2023-05-25 20:43
While people continue to struggle with the rising cost of living, the Labour Government has launched a campaign supposedly designed to educate folk on how they can reduce the size of their p… Read More
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New Zealand politics and culture from a left wing perspective, plus some international coverage.
2023-05-24 03:45
Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls says that 'the threats and intimidation against women expressing their opinions on sex and sexual orie… Read More
2023-05-20 23:27
The campaign for a wealth tax suggests that our only pathway to political salvation lies in voting Labour or the Green's again. According to Green Party member Elliot Crossan Labour needs to… Read More
2023-05-12 20:39
While a group of wealthy New Zealanders might want to pay more tax, it is unlikely that they will ever have to under our present economic arrangements.WHILE IT MADE the headlines for a news… Read More
2023-05-10 05:44
2023 should of been The Year of the Greens, but it's not. With its MP's fighting among themselves and having allowed identity politics to take precedence, the Green Party runs the risk of el… Read More
2023-05-06 21:57
The resignation of Elizabeth Kerekere as a Green M.P. is a symptom of a Green Party that is marooned within the middle-class enclave it has built for itself. Fighting among themselves, its M… Read More
2023-05-06 21:44
At a time of increasing economic hardship for many British people, Charles coronation shindig will cost them an estimated 100 million pounds. He could have paid for himself. Economist Michae… Read More
2023-05-03 20:49
New Zealander Martin Trowland has been jailed for three years by a British court for protesting. He was sentenced under new laws that legal experts say ''clearly violate international human… Read More
2023-04-30 16:54
Today is International Workers' Day but the political establishment would prefer it just went away.IN LESS THAN six months we will be invited to vote for which major political party we wish… Read More
2023-04-27 19:22
Even though a new IRD report has highlighted the unfairness of our taxation system it is unlikely we'll see any changes anytime soon. The rich have nothing to worry about.NEWSTALK ZB's… Read More
2023-04-20 22:32
Despite the Labour Government declaring a 'climate change emergency' in 2019, Environment Minister David Parker, against advice, has given Auckland's Glenbrook Steel Mill permission to carry… Read More
2023-04-18 21:12
As the economic times get ever tougher, both the Reserve bank and the Labour Government are gambling that further economic hardship will not be met with political resistance.TIM HAZLEDINE is… Read More
2023-04-15 01:27
On Thursday over 1.5 million people were on the streets of France protesting President Emmanuel Macron's contested pension reforms. Why can't we demonstrate like the French? It's not as if w… Read More
2023-04-12 03:47
The Disinformation Project is a private research company headed by Sanjana Hattotuwa and Kate Hannah. Last week it warned that urgent action needed to be taken to prevent New Zealand's gener… Read More
2023-04-07 00:31
In November last year Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin visited New Zealand and held talks with Prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Now, some four months later, they have both resigned. Both w… Read More
2023-04-04 10:16
Why has the mainstream media shown little concern that a lawful and peaceful meeting was forcibly suppressed? Why are we being told that freedom of speech is dangerous and encourages extremi… Read More
2023-03-31 04:08
Although Marama Davidson might even think all publicity is good publicity, it's unlikely that the Green Party will not be damaged by her recent headline-making comments. SINCE BEING app… Read More
2023-03-28 20:04
FILMED BY Simon Anderson, this is perhaps the best raw footage of what went down in Albert Park on Saturday. It is a short edit from a longer video. According to Green MP Chloe Swarbrick, t… Read More
2023-03-27 18:23
One of the political casualties of the violent protest in Albert Park has been the Green Party. And co-leader Marama Davidson has only made things worse for the Green's. WHILE GREEN MP'… Read More
2023-03-25 20:59
Speak Up for Women says it will be 'gathering witness statements and laying a formal complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority about the lack of police action to prevent violen… Read More
2023-03-25 17:01
Radio New Zealand might think that the protest against Posie Parker was just 'raucous', but it was much worse than that. It left Parker fearing for her life. THE CHAOTIC and disgraceful… Read More
2023-03-24 17:43
The New Zealand mainstream media has this week made women's rights campaigner Posie Parker its public enemy number one. I'M WRITING THIS the night before Posie Parker's first speaking e… Read More
2023-03-23 19:45
The Green Party says that this year's general section will be all about climate change. If that's the case, then why isn't the Green Party campaigning for a Green New Deal? THE LATEST r… Read More
2023-03-21 17:32
The mainstream media has labelled women's rights campaigner Posie Parker an 'anti-transgender activist.' Despite the Labour Government scrapping most its proposed 'hate speech' law ref… Read More
2023-03-19 22:22
Green Party co-leader James Shaw could have used his 'State of the Planet' speech to launch a campaign for a Green New Deal. Instead, he delivered up an environmental and economic agenda tha… Read More
