On Italy, Politics and the Rugby World Cup
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Silvio Berlusconi really needs Italy to win the Rugby World Cup, or an equivalent miracle. While he faces prosecution […]
Articles
On oil profits (and other administrivia) within the new Libya
The fighters in western Libya who captured the supply line towns on the way into Tripoli and made the final push into the capital do […]
On The Release Of The West Memphis Three
Good news stories are few and far between, and the release from jail of the West Memphis Three is definitely one of those moments to […]
On Syria, and the lessons of the British riots
The call this morning by the Obama administration for Bashir al-Assad to leave office in Syria, and the US imposition of sanctions has been echoed […]
On Russia and the Rugby World Cup
Between early September and late October, New Zealand will be hosting teams from 19 countries for the Rugby World Cup. This column will try to […]
On the Government’s latest plans to Americanise the welfare system
What is it about National’s plans for welfare reform and natural disasters? On the same day in February that the Welfare Working Group released its […]
On the Christchurch rebuild, and the political abuse of the SIS
Probably, some will regard the height restriction of seven stories for the rebuild of Christchurch’s central city area as being unnecessarily arbitrary and uniform, and […]
On the riots in Britain
So far, reaction to the riots in Britain has moved beyond the initial phase of surprise and bewilderment – goodness, the New York Times wondered, […]
On the Right’s Lethal Prescription for the Global Economy
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Stock markets jittery, the price of gold heading through the roof… the vandalising of the US economy by the […]
On Barack Obama’s debt deal
If nothing else, Barack Obama’s tactics during the debt ceiling crisis have clarified how he plans to run for President next year: not as a […]
On the Lieutenant O’Donnell inquiry
The New Zealand Defence Force never ceases to amaze. Yesterday’s report into the death last year in Afghanistan of Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell has found shortcomings […]
On the Norway massacre
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com As the work of a homegrown right wing dissident, the Norway massacre clearly has more in common with the […]
On the SAS defence of Afghanistan’s drug barons
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com A typical day at the office for the New Zealand forces in Afghanistan. On one hand, we passed the […]
On Labour’s tax package (and Rupert Murdoch)
There could hardly have been a better set of Dom-Post headlines yesterday – Fruit and Vege Prices Rocket / Healthy Choices Off The Menu As […]
On Don Brash’s race gambit (and Hugh Grant’s finest hour)
It must have been a grim moment indeed in the Act Party offices when the Resurrection of Orewa went up on the whiteboard as the […]
On the capital gains tax debate
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com The fact that, at last, one of New Zealand’s major parties has embraced the kind of tax on capital […]
On the bailout in Greece
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Evidently, the recent attempt by EMA boss Alisdair Thompson to justify the gender pay gap has been just the […]
On National’s neglect of the armed forces
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Only a National government could get away with the changes in the New Zealand Defence Force now taking place […]
On the Te Tai Tokerau result
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com In the wake of his victory in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, Hone Harawira has run strategic rings around […]
On the Christchurch deal, and sexist dinosaurs
Clearly, the deal put on the table for Christchurch yesterday by the government has to be only an opening bid, not a final resolution. Those […]
On our alleged Woody Allen syndrome
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com You’d think, given the near bankrupt state of the state of California, that a guy who has served on […]
On the crisis in Syria
In recent weeks the military crackdown by the Assad regime in Syria has become a refugee problem for neighbouring Turkey, and a media nightmare for […]
On rebuilding Christchurch – and Rupert Murdoch’s beef with the Rugby World Cup
So the long awaited report on land remediation in Christchurch by the consulting engineers Tonkin and Taylor has been delivered to Prime Minister John Key […]
On yesterday’s quakes in Christchurch
In the short term, as CERA chief Roger Sutton claimed yesterday, the collapse of some 50 already-damaged buildings in the Christchurch CBD red zone will […]
On the exchange rate, and faux prudery about politicians
Given all the other problems facing the New Zealand economy, the exchange rate is among the least likely to engender much sympathy among the ordinary […]
On revelations about government borrowing
For years, government borrowing has been treated as a sign of irresponsibility, of a country living beyond its means, of the policies of borrow and […]
On Iran’s increasing paranoia, and its attempts to unplug from the Web
YouTube – This Is Not A Film – Teaser 1 A few months ago, Scoop ran several articles about the Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, […]
On John Key’s Assault On The Welfare System
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com If John Key is the face of moderation, there’s not much room left on the margins for the extremism […]
On Paul Quinn’s rape comments, and health spending
Now that the dust has settled on National MP Paul Quinn’s outrageous comments about women and rape made on TVNZ7’s Back Benches programme – “I […]
Gordon Campbell On The Budget – And Petrobras
Cartoon by Trace Hodgson While Deficit Phobia provides the rationale for the austerity and privatisation measures contained in this year’s Budget, the government’s stance is […]