A Change Of Plan
IT WAS LATE and the fire was dying. The wine bottle was definitely not half full. In the far corner a couple of vapers appeared to smoke. But up this end, nearest the fire, I was alone. Until she turned up.
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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Christchurch City Council subsidises building homes for the wealthy but refuses to rebuild council rental housing destroyed in the earthquakes
It should make an uncomfortable juxtaposition for the mayor and councillors.
One week they vote an extra $220 million for a new rugby stadium without public consultation and the next they are consulting on whether they should give a $30 million loan to the council’s housing arm – the Otautahi Community Housing Trust – to build 130 more council rental homes.
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Lessons for the Left from NAFTA Mark-II
We underestimate Trump’s people. We don’t have to support their visceral racism and sexism and cynical manipulation of populist sentiment to recognise that something significant is happening. The rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico released last week poses crucial challenges for the left that we need to understand if we are to shape a genuinely alternative, progressive new strategy for the future – the goal of our hui in Auckland on 19-20 October.
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First World Problems
Reckless, provocative and dangerous as Trump is, and despite the gravity of our first world concerns, they’re convenient distractions from unpalatable everyday wars and tyrrany of the world’s evil affecting the already most vulnerable and dispossessed. We’re just lucky Trump’s not at war with us.
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Petrol Pump Politics
“AT A DOLLAR a gallon we can’t afford Rowling.” Given his latest media release, “Government pricing Kiwis out of their cars”, someone’s obviously been schooling up young Simon Bridges on the way Rob Muldoon smashed Labour in 1975.
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Should There Be A Statute Of Limitations In Politics?
It is a curious thing. By the end of last week, a pretty appreciable portion of my newsfeed were discussing Clayton Mitchell’s “NZ Values” proposal. Or, at least, that’s what they *thought* they were doing.
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Dr Liz Gordon: The very odd case of Clayton Mitchell MP
The other day I heard a passing mention on my car radio to some MP promoting legislation to ensure that immigrants upheld kiwi values. Good old NZ First as its worst, I thought. I listened on and heard that one of those values was a commitment not to campaign against the legality of alcohol. I nearly drove my car off the road. I then decided that I must have misheard or misunderstood and put it out of my mind.
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Show me the money
Big Oil has repeatedly lied about the impact of burning fossil fuels on our environment. In a repeat of tactics that delayed tobacco regulation for decades, the major oil companies have hidden evidence and paid for junk science by climate deniers. As a result of inaction, millions of people have suffered from air pollution, toxic waste and climate change, particularly those who are vulnerable and living in impoverished communities.
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MUST READ EXCLUSIVE: Call it KiwiBuild but it is still gentrification
It is probably time to call the Government’s flagship KiwiBuild programme for what it is – state sponsored gentrification of state housing suburbs. As such it is little different from the previous Government’s efforts in places such as Tamaki to extract value from the public housing estate under the guise of modernisation.
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Call out ALL international rules offenders
October has only just begun but already, in the first two days of this month, the Israeli Army has shot dead a 78-year-old farmer, Ahmad Nassar Al-Arqawi, as he tried to eke out a living on blockaded Gaza farmland.