Archive for August, 2016
Wednesday, August 31st, 2016
First published on Werewolf
All year, the availability of the new generation of anti-cancer drugs in New Zealand has been driven by political decisions, as much as by medical ones. Because patients with advanced melanomas made a lot of the initial public fuss, Pharmac and its political masters sought to manage ...
Posted in Articles | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, August 30th, 2016
Suddenly, Judith Collins is everyone’s new best friend. It isn’t an election year, but the Corrections/Police Minister is treating 2016 as an opportunity for a political makeover. The former stern-faced law and order toughie (and dodgy Oravida scandal survivor) has been cuddling up to the public all year. Getting ...
Posted in Articles | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 25th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
One of the issues to do with the Fairfax/NZME media merger proposal is the decline in (a) news gathering and in (b) news analysis likely to follow in its wake. That decline is already pretty evident not only in the lack of coverage of the enduring social ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the end game in Spain
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016
First published on Werewolf
The plan to strip out the educational support for older "special needs" children in order to meet the existing shortfall in funding for special needs in early childhood education is so miserly and relentlessly stupid as to defy belief… and that’s even before you get to the ...
Posted in Articles | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 22nd, 2016
First published on Werewolf
According to the spin merchants and others with an interest in whipping up an audience, these have been our most successful Olympics ever. Huzzah! Yet given that the public spent more money (circa $215 million since the London Olympics) to send our biggest team… you could put ...
Posted in Articles | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 19th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
Guess who isn’t taking any visible action to ensure New Zealand isn’t damaged by China dumping its state-subsidized steel glut cheaply here? Here’s what the European Union has put in place:
The EU on August 4 slapped five-year tariffs on cold rolled steel products [from China]ranging from 19.7 ...
Posted in Articles | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
Having belatedly advised the people of Havelock North about the pollution of their water supply, the local authorities seem to be prematurely claiming to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Reportedly, health authorities are reasonably sure “as far as we know” that campylobacter were responsible for ...
Posted in Articles | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
Ironically, the media coverage of the Olympics has been a sterling example of the rabid nationalism that the Olympics were supposed to transcend. So far, its been all about us and our medals and/or our ninth or 27th or 39th place effort. Still, even nationalism can ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on politicising the war on drugs in sport
Friday, August 12th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
If the Reserve Bank has seemed this week like a ghost of the 1990s trying to re-discover its interest rate mojo, the Electricity Authority seems to be hellbent on a 1980s revival. You know, the days when the New Wave Monetary Romantics like Roger Douglas and Richard ...
Posted in Articles | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 11th, 2016
First published on Werewolf
If anyone is keen on us having a 90s revival – ASAP – it would have to be Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler. Back in the 1990s, central bankers were like kings. They were Emperors of influence. When the likes of Don Brash clicked their fingers and ...
Posted in Articles | 6 Comments »