liberation

NZ Politics Daily - 29 November 2013: Must-reads from the last week

It’s unprecedented. All the parties in Parliament – from Act to Mana - have ganged up on National to block it overruling the Commerce Commission’s decision to lower broadband pricing. But it still leaves the problem unfixed, which is why Paul Brislen’s column today, What to do about Chorus is a must-read for anyone interested in the issue. He outlines six options: Do nothing, Give Chorus more money directly, Go back out to market, Provide bank debt assurance, Nationalise Chorus, or Cancel the UFB. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 28 November 2013: Challenges for the Greens and Labour

Labour and the Greens probably have a 50/50 chance of forming the next government as recent opinion polls have them neck-and-neck with National in the race for the popular support. But the two parties face all sorts of problems and challenges in the lead up to election day. The main challenge for Labour and the Greens is how to both ‘compete and co-operate’ and there will be some delicate manoevering required in how the two parties present themselves to the electorate. This is covered well today by Vernon Small’s must-read column, Art of doing two things at once. The column also looks at the challenging ‘fault line’ that is submerged within the Labour caucus, and has led to ambiguous and problematic policