On the Brash coup attempt, and Sean Penn

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com For now, the attempt at a hostile takeover of the Act Party by former National Party leader Don Brash seems to have hit a road block within the Act caucus. Hilary Calvert, John Boscawen and Rodney Hide are apparently against the idea, leaving only Heather ...

Posted in Articles | 14 Comments »

On the oil lobby’s claims about the Petrobras protests

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

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 have crept into coverage of the Petrobras protests. Here’s an example of what Pfahlert offers as evidence of media “errors”. New Zealand only gets a 5 ...

Posted in Articles | 16 Comments »

On the government’s lead in the polls, and Labour’s response

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Now that National have gained – according to the latest TV3 poll anyway – a further huge lead in the polls, it is timely that Net parodists should be considering the unheard talent on the government’s backbenches that could be unleashed during National’s second ...

Posted in Articles | 29 Comments »

On legal aid, and the definitive account of the Hobbit saga

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

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 latest extension of state power. So far, the Key government has reduced the right to a jury trial, extended the powers of search and surveillance by ...

Posted in Articles | 11 Comments »

On the nation’s gift of a plastic waka to Ngati Whatua

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Wayne Youle, 'Often Liked, Occasionally Beaten', 2004. From the 2006 exhibition Plastic Māori – A Tradition Of InnovationThere’s a something wrong with putting the words ‘giant plastic’ and ‘authentic Maori culture’ in the same sentence, but almost everything about the plastic waka deal signed off by government sounds bizarrely wrong. To ...

Posted in Articles | 10 Comments »

Gordon Campbell on the new rules for Christchurch’s Earthquake Recovery

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Illustration by Tim Denee - www.timdenee.com Last year, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee was endowed with god-like powers to over-ride existing law by the legislation passed in response to the September quake. At the time, there was widespread concern about the unilateral powers central government had assumed, and the length ...

Posted in Articles | 10 Comments »