On Gerry Brownlee, the Christchurch recovery and Jafar Panahi
Famously, Winston Churchill once described one of his American political allies as being “the only bull I know who carries his own china shop around […]
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Recent News
On corporate manslaughter, and France’s upcoming elections
Yesterday, the Pike River inquiry heard renewed calls for a criminal charge of corporate manslaughter to be put on the books in New Zealand. “Some […]
On charter schools, and DoL backdown at Pike River
Years ago and in a more innocent time, whenever advertising agencies wanted to spice up a product for local consumers they would use the word […]
On the Supreme Court’s mauling of Obamacare
It’s been 12 years since the last shamelessly partisan verdict by the conservative- dominated US Supreme Court when – after the 2000 election – they […]
On the Chinese cyber security threat
On paper, the decisions to partner with the Chinese firm Huawei in the roll out of ultra fast broadband (and rural broadband) in New Zealand […]
On The Hunger Games and body image
Earlier this year, Next magazine published a scary survey on the body image of young New Zealand women, a story that prompted Labour MP Sue […]
On CEO public sector pay, and North Korea’s nuclear threat
This morning’s NZ Herald story about the massive pay hikes for chief executives in the public service knocks a hole in the rationale for the […]
On McCully’s latest debacle, and on a fracking counter-measure
So Nick Smith has fallen on his sword, while dutifully covering for John Key’s leadership inadequacies on this issue as he did so. At the […]
On the Urewera verdicts (and Nick Smith)
While the Crown regroups and rethinks about a possible retrial of the Urewera four, the country should taking a long, hard look at how the […]
On the local government reforms
Clearly, centre-right governments dislike Big Government only when it isn’t their brand of government. When it is, many of the democratic brakes get removed, quick […]
On the speeches by John Key and David Shearer
The much touted smackdown between John Key and David Shearer – one gives a major speech at breakfast, the other at lunchtime! – turned out […]
On David Cunliffe’s comments on the ports of Auckland dispute (and on Iran)
Labour’s Economic Development spokesperson David Cunliffe made a useful contribution to the ports of Auckland dispute this morning. As Cunliffe says, the proposals that management […]
On Tinariwen, and the forgotten war in Mali
Sometimes, civil war in Africa can even bring suffering to the well-heeled patrons of the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington. Tinariwen, the Tuareg […]
Waiting For The Man
An interview with new Labour leader, David Shearer
Lies, Damn Lies and Opinion Polls
Are journalists prone to being dazzled by numbers?
Feeling Bad About Ourselves
What should we do about the promotion of unreal image of women ?
Marketing the Mind
How the tertiary sector in New Zealand is being hi-jacked into the service of commerce
Pedro Does Vertigo
Pedro Almodovar’s fresh take on the Hitchcock classic about sex, obsession and second chances
From The Hood : Moonbeam Dreams of Murder
Feline fantasies of fame fortune and bloody vengence
Classics : The Hunger Games (2008)
When life is a war game, you need friends to survive
Talking Sport : The Trashing of Alberto Contador
Nothing that resembles natural justice was meted out to the champion Spanish cyclist
The Complicatist : Sleigh Bells
Even buzz bands make only tiny little buzzes
On Defence’s failed policy of “civilianisation”
One of the tried and true maxims of management is that business hates uncertainty – because, don’t you know, business can’t be done in a […]
On the Citizens Initiated Referendum on asset sales
The launching of a Citizens Initiated Referendum on the question of the partial asset sales is a useful shot across the bows of the government’s […]
On the mixed-ownership model for state assets
By focussing on the spectre of foreign ownership, the critics of the partial asset sales process have been inadvertedly helping the government, by deflecting attention […]
On Rick Santorum and the Republican primary race
Well, Mitt Romney won narrowly yesterday in Michigan, the family fiefdom that goes back all the way to when his father George ran General Motors […]
On yesterday’s welfare reform announcements
We’ve all become more politically literate the hard way over the last couple of decades. The words “efficient” and “greater efficiency” for instance, has been […]
On the Rudd vs Gillard contest
In its last suicidal spasm this morning, the Australian Labor Party caucus seems certain to choose Julia Gillard to lead it to annihilation at the […]
On Kiwirail’s current problems with its Chinese-built wagons
For many people, Kiwirail’s decision to buy 500 flat top wagons from manufacturers in China instead of building them at Hillside workshops in Dunedin was […]