2023-03-16 16:38
We live in strange times when you have to fight for the right to describe a woman as pregnant. Some people will try to shut you down - as Today FM talkback hosts Leah Panapa and Miles Davis… Read More
2023-03-14 20:45
While the Green Party might be upset about the Labour Government scrapping its 'clean car' upgrade policy, that has not stopped it supporting and defending much more damaging policies like c… Read More
2023-03-14 01:51
A new book suggests that the problem with the use of consultancies by western governments is not just the amount of money that is spent on them. It might not even be the main issue.IT IS wid… Read More
2023-03-09 20:47
In its uncritical adoption of identity or woke politics the mainstream media has encouraged the growth of a media that isn't woke. But is it progressive? PUBLIC TRUST in the mainstream… Read More
2023-03-07 06:13
IN 1965, an anti-communist purge in Indonesia killed as many as a million people, a level of devastation made possible by American intelligence and logistical support. Yet Americans tend to… Read More
2023-03-04 18:05
Unable to suppress the views of Professor Richard Dawkins, the local media have sought to smear him as a racist. It is also a warning to other academics not to step out of line.ON 3 MARCH I… Read More
2023-03-03 17:43
Why did local media ignore Richard Dawkins during his speaking tour of New Zealand? And why isn't it likely to be an issue that RNZ's Mediawatch will explore?THE EMINENT British evolutionary… Read More
2023-03-01 17:44
In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle Green MP Chloe Swarbrick is calling for 'radical transformation'. But just how radical is Swarbrick?I've spent five years trying to figure out how to ra… Read More
2023-02-26 20:38
In response to the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle, our market-loyal politicians think we can 'adapt' our way out of the climate crisis.This flies in the face of repeated warnings from the sci… Read More
2023-02-22 00:12
Given her unswerving loyalty to the Labour Government isn't it time that Marama Davidson made it official and joined Labour?GREEN CO-LEADER Marama Davidson might as well resign from the Gree… Read More
2023-02-20 16:09
British socialist folk-punk singer Billy Bragg is touring New Zealand this month. He tweeted on Monday night that he had gone out for a curry with the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson. In… Read More
2023-02-20 14:56
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has declared that ordinary Kiwis want the government to focus on “bread and butter” issues. This apparently means that Labour is dropping its so-call… Read More
2023-02-19 18:19
In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle our politicians continue to talk of 'adapting' to climate change. But if the warming of the planet is allowed to continue then we will rapidly reach the… Read More
2023-02-16 03:39
Green co-leader and climate change minister James Shaw has admonished parliament for the lack of action on climate change. But what has James Shaw been doing for the past five years of this… Read More
2023-02-14 02:27
Even the widespread damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle won't be enough to make our present set of parliamentary politicians take climate change seriously- and act with urgency. WILL A c… Read More
2023-02-09 07:17
Chris Hipkins may have reorganised Labour's policy priorities, but it doesn't mean that the party has returned to its political roots like some of its supporters claim. THIS WEEK Prime… Read More
2023-02-08 01:44
Willie Jackson warns that a National-ACT Government would throw Maori 'under the bus'. But hasn't his Labour Government already done that? GOVERNMENT MINISTER'S who live in glassh… Read More
2023-02-02 16:30
While Prime Minister Chris Hipkins might claim he wants to focus on economic issues that are important to people, there's little indication that anything significant will change in the comin… Read More
2023-02-02 04:17
Chris Hipkins has chosen Andrew Kirton to run the Beehive. According to fellow corporate lobbyist Neale Jones, 'Andrew Kirton is great pick for Chief of Staff. Sharp political mind and a gen… Read More
2023-02-01 06:30
If Jacinda Ardern baulked at implementing a plan of real change then why should we expect it from someone regarded as more conservative than Ardern? Despite media talk of 'a tectonic shift i… Read More
2023-01-27 22:27
While Auckland struggled to cope with a torrential downpour and severe flooding, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman tweeted that we need to start taking the climate crisis seriously. But she is a par… Read More
2023-01-25 21:33
Has Labour under Chris Hipkins really rediscovered the working class? Is it efforts to distance itself from Jacinda Ardern's middle class liberalism or woke politics genuine or just one last… Read More
2023-01-21 07:30
'Despite being hailed as the harbinger of a new, progressive Left, Ardern simply turned out to be more of the same.' Tom Chodor says Jacinda Ardern's progressive branding veiled politi… Read More
2023-01-19 23:43
In 2016 another Prime Minister was described as 'dreadful and deformed'...IN FEBRUARY 2016 the right wing commentator Cameron 'Whaleoil' Slater called out RNZ for comments posted on John Cam… Read More
2023-01-19 18:32
Jacinda Ardern has decided she doesn't want to be Prime Minister anymore...IT WAS JUST last month that the Roy Morgan poll had Labour on just 25 percent popularity, well behind National on 3… Read More
