Archive for September, 2015
Wednesday, September 30th, 2015
Thank goodness Dame Tariana Turia has been able to inject a bit of common sense into the Chris Brown visa issue – her argument being that forgiveness has a place in this decision, and there is an opportunity here that should be taken. Namely, that that Brown can and would ...
Posted in Articles | 5 Comments »
Monday, September 28th, 2015
For five years, the public has been denied any meaningful information about the content and progress of the TPP – on the bogus excuse that for the government to do so would jeopardise its ability to conduct the negotiations. Yet in other countries, far more information is publicly available than ...
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Thursday, September 24th, 2015
Click for big version.
So thanks to the Greens, the Red Peak design has now been added to the options for the flag referendum in November. Wow. In one fell swoop the Greens’ Gareth Hughes has (a) rescued Prime Minister John Key from his personal flag fiasco (b) got the government ...
Posted in Articles | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015
Local Government Minister Paula Bennett’s statement of support for cutting red tape in the building industry was probably self-certified as being politically OK, but it has blown up in her face. Self-regulation can be like that: its OK until it isn’t. In Bennett’s case, the incident has been a rare ...
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Friday, September 18th, 2015
So Carly Fiorina – hitherto best known as the CEO who drove Hewlett-Packard to the brink of ruin - was the big winner in the second Republican candidates debate yesterday. One of her big debate moments – played unedited and without comment on RNZ this morning – came when she ...
Posted in Articles | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2015
Well clearly, the loss of Tony Abbott – the country’s official spokesman on Women’s Affairs - has left the women of Australia feeling distraught and directionless. A moment’s silence.
On other, less poignant stuff… supposedly, the elevation of Malcolm Turnbull to Aussie PM will tell us a bit about the export ...
Posted in Articles | 2 Comments »
Monday, September 14th, 2015
Jeremy Corbyn elevated to the leadership of Britain’s Labour Party! Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders on the rise in the US… On both sides of the Atlantic, these are dark days for the political Establishment. Career-wise, it must be hard to have spent years buttering up the mandarins of New ...
Posted in Articles | 8 Comments »
Thursday, September 10th, 2015
Now that we know how many Syrian refugees New Zealand will accept, the focus can shift onto how they’ll be selected, and the criteria in play. Some 600 extra Syrian refugees will be welcomed here over the next three years, and 150 more will enter as part of our annual ...
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2015
The full scale of the New Zealand government response to the Syrian refugee crisis – reportedly, the world’s biggest humanitarian challenge since the post-war formation of the UN – has now been revealed.
There is not a lot to be proud of in it. New Zealand will taking in an ...
Posted in Articles | 7 Comments »
Friday, September 4th, 2015
Image: Lyndon Hood - Cartoons: Refugees, Flags and What I Stand For
John Key still doesn’t get it. At least he’s now talking about raising the UN quota, after – only last Monday - flatly denying that there was any need to do so. Yet even this potential turnaround (the step ...
Posted in Articles | 4 Comments »