Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
With Trump’s latest effort to smash Huawei the stakes are now much higher for New Zealand. To stick by Trump on this means that New Zealand will have little comeback if China takes counter-measures against us.
I remember from my research that when the 1984 women MPs went to be sworn in, the National front benchers (now relegated to opposition and no doubt smarting from it) scored the Labour women out of ten on their looks as they went up to take the oath. As far as I know, this never led to a formal complaint. Women just sucked it up.
“Kia ora Mr Mark,
Please cancel the proposal to buy millions of dollars of military equipment from apartheid Israel and support Palestinian calls for a boycott instead.”
Queensland results decimated the Labour vote in key seats and gave the LNP a clear parliamentary majority. What, then, explains the ALP’s Queensland nightmare? My answer can be summarised in four words: preferences, Adani, Murdoch and condescension.
Australia’s election result was a big downer. But there was a bright spot in the gains made by the Australian Greens.
Last week full-page advertisements appeared across New Zealand celebrating 71 years since Israel declared independence. They were placed by a Pastor Nigel Woodley from Hastings – a Christian Zionist – and paid for from the deep pockets of his backers.
Over the years I’ve had gripping conversations with people who’ve said I don’t belong on the Left of politics because of my socially conservative views. Conversely, folk on the Right have said they wouldn’t welcome me because of my perceived economic liberalism.
The Minister intends to fix the terrible workloads that this causes, not by reducing the qualification burden but by shifting from internal to external assessment and thus reducing the assessment burden on teachers.
Of all the reforms possible, he has chosen the worst one. I will debate this with anyone. I have studied assessment systems for over 30 years and I know as much as anyone about them. So here is the truth about assessment systems in five easy lessons.
Whatever Ngaro may offer the country as a conservative Christian leader it won’t be compassion, tolerance, justice or truth. Instead it will be a conservative straitjacket of bigotry, arrogance and injustice.
In a Press Release published on 28 April, ACT MP David Seymour took our Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, to task because he had “failed to condemn” what he asserted was “the anti-Semitism of UK Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn.