The Winston Peters Comeback
Only Winston Peters could say the hardest word in the political lexicon – “Sorry” – by implying that his mistakes were really due to his […]
Articles
The bogus benefits of PPPs
Occasionally, someone in business lets the cat out of the bag in a way that is impossible to satirise. Thus in the NZ Herald this […]
The Greens’ new peace initiative
Click to enlarge Non aggression pacts tend to get a bad press, both in real life and in fiction. Hitler and Stalin, two of the […]
The Erosion Of Justice
As the civil rights we enjoy get whittled away, the pattern is becoming very familiar. Initially, fresh powers of search, detention, use of secret evidence […]
Paula Bennett’s welfare abuse
To date, the government’s response to the recession has been faulted on the demand side – for not giving sufficient stimulus to the economy, as […]
National Education Tests, And Michael Jackson
The current struggle between school principals and Education Minister Anne Tolley over national standards has the hallmarks of a rushed and insuffiently funded process. No […]
The Government’s failure to cope with unemployment
There was a quite telling difference of emphasis on Radio Waatea this morning. While Greens MP Sue Bradford was calling on the government to make […]
Iraq, And Its Foreign Oil Deals
Remember how, when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, critics said it was all about oil? Next week, political events in Iraq – and the […]
David Garrett’s lewdness, and the incredible Christine Rankin
Rodney Hide’s excuses for the lewd comment by his Act party colleague David Garrett – that he is new to Parliament, that he may be […]
Gordon Campbell on Peter Jackson’s review of the Film Commission
The selection of Peter Jackson to lead the ministerial review of the New Zealand Film Commission guarantees the review a prominence that no-one else in […]
John Key’s Zen press conference, and Iran’s stolen election
Faced with the dying embers of the Richard Worth scandal at his press conference yesterday (audio & report, video), John Key reached for gasoline, not […]
On censorship – bring back Worth!
Click to enlarge One downside of Richard Worth’s exit from his ministerial post at Internal Affairs will be to further postpone any fix of the […]
Rodney Hide’s latest plan for gutting local democracy
Rodney Hide’s agenda for local government involves – as Scoop reported six months ago – the importation of an American model that has resulted in […]
The Tiananmen Massacre, and Richard Worth
Today is the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square. In the early morning hours of June 4th 1989, thousands of unarmed students and […]
Gordon Campbell On The Greens Leadership Change
Talk about the bleedingly obvious. In the aftermath of the last election, the Green Party moved a few floors upwards into more spacious digs in […]
The Budget’s tightening noose
Judging by the Budget, the good news is that Finance Minister Bill English is not the beady eyed ‘lets take this theory and see if […]
Budget to push the “P” button?
The tone of the Budget is almost as important as its content, and while everyone – for good reason – is expecting a grim Budget […]
On the power company rip-offs
Spot the difference. A Rotorua couple get $10 million overpaid by Westpac into their bank account and hive off with it, with Interpol and the […]
The need to control loan sharks
As jobs vanish and incomes shrink during the recession, loan sharks can be expected to prey more avidly on poor and vulnerable communities. After all, […]
Campbell on the Christine Rankin appointment
For all his considerable media skills, Prime Minister John Key has a tendency to wing it on the details in ways that must be terrifying […]
The Melissa Lee Factor
Click to enlarge Melissa Lee’s emergence as the poster child of the Key government is so apt, it makes the process of politics seem karmically […]
On Auckland's Recession
Is the recession something that is mainly happening to Aucklanders? Last Thursday’s Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) contained evidence to support that notion. Nationally, the […]
On Auckland’s Recession
Is the recession something that is mainly happening to Aucklanders? Last Thursday’s Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) contained evidence to support that notion. Nationally, the […]
McCully’s oversell of changes to our foreign aid programme
The belated release yesterday of the April 23 Cabinet papers on the changes to New Zealand’s aid programme suggest that Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully […]
The Labour re-shuffle (And Mt Albert)
The Labour re-shuffle of its front bench and shadow portfolio areas is an understandable move. Six months into a new leadership, senior figures such as […]
The risks of cutting wages during this recession
Obviously, the jobs situation in New Zealand is deteriorating. On current trends, unemployment is now expected to reach 8 per cent before this recession is […]
Russel Norman, and our SAS in Afghanistan
So David Shearer is to be the Labour candidate in Mt Albert. The claims by Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman on Morning Report that this leaves […]
Gordon Campbell on the swine flu epidemic
Interesting that John Key began his press conference on Monday by covering off the politics of the swine flu epidemic first. No false modesty from […]
The Greens’ deal with National
Click to enlarge The decision by Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman to stand in the Mt Albert by-election on June 13 is the latest example of […]
The Greens' deal with National
Click to enlarge The decision by Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman to stand in the Mt Albert by-election on June 13 is the latest example of […]