On the Phil Heatley saga,and more on low budget films
Image from nznationalparty’s photostream – On board the NUShip Perth Normally when there is a personal cloud over a Minister, they would stand down and/or […]
February 2010
On the government’s environmental credibility problems in Canterbury, and attacks on Police
Click to enlarge Reportedly, Ronald Reagan’s aides would go into in panic mode whenever the avuncular President started to ad lib a few additional points […]
On Trevor Mallard’s big day, and the Film Commission’s new low budget film scheme
Normally, Trevor Mallard is not renowned for his subtlety, yet his stealth attack on Education Minister yesterday in the House was a stone classic. First, […]
On the looming elections in Iraq
Early next month, Iraq is due to hold an election. One of the ironic outcomes of the US/UK led invasion in March 2003 has been […]
On the problems in making the tax cuts equation stack up
Would scrapping the depreciation rules on rental residential property really deliver the $1.6 billion promised? That $1.6 billion sits on one side of the ledger […]
On John Key’s agenda for the nation
Compensate is such a slippery word. If you set out to make the elite squad in team A immensely better off with money taken from […]
On why free trade with the US is more Monty Python than Holy Grail
Perhaps we can all quietly sign a pact to forego comparing a free trade deal with the US to the quest for the Holy Grail. […]
On the government’s clueless response to unemployment and why Mike Moore shouldn’t go to Washington
Well, we’re now seeing some of the fruits of small government, and having government butt out of our lives. Unemployment rose to 7.3 % during […]
Union-bashing and the dispute over national standards
Well, it hasn’t taken long for John Key to bring the old scare word ‘unions’ – into the dispute over national standards. Yesirree, this flap […]
Shaping Up To Fight
Will the new White Paper on Defence raise the chances of us getting involved in other peoples’ wars?
The Real Three Strikes: Mad, Sad and Bad
Using common sense would be a welcome change for our criminal justice system …
Living by the Code
The mixed blessings of commercial gene testing
Decline and Fall
Hebron’s spiral of despair
Classics: The Borrowers (1952) by Mary Norton
Small people with big problems
From The Hood: Think Crimes
Lyndon Hood installs a crime-prevention camera in the Justice Minister’s mind.
Talking Sport: Rafa in the Twilight Zone
Why is tennis treating its top players as utterly disposable?
Left Coasting : Plug and play democracy
Californian voters learn to live with constitutional gridlock
The Complicatist: From Animal Collective to Bobby Conn
Indie rock is for wimps, and we’re OK about that
The Jesus Cringe
The etiquette of fessing up to being Christian + a reply to reader feedback from the author
Welcome to the Jobless Recovery
GDP growth without jobs is no recovery at all