Four More Limericks
Malcolm Turnbull, the Aussie patrician
Considered himself a magician
But the up-himself prick
Hadn’t mastered his trick
Now Australia needs a physician.
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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Hiding war crimes
The arrogant militarism of Western leaders has been revealed anew with the publishing of the long-awaited Chilcot Report.
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De-marginalising progressive politics
In my own area of the Otara subdivision, only 29 per cent of eligible voters returned ballot papers – well below the greater Auckland average. And the data speaks for itself: older, wealthier, housed and white voters had a much higher rate of ballot return. That’s what the data tells us so our challenge is to encourage a better ballot return from younger, poorer, transient and brown voters
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EXCLUSIVE: The NZ Labour Party can no longer avoid the elephant in the room
The era of neoliberal globalisation is ending. People – who are also voters – have had enough of governments that work for the rich. Precarious jobs, stagnant incomes, unaffordable housing, massive household debt, stripped out safety nets, elected governments that are arrogant and unaccountable, opposition parties who are captives of their past or too cowed by fears of a collapse in business confidence to embrace demands for real change.
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If you come after this Boomer’s Vote, Matt, you’d better be armed
MATT HEATH’S SATIRICAL THRUST at the over-65s in Monday’s NZ Herald has caused considerable angst. Depriving the elderly of the right to vote is one of those suggestions that stops people in their tracks. Not so much because it’s a good idea (which it obviously isn’t) but because somebody’s had the bare-faced cheek to put such a subversive thought into words.
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Private schools provide a socially-cleansed environment for the children of cabinet ministers
We should fund private schools ONLY when they enrol students on the same basis as public schools and abandon their fees.
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Lies, Damned lies and Statistical Lies – ** UPDATE **
At the stroke of a pen, unemployment fell from 5.7% to 5.2%. Simply because if a person was job-searching using the internet they were “not actively seeking work“. Which beggars belief as the majority of jobseekers will be using the internet. It is the 21st century – what else would they be using?
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Giving Business What it Wants
HEAR FOR YOURSELF the voice of the invincibly self-interested business class. Proclaiming Australia’s inconclusive election result as “bad for business”, Christopher Niesche, consoles his readers with the observation that “it doesn’t look as if Labor will be able to form a government.”
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Foot in mouth award – Bill English, for his recent “Flat Earth” comment in Parliament
It appears that Finance Minister, Bill English did not get the memo from Dear Leader Key’s office: “Dont get arrogant!”
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Should the Financial Veto be Allowed?
For the record, my Bill would have cost just 0.7% of the NEW spending for Budget 2016 and 3.6% of the NEW spending planned by National for 2017. At full implementation it would cost 0.03% of the $3b worth of tax cuts John Key wants. Is that more than minor? I don’t think so.