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 […]
State Sector
On the government’s inertia on housing needs
The weekend protests about Housing New Zealand’s Tamaki Transformation programme (which aims to relocate residents of 156 state house to make way for a mix […]
On the predator society
In these last few days before Parliament opens and the cycle of normal political life resumes, significant stories are gaining coverage that they might otherwise […]
On Information Shearing
“If God did not want them to be sheared, He would not have made them sheep” — Calvera, the bandit leader, explains the nature of […]
On Nicky Hager’s new book
Nicky Hager’s book launch press conference. Video credit: Anne Russell In late 2001, I remember interviewing Helen Clark on another subject, but took the opportunity […]
On the EQC’s funding woes, and a peak oil update
So, it seems, the Greens were right all along – a special levy to fund the costs involved with the Christchurch earthquake still makes good […]
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 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 the Welfare Working Group final report
Bureaucrats and academics tend to enjoy playing God with the lives of the vulnerable – but evidently, even the Welfare Working Group members couldn’t agree […]
On the plans for privatization
Hard to see how opening the door to greater demands for higher profits from state energy companies will result in reduced power prices – or […]
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 a White Paper that puts us back into the ANZUS club
The purpose of a Defence White Paper is to inform the public about how the government plans to arm and use the armed forces to […]
On the ideology behind state spending cuts, and the Bethune aftermath
Clearly, the cuts to government spending are being driven by ideology and not by the state of the economy. Yesterday’s figures revealed a government deficit […]
On a solution for the Ministerial spending scandal, and for child poverty
The litmus test in the Ministerial expenses scandal is what would happen to an ordinary employee who repeatedly misused the company or departmental credit card […]
On the plans to sell state assets
At yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference Prime Minister John Key said that work ‘had not yet begun’ on deciding which state assets – if any – […]
On Sir Peter Gluckman, and the government’s science package for business
So far, at least two isotopes of the government’s chief science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman have been isolated, and identified. The commonly observed variant – […]
The Treasury Update, And Calls for Austerity
Any future built on Treasury forecasts is on shaky ground, but lets assume the relative optimism expressed by Treasury in yesterday’s half yearly fiscal update […]
Treasury and the Don Brash revival
People are just so suspicious. When you have Treasury touting the virtues of contracting out public services and Don Brash – clearly, our best and […]
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 […]