2023-01-17 18:37
John Minto rejects the politics and polices of the Labour Party and the Green's but he still wants to see Labour re-elected. He's putting his faith in the Maori Party to turn things around f… Read More
2023-01-13 17:32
Massey University lecturer Suze Wilson thinks the criticisms of Jacinda Ardern are misogynistic. And we all thought the criticisms of her are based on the fact that she's a centrist defender… Read More
2023-01-12 16:45
In 2018 Green MP Chloe Swarbrick said that she thought that politicians like herself were paid too much and 'I feel pretty gross about it.' Indeed, a recent news story highlighted that New Z… Read More
2023-01-05 18:57
The rising cost of living has meant that the political establishment has concluded that it can only protect the interests of the wealthy by triggering a recession. It's also hoped it will di… Read More
2022-12-29 22:02
'...the PMC has always managed to come up with an explanation for our economic problems that ensures blame never falls on capitalism itself. It leads to situation where capitalist poli… Read More
2022-12-20 19:22
The occupation of Parliament grounds exposed a liberal left that is as much a part of the political establishment as the conservative right.IN MOST of the end-of-the year commentaries the oc… Read More
2022-12-15 18:38
The political establishment and the mainstream media have been quick to condemn the spraying in red paint of several offices of Labour cabinet ministers as 'vandalism'. But it is a rational… Read More
2022-12-13 06:51
Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson have congratulated themselves on doing 'phenomenally well' this year. But that's not what a lot of other people think, including many me… Read More
2022-12-11 17:49
The real winner in the Hamilton West by-election was the Did Not Vote Party...AS WAS generally predicted the National Party came out on top in the Hamilton West by-election. Its candidate Ta… Read More
2022-12-11 06:35
Martyn Bradbury, the editor of The Daily Blog, is accused of political hypocrisy...THE WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE (WSWS) has called Martyn Bradbury out for his selective support for the princip… Read More
2022-12-08 18:45
As we approach 2023, Labour is looking at its last year in office...THE POLITICIANS head off on their summer holidays next week and for many Labour MP's they'll be wondering if they will sti… Read More
2022-12-05 20:34
While there has been a sustained campaign to suggest that New Zealand's social ills have been driven by conspiracy theories and opposition to vaccines, Bryce Edwards says that it is New Zeal… Read More
2022-12-04 01:59
Kaipara mayor Craig Jepson has been labelled a 'racist' by his political opponents. But is he simply expressing a contrary view not in accordance with the views held by the liberal elite who… Read More
2022-11-29 06:20
The amendment to the Three Waters legislation proposed by Green MP Eugenie Sage and backed by the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta, has been met by strong warnings from const… Read More
2022-11-24 17:26
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr has launched a class war. But a militant defence is less than likely...THE MAINSTREAM media this week has plunged into its Bumper Book of Cliches and cast th… Read More
2022-11-24 02:24
We might well be headed into a deepening economic crisis but the economic pain will not be shared equally. The only 'solution' that is being offered by the politicians and the Reserve Bank i… Read More
2022-11-21 04:26
According to Stuff journalist Henry Cooke next year's general election will be a battle between the left and the right. But the reality is that there won't be any contest of ideas and the ol… Read More
2022-11-17 02:20
According to Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson poverty is the result of 'colonisation' and 'racism'. It's a view that RNZ National is happy to promote...but what if it's wrong?IT'S AROU… Read More
2022-11-15 19:43
New Zealand, represented by Green co-leader James Shaw, has received, for the second year in a row, a Fossil of the Day award at COP27. The Climate Action Network (CAN) explains why.ALWAYS A… Read More
2022-11-13 07:34
Last week New Zealand's female parliamentary politicians gathered together to celebrate that presently female MPs outnumber their male colleagues. But celebrating the number of female MPs wi… Read More
2022-11-11 01:45
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that it was young voters who helped the Democratic Party to fend off the so-called Republican 'red wave'. PUTTING ASIDE President Joe Biden's bluster about… Read More
2022-11-09 08:30
The cost of living crisis has highlighted that the free market model is irretrievably broken - but our present parliamentary parties continue to defend it.PRIME MINISTER Jacinda Ardern displ… Read More
2022-11-07 00:07
According to the new Newshub-Reid Research Poll, National now has nearly a third more support than Labour and is seemingly heading toward a significant election vistory. Labour is paying the… Read More
2022-11-03 18:24
Attacking the Republican Party as 'semi-fascist' may not be enough to save Joe Biden and the Democratic Party from defeat in the next week's midterm elections. The result will have a profoun… Read More
2022-11-03 17:51
Capitalism has brought us to the brink of extinction by environmental collapse or nuclear armageddon. That's literally the worst failure that any system could possibly achieve, writes Caitli… Read More
