Balfour’s disastrous legacy
On 2 November 1917, at the height of the First World War, Britain’s imperial voice expressed itself in a statement…
Setting the Agenda
Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
-
-
Socialism and Populism: The Party is Just Beginning!
ZACH CASTLES is sitting, gutted, in a café overlooking the Thames. The former “National ministerial adviser”, no longer having any National ministers to advise, has clearly relocated himself to a more promising political marketplace. Even so, our brave young capitalist has taken the time to share his thoughts with The Spinoff. (Who else!) And, oh, comrades, what thoughts they are!
-
Tracey Martin – The Children’s Champion
On 25 October, incoming Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that NZ First’s talented Tracey Martin would be appointed to the new Labour-NZF-Green cabinet as a full-ranking Minister;
-
The Minimum Wage decision is big win for workers and should be celebrated
It is a mistake to underestimate the importance of the decision to lift the minimum wage to $20 an hour by April 2021. This will involve a significant real increase in wages for hundreds of thousands of workers in this country.
-
Strategies Of Right-Wing Resistance: It Can Happen here
CAN WE REALLY DO THIS? As the euphoria of victory wears off, and the sheer enormity of the challenge confronting…
-
A reminder to Labour about the TPPA
Next Monday officials from the eleven remaining TPPA parties will reconvene in Japan. They will continue working through a list of 50 items that different countries want to put on ice unless and until the US re-joins. Relatively few of those items have been settled.
-
Will Winston Peters be Israel Lobby’s Trojan Horse?
The Israel Institute’s New Zealand co-director Paul Moon was quoted as follows: Whichever party is put into power, the almost inevitable alliance with New Zealand First presents an opportunity for New Zealand to recalibrate its relations with Israel. Effectively, the government could draw a line under its disastrous sponsorship of UN Resolution 2334, and look to strengthen its ties with Israel.
-
David Macpherson: New Government needs new action on Mental Health & Suicide
Still feeling a warm glow of satisfaction over Labour Weekend following the ousting of former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman, whose inaction on mental health and suicide was legendary, I was brought down to earth sharply by a story published on Labour Day about Jonny – a young male Christchurch suicide victim.
-
The new Labour-led government has agreed to hold a binding referendum on legalising cannabis by or at the next election in 2020.
After years of denial and obfuscation by the National-led Government, this is a massive opportunity. The world is watching.
-
New Zealand Democracy; looking backwards and forwards
The new government got off to a pretty good start – indeed a few minutes before it was announced – when Winston Peters indicated that its mission is no less than to humanise capitalism in New Zealand. This reminds us that Winston Peters is by far the most qualified person in this government to be Minister of Finance, and that it’s Finance Ministers that make or break governments.