Archive for March, 2005

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  The soaring Kiwi - by frog

  
  
  
  Is that the sound of Dr Cullen biting his fingernails, hoping the economy can hold on till September? Kiwis’ pessimism about the economy was revealed in a poll last week. Now, an Economist survey shows the high New Zealand dollar is beginning to bite. Wellington and Auckland are now much more expensive to live in [...] read more
  March 24, 2005 7:58 am - No Comments
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  Working Easter - by frog

  
  
  
  Somebody has to do the work. On Tuesday, Linda Clark was discussing Sue K‘s new Private Member’s Bill that would make it easier for parents with young kids to work shorter or more flexible hours. With Easter looming, Linda pondered Kiwis’ apparent hypocrisy on work-life balance matters: we all appreciate more free time with our [...] read more
  March 24, 2005 7:42 am - No Comments
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  Blowing off the wolf - by frog

  
  
  
  Better late than never. It’s taken a while for any New Zealand politicians to wade into the debate over the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz (profiled here by the New Yorker) as the next World Bank President (Dave Farrar and this World Bank Prez blog provide the background). But, as usual, it’s the Greens who’re taking [...] read more
  March 24, 2005 7:24 am - No Comments
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  Tories back GE moratorium - by frog

  
  
  
  More good news in the battle to stop the commercial release of GE organisms has emerged from Britain: the last of a four-year series of GE experiments has found GM crops can be harmful to wildlife. The Independent reports: The fourth and final mass experiment involving GM crops has found that they caused significant harm [...] read more
  March 23, 2005 10:51 am - 1 Comment
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  How transparent - by frog

  
  
  
  More from the files of political parties who don’t like transparency when it comes to their own affairs… Labour (48,609), the Maori Party (13,500), the Greens (3,027) and United (1,845) have released their membership numbers to the public as part of their submissions to the Electoral Commission for election broadcasting funding. National and NZ First [...] read more
  March 23, 2005 9:57 am - No Comments
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  More than bad apples - by frog

  
  
  
  Saying that problems with police culture are just the result of a few bad apples is a cop-out. That’s according to Tauranga criminal lawyer Simon Bridges, studying at Oxford University, who has a very interesting piece in the Herald this morning about police culture. Like Keith, he believes the Government’s inquiry into police culture, headed [...] read more
  March 23, 2005 9:48 am - 1 Comment
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  Legal child-bashing - by frog

  
  
  
  Smacking kids is assault. It’s good to see a New Plymouth jury acknowledging this fact, in convicting a man who spanked his four-year-old son for pooing his pants. Big News, Dave Farrar, and Sage have interesting background on the case. We can only hope that MPs of all parties will now do the decent thing [...] read more
  March 23, 2005 9:34 am - No Comments
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  Vanunu the Kiwi? - by frog

  
  
  
  Keith Locke’s call for New Zealand to grant Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu citizenship is making waves in Israel. Yesterday morning, Radio Israel called him up for an interview. Stories have now also appeared on BBC, and in Ha’aretz, the Jerusalem Post, and Arutz Sheva. read more
  March 22, 2005 10:49 am - 1 Comment
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  Broadcasting Parliament - by frog

  
  
  
  Broadcasting Parliament is back in the news (see here and here). The Prime Minister admitted at her press conference yesterday that it was an issue that “got away”. It came as “a bit of a surprise” to her that the TV networks wouldn’t be allowed to have their own cameras in the chamber once the [...] read more
  March 22, 2005 9:10 am - No Comments
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  Awful kids - by frog

  
  
  
  “In my observation, the nicest parents can often have the most awful kids … some kids are just plain awful.” That was Prime Minister Helen Clark at yesterday’s Post-Cabinet Press Conference, when asked about Don Brash’s plan to punish parents whose kids do horrid things. But that quote’s misleading. She wasn’t completely trashing Brash’s plans. [...] read more
  March 22, 2005 7:57 am - No Comments
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  Pink crosses - by frog

  
  
  
  Right now, there are 650 pink crosses on the lawn of Parliament. Each one symbolises a woman who has died (or will die) of breast cancer this year. This morning, Sue K launched a Breast Cancer Prevention Strategy in front of the pink crosses. Her basic message: we put almost all our breast cancer money [...] read more
  March 21, 2005 2:56 pm - No Comments
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  A civil union - by frog

  
  
  
  United we stand. The unions and the Greens have been singing from the same song sheet quite a lot recently. First, it was our support for their “5 in 05″ pay rise campaign. Then, last week, they backed Sue K’s Private Member’s Bill making it easier for parents with young children to work flexible or [...] read more
  March 21, 2005 1:57 pm - No Comments
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  An early election? - by frog

  
  
  
  It’s the economy, dumbo. The other thing TV One’s Political Editor Mark Sainsbury made a lot of last night was Kiwis’ souring economic outlook. The number of New Zealanders who think the economy will improve in the next twelve months slumped in the past month, from 42 to 32%. The percentage who think the economy [...] read more
  March 21, 2005 9:26 am - No Comments
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  Nats in trouble - by frog

  
  
  
  Political parties hang on every poll during election year. There was another one last night. To get an accurate picture of what’s happening, though, it’s usually best to do an average of the last handful of polls, to iron out fleeting fluctuations caused by particular events at the time of sampling. So, here’s the average [...] read more
  March 21, 2005 8:02 am - 1 Comment
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  Links - by frog

  
  
  
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  March 21, 2005 1:20 am - No Comments
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  Investing ethically - by frog

  
  
  
  “Our money will end up bankrolling the Lockheed-Martins, Monsantos, McDonalds and Sky Cities of this world, regardless of the misery they might inflict on people and the environment.” Rod said those words about the Cullen super fund in August 2003. They express one of the arguments the Greens had against signing up to the Cullen [...] read more
  March 20, 2005 4:21 pm - No Comments
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  Public bars and Green optimism - by frog

  
  
  
  Further to the Act/Green distinction, former Listener editor Finlay Macdonald opines in this morning’s SST (sorry no live link yet): the right are not deporting themselves as winners, but are typecasting themselves as fringe-dwelling meanies, scandal-mongers and flakes. Contrast Act with its putative polar opposite, the Greens. Probably more ordinary New Zealanders, if you sampled [...] read more
  March 20, 2005 10:31 am - 1 Comment
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  Youngsters - by frog

  
  
  
  Who do young people vote for? The Sunday Star-Times this morning has a feature about the supposed increasing number of university students who identify themselves as economically and socially liberal. They’re Act supporters who don’t like the faction in their party that gives in to social conservatism from time to time (take a bow, Stephen [...] read more
  March 20, 2005 10:25 am - 1 Comment
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  Avoiding the radar - by frog

  
  
  
  “Flying under the radar.” That’s what Aussie Lynton Crosby – the campaign chief for the Conservative Party in Britain and a veteran of John Howard’s campaigns – apparently calls the practice of saying inflammatory and bigoted things (about immigrants, refugees, beneficiaries, Muslims – whoever) on occasions where they won’t get picked up by the national [...] read more
  March 20, 2005 9:58 am - 1 Comment
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  Nationhood - by frog

  
  
  
  The recently resigned David Blunkett has thoughts on nationhood he’d like to share. He writes in the Guardian: We need a glue that holds us together. We need to be able to celebrate our nationality and patriotism … without narrow nationalism and jingoism… debating our identity and sense of belonging is not to be nostalgic, [...] read more
  March 20, 2005 9:43 am - 1 Comment