frogblog

I’m not sure how I missed it, but F&B have launched a new blog. Yesterday’s post asked a very pertinent question:
As rule-maker & whistle-blower, one of the first questions facing the new Minister of Fisheries – Phil Heatley - is how many sea-lions can be killed this season?
Since 2003, a more information rich but highly […]

It wasn’t that long ago in historical terms that Nicolaus Copernicus bucked the established western wisdom and asserted that the earth may in fact orbit the sun. He rightfully feared the retribution of the authorities and was careful to pay them tribute when he finally did publish shortly before his death. Although the evidence has […]

The most interesting part of the Maori Party’s agreement with National (pdf) is the clause on collective responsibility:
The Maori Party agree to be bound by collective responsibility in relation to their Ministerial portfolios and their Associate Minister responsibilities. When the Maori Party Ministers speak about issues within their portfolios and Associate Minister responsibilities, they will […]

I´ll start with Wikipedia´s straightforward definition of a stroke:
A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of blood supply) caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the […]

It’s interesting news that Heather Roy is being discussed as the likely Minister of Consumer Affairs.  You would expect Act, with its focus on properly functioning free markets and consumer rights, to have similar kinds of policies to the Greens in the area of consumer affairs – that is a strong focus on consumers right […]

From what I could tell from the radio yesterday evening and this morning the Maori Party are engaged in series of 40 ’speed hui’, each about one hour long, where Maori electorate voters are get to hear the broad parameters of the deal that the Maori Party has struck with National, but not the specifics.  […]

The DomPost Business section leads with a discussion of what national is likely to do with the imminent shakeup of our energy sector. It amounts to privatisation by other means, and sets it for a complete government sell-off to foreign investors in 2011. (No-one else could afford the $12 billion asset!) Re-combining Mighty River Power, […]

A thought-provoking opinion piece from New Scientist:
Before long we will know whether Barack Obama meant it - when he said that, whatever the financial traumas, a national surge to equip America with home-grown, green sources of energy was his number one economic priority.
Even as the votes were being cast, some said going […]

The simmering dispute between McDonald’s and its New Zealand workers over wages, and just as importantly, guaranteed hours of work is one we should be watching as it is an issue that extends beyond workers’ rights and industrial relations.
MacDonald’s heavily marketed and low priced food that our children eat is the direct result of the […]

The Cycle Advocacy Network has released the results of its poll on which candidates are cycle friendly.  And again the results are fairly compelling:

The results relied, at least in part, on parties and candidates willingness to engage and respond, so I am sure some parties on that list fared worse than they felt they deserved. […]