2022-10-31 18:32
In the past two years corporate tax revenues have soared over 60 percent. Rising company profits have prompted calls for a windfall tax.THE WORSENING economic conditions means that the… Read More
2022-10-26 22:06
Labour is heading for an election defeat in 2023 and it will only have itself to blame.'Regardless, if Ardern continues with the incrementalist approach, her administration, which leverages… Read More
2022-10-25 03:07
With Labour polling numbers continuing to head south, media speculation is growing that Jacinda Ardern will quit as leader of the Labour Party before the next general election. Bryce Edwards… Read More
2022-10-21 06:27
The failure of former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss to implement her economic agenda is said to be a 'cautionary tale' for politicians in New Zealand. But we shouldn't be conned into believing… Read More
2022-10-16 17:37
The Sheilah Winn Shakespeare festival is a popular event, with more than 120,000 high school students from more than half the country’s secondary schools having participated in the fes… Read More
2022-10-13 08:41
OCTOBER 11 was World Homeless Day. It was a day that the Labour Government would have been happy to see go largely unobserved.As of June this year there were 26,664 people on the New Zealan… Read More
2022-10-13 08:02
A change in the seating arrangements in Parliament doesn't represent real change. THE LOCAL body election results sparked a discussion about political change. Although some of us have d… Read More
2022-10-09 04:01
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed concern about the low turnout in the local body elections and has suggested that a 'review' of the election process is in order. But the problem i… Read More
2022-10-06 03:17
The profit motive is not a proper basis to run a society, much less save the planet, says author Adrienne Buller.IN 2019 the economists at the International Monetary Fund crunched the number… Read More
2022-10-01 03:58
The attack of Kelvin Davis on ACT MP Karen Chhour will have been looked on unfavourably by working class Maori who have yet to see any economic benefit from a Labour Government with a… Read More
2022-10-01 03:47
President of Te Pati Maori, John Tamihere, is under scrutiny for large financial donations made to his 2019 Auckland Mayoral campaign. He claims that the charges are 'inherently racist'. But… Read More
2022-09-28 00:59
Some New Zealanders are attracted to the politics of Giorgia Meloni, the new far right Prime Minister of Italy.LIKE NEW ZEALAND, Italy has seen declining participation in its elections… Read More
2022-09-25 03:14
The Mood of the Boardroom survey conducted by the NZ Herald saw Climate Change Minister James Shaw came out top with the business sector. His market friendly views have made him a firm favou… Read More
2022-09-22 09:22
In 2017 Jacinda Ardern said that any Government she led would tackle poverty as a priority. But in 2022, and after five years of a Labour Government, the problem of wealth and income inequal… Read More
2022-09-21 09:25
According to an article in the Listener and republished by the NZ Herald, the New Zealand middle class is 'indifferent' to poverty because they view it as a 'brown problem'. Apparently 'pove… Read More
2022-09-19 05:07
Despite the fact that the Maori caucus in Labour is the biggest ever, the Labour Government has failed to deliver for working class Maori. While they are concerned about issues such as housi… Read More
2022-09-17 04:45
While Joe Biden says he will run for President again, doubts persist that he's the right man for the job. Maybe it's time for a woman...ALTHOUGH JOE BIDEN says that he 'expects' to run again… Read More
2022-09-15 01:42
After criticising her performance as Assistant Housing Minister, Marama Davidson blocks me on Twitter...GREEN PARTY co-leader Marama Davidson has blocked me on Twitter. It comes at a time wh… Read More
2022-09-12 10:28
The Professional Managerial Class (PMC) has come to dominate left wing politics in New Zealand. It has abandoned the working class and become more elitist and conservative as a result. 'They… Read More
2022-09-11 10:59
James Shaw, being the only candidate, has been re-elected Green co-leader. But his authority has been severely undermined and he is at the helm of a Green Party that is politically divided… Read More
2022-09-09 03:52
The mainstream media's coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II has been embarrassingly servile. AS I WRITE THIS, the corporate media is telling me that I'm either in shock or grievi… Read More
2022-09-08 20:42
Despite it being part of her ministerial brief, Marama Davidson remains silent about the social disaster that is Rotorua's transitional housing. She's paid a lot of money for not doing her j… Read More
2022-09-07 09:59
As the controversy around Rotorua's 'emergency housing' has continued to swirl, the Associate Minister of Housing with special responsibility for homelessness, Marama Davidson, still has not… Read More
2022-09-01 21:48
An estimated third of Pakistan is under water. The country has seen the largest amount of rainfall for over three decades. The impact of climate change continues to grip harder yet our polit… Read More
2022-08-30 04:45
Green co-leader Marama Davidson displays a blatant disregard for the plight of the poor.GREEN CO-LEADER Marama Davidson has been doing some free promotional work for Whittakers Chocolate. Sh… Read More
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