

John Key’s $26 million dollar flag flop bores it’s way to the halfway line tonight. The first referendum closes at 7 PM, first results at around 8.30. $26 million … that’s a lot of cancer drugs, child care centres and elder care we won’t be getting because the PM wants a signature legacy his dreary leadership doesn’t actually deserve.

The great future tide of homelessness

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, December 3rd, 2015 - 156 comments

The Salvation Army, and not the Government, has pointed out some very worrying trends relating to home ownership in New Zealand.

Jarrod Gilbert is tilting at windmills

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, November 27th, 2015 - 38 comments

The Official Information Act is now moribund and access to information beyond its scope is granted only to a chosen few and under strict conditions.

Standing in the Shadow of the Red Flag

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, November 25th, 2015 - 47 comments

“Why would Goff stand for the Auckland mayoralty as an independent candidate considering his life-long commitment to the Labour Party?”

Why indeed?

Is it time for Labour to stand candidates in local elections under the party banner? And can the party lift its profile and its general election prospects by being bolder in the provinces?

Rashbrooke on inequality

Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, November 24th, 2015 - 22 comments

Max Rashbrooke has another excellent piece in The Guardian, on inequality and on the ways he has been attacked for his writings on this issue.

International Labour Organisation on Austerity

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 21st, 2015 - 10 comments

An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report warns that austerity measured are an international threat to jobs and growth.

Andrew Little on Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 10:09 am, November 20th, 2015 - 54 comments

The fifth anniversary of the Pike River disaster has just occurred. This post records some comments made by Andrew Little on his recollection of the day after.

NRT: Urgency for abuse

Written By: - Date published: 4:59 pm, November 17th, 2015 - 20 comments

I/S at No Right Turn: “The House has just gone into urgency for two key (for the government) bills – the first to punish retroactively people who have already been punished, the second to steal from the poor.”

Power Corruption and Lies

Written By: - Date published: 1:04 pm, November 13th, 2015 - 78 comments

A National List MP has been snapped trying to heavy the Housing Ministry into funding a lift in her personal profile. Remember John Key’s ‘higher standards in Government’? Nick Smith’s Ministerial office apparently doesn’t care too much about about such trifles. Worse, the Housing Ministry has been caught trying to cover up for the Tories by redacting an OIA request. Here’s your Brighter Future, folks. Enjoy.

There is Hope.

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, November 10th, 2015 - 65 comments

Anarchism, past and present.

Inequality is a choice

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, November 10th, 2015 - 65 comments

Inequality is a choice. It isn’t a choice made by individuals, it is a choice made by governments. Check out Joseph Stiglitz’s new book Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.

Labour, identity, class and winning

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 9th, 2015 - 54 comments

The question of identity politics and Labour’s direction just never go away. But maybe we’re just thinking about it all wrong.

Poverty’s Beneficiaries.

Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, November 8th, 2015 - 68 comments

While pondering this post, I was pointed to a post from last year, in which poverty and the cost of breakfast were on the agenda. Stephanie was writing in response to the ignorance of Nikki Kaye who claimed that giving affordable nutritious breakfast to children was easy. While I haven’t taken the time to read all of the comments on the subject, I thought Stephanie proved the point quite aptly that the reality is far different than the hypothetical world of poverty in which Nikki Kaye lives.

Useless on unemployment

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, November 6th, 2015 - 73 comments

“Less debt more jobs” says National’s billboard. Instead we good the opposite. With extra helpings of icing on this Cake of Fail.

Is this our brighter future?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 3rd, 2015 - 44 comments

This morning’s media has reports of increased domestic violence being reported by beneficiaries and an increase of the time and resources the police are having to put into helping the mentally unwell.  And record profits earned by the Australian banks.

Food Bank Charity

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, October 30th, 2015 - 97 comments

Guest post from Kōrero Pono on the politics and ethics of food banks.

How America is killing the middle class

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, October 23rd, 2015 - 11 comments

A short film from AJ+ which clearly describes what has gone wrong in the US since the 1980s.  The film is just as relevant for New Zealand.

The equal pay initiative

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, October 22nd, 2015 - 17 comments

After twice killing off pay equity legislation (2009, 1990), National have been forced to confront the issue again.

Lucky Labour – disgraceful Speaker

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, October 16th, 2015 - 37 comments

Three of the four member’s bills drawn yesterday were sponsored by Labour leaders. What followed was one of the most disgusting maneuvers ever pulled by this government, justifying the headline – Nats play politics while Kiwi kids die in homes.

Cancer patients and punitive policies

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, October 14th, 2015 - 73 comments

We need a welfare system that acknowledges the realities of cancer and other major medical conditions. That isn’t “special treatment”, it is basic human decency.

Oram on the TPP

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, October 12th, 2015 - 143 comments

Rod Oram’s Sunday Star-Times column, as made available on Facebook, is a level-headed evaluation of the TPP. He lists five points of concern…

Unions good for society and economy

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, October 11th, 2015 - 39 comments

Great post on the UK based NEF Blog: Don’t be fooled, dismantling the rights of workers is not good for you, or for the economy.

Climate and Trade

Written By: - Date published: 5:43 pm, October 10th, 2015 - 41 comments

The proposed TPP is a protection racket – not a trade deal.

WINZ dysfunctional

Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, October 5th, 2015 - 22 comments

I guess it’s not exactly news that WINZ is dysfunctional, but its interesting to have some actual data on one of the symptoms. Bonus feature – one of the Nats’ worst excuses ever.

The problem is child poverty not CYF

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, September 28th, 2015 - 34 comments

The Rebstock Panel inquiry could be read to confirm that Child Youth and Family is unable to perform its job properly because of it is not properly resourced to provide the job. But it is clear that National is loathe to provide it with any more resources. And the elephant in the room is that the Government fails to understand that escalating child poverty is the cause the crisis.

Pope Francis speaks

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, September 26th, 2015 - 98 comments

Pope Francis has given two important speeches recently.

The strip mining of Housing Corp is accelerated

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, September 17th, 2015 - 33 comments

Not only is Housing Corp planning to pay a $118 million dividend to the Crown this year but hidden away in its accounts is the payment of a further capital contribution of $336 million.  Talk about strip mining …

NRT: The Great WINZ ripoff

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, September 16th, 2015 - 17 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on the WINZ underpayment fiasco.

This Government’s priorities

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, September 16th, 2015 - 37 comments

In recent news it has been stated that the Government has let Serco off fines totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars while at the same time it is sneaking through retrospective changes to the law to deny thousands of beneficiaries money they are otherwise entitled to.