100 days and the first broken promise
In their first 100 days Labour has offered us “not-National” policies but little else – unless a Woman’s Weekly Prime Minister is considered in the common good.
John Minto
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Labour Party’s Tax Working Group stacked 8 to 2 with corporate representatives
Most of these people spend their working days earning fat salaries advising wealthy corporates and rich listers how to minimise their taxes.
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One of Maggie Barry’s tracks
DOC has great people doing a fantastic job but it’s had nasty, venal ministers like Nick Smith and Maggie Barry who have done their best to drive it into the ground.
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After Lorde’s courage, why has WOMAD invited Israeli singer to New Zealand?
Israeli singer Victoria Hanna is due to perform at the New Plymouth WOMAD festival (17-19 March 2018). She should never have been invited to come. Hanna is currently based at the University of California as part of the Visiting Israeli Artist Programme of The Israel Institute who describe their role in these terms –
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Compulsory Maori language in New Zealand schools
Brash’s comments criticising the use of the Maori language on Radio New Zealand are childish and pathetic. And that’s before we get to the underlying oppressive racism.
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Michael Cullen and New Zealand workers
Can we expect any significant change from the Cullen tax working group?
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Why would any self-respecting New Zealander oppose the TPPA when National was in government and then excuse Labour for signing up to it?
Labour says it has negotiated a softening of some of the most odious of the TPPA’s provisions, but this doesn’t pass the sniff test. The ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) process remains intact. All that has been negotiated is a small reduction in the circumstances where it can be used.
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Capitalism, tax and New Zealand
It was sad reading Stephen Hickson’s defence of capitalism in the Press (25 October 2017). Sad because capitalism has delivered so much outright misery to so much of humanity over the last 300 years that it’s hard to believe anyone could be so blinkered.
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TPPA – Jacinda Ardern’s foreshore and seabed moment
It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion.
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Avoiding another pledge-card government
There are some encouraging signs this Labour-led government will not be a “pledge-card” government. If it can develop and maintain programmes of change across housing, health, welfare, the environment, employment rights etc then while it will never be a revolutionary government, it could be a transformational government.