Gordon Campbell on Dotcom, and recent events at Scoop
The apparent resignation of Alastair Thompson from Scoop – there seems to be some dissent as to whether he has resigned or gone on sabbatical […]
Employers
On why everyone has a stake in surveillance reduction
In a week dominated by surveillance and privacy issues, the Economist has done its level best to rationalize why Barack Obama has chosen to expand […]
On the Solid Energy debacle
So according to its former chairman John Palmer, Solid Energy could have done nothing about the sudden and dramatic fall in the price of coal. […]
On the Cabinet reshuffle
There are not many problems in life where “Bring back Nick Smith!” seems like an ideal solution. Nor will the public be inclined to think […]
On the subsidies for The Hobbit
It does have a familiar Winston Peters ring to it. Peters’ proposal earlier this week that Warners should repay its Hobbit subsidies taps into (a) […]
On the relevance of the latest Hobbit revelations
This morning’s release by RNZ of its OIA requests on The Hobbit is not ancient history. It offers a rare glimpse into the fashion in […]
On the dubious economic case for the Auckland convention centre
For now, Labour and the Greens are not opposing the convention centre in Auckland per se, but are asking for the tendering process to be […]
On short term contracting in the public service, and paid parental leave
It is always dangerous to base a story on personal experience… So this is being offered mainly out of curiosity, to see whether anyone out […]
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 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 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 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 bank profits, and Gerry Brownlee’s asset sales plans for Christchurch
Click for big version. The news that the banks in New Zealand have returned to their pre-global recession levels of profit comes as no real […]
On the cuppa tea tape and billboard circuses
First the secret cuppa tea tape, then the billboard defacement plot. Just when the election campaign looked like the mainstream media might have to focus […]
On National’s asset sales debacle
The concession by Finance Minister Bill English that National may not get the $5-7 billion it expected from its asset sales programme is a hammer […]
On workplace deaths, and Italy’s threat to Europe
It has been a bad week for those who think that business can be safely left to regulate itself. Workplace safety failures have been revealed […]
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 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 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 the lead-up to the Budget
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Throughout his government’s first term, the role of Prime Minister John Key has been to be the bringer of […]
On the oil lobby’s claims about the Petrobras protests
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Nice of petroleum industry lobbyist John Pfahlert to offer to correct “the number of media inaccuracies” that he feels […]
On legal aid, and the definitive account of the Hobbit saga
For a party that made the Nanny State such a big part of its 2008 election campaign, today’s cutbacks to legal aid are merely National’s […]
Gordon Campbell on Earthquake Welfare and Libya
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com The decision to phase out the government’s support package for Christchurch business seems to have been plucked from the […]
On Pike River, shifting RWC games, Libya
Nearly four months after the Pike River disaster, the mine’s unpaid contractors are still waiting for the promised government support package to be unveiled. The […]
On Treasury’s ideological hostility to film tax breaks
Treasury’s religious objection to tax breaks and the left wing’s objection to paying subsidies to US multinationals like Warners have converged in their joint hostility […]
On the Pike River inquiry
Image: TV3 – Flames seen from above the Pike River mine The Royal Commission of inquiry into Pike River disaster has an open slate to […]
On the Welfare Working Group’s latest round of welfare bashing
Well, in its Options report this week, at least the Cabinet-appointed Welfare Working Group was clear about whose interests it is there to serve: ‘The […]
On the travel perks, and Ireland’s demise
On RNZ this morning, Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith took us back down memory lane to a bygone era when MPs lived in log […]
On The Hobbit finale
Great. The Hobbit stays here. Everyone’s happy about that – you, me, John Key, Robyn Malcolm…we’re all so very happy, at least until we look […]