John Tamihere and water – flaky opportunism
Privatisation of water supply – like all privatisations – would accelerate inequality in Auckland just as Labour and National’s privatisation policies of the past 35 years have done so.
Setting the Agenda
Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
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Goff and Tamihere Are Both Wrong. (But Bernard Hickey Is Right On The Money.)
The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Tamihere has some solid points to make. In his own colourful turn of phrase, Goff and the Auckland Council have “maxed-out the credit card”. If the City is to preserve its international credit rating of AA, then it simply cannot afford to take on any more debt. What’s more, the rest of the country cannot afford for Auckland to take on any more debt.
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Dr Liz Gordon: A one-child policy worldwide now
The population of the world has much more than doubled since 1960, 150% higher in fact. Humans are breeding ourselves to extinction, even though the means not to have children has been available for over 50 years.
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Global smart tech, ethics and cyber humanism
“Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in [Aldous] Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to ignore the technologies that undo their capacity to think.”
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MUST READ: Un-Friending The People
The dangers of giving the angry and ignorant their own media outlet was demonstrated most powerfully in the early 1790s, just as the French Revolution was entering the phase known to history as “The Reign of Terror”.
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Retirement policies falling under the radar screen
It is very strange that we are getting drip fed some important changes to NZ Super with little fanfare or discussion. Even stranger, given this is the year that the Retirement Commissioner has a statutory duty to review all retirement incomes policy.
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Zionism’s race-hate profiteering and vandalism
The summary of a report prepared by the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on the economic costs of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people noted: “Throughout history, colonisation and occupations have always had economic dimensions. This is also the case in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where the occupation imposes heavy economic costs on the Palestinian people and their economy.”
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Tulsi Gabbard Blazes Impressive Trail At First Democratic Primary Debate
It has been said by political minds far more astute than my own [read: pretty much every candidate going into today’s 1st Democratic Primary debate] that a ‘win’ here is securing ‘cut-through’. Standing out from amidst the crowded, twenty-candidate field and managing to reach out through the television-camera’s silvery lense to make that all-important connection with the ordinary American voter on the other side of the screen.
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That Seventies Show
JACINDA ARDERN HAILS her government as the most committed to delivering progressive change since the mid-1970s. In other words, since the Third Labour Government of Norman Kirk and Bill Rowling (1972-1975). Before assessing whether or not the Prime Minister’s claim is true, it is worth considering what on earth possessed her to make it.
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Unite Union accuses Restaurant Brands of trying to cheat staff again over annual leave
Restaurant Brands Ltd (RBL), is asking staff to authorise the deduction of so-called overpayments from the annual leave money they owe their current and former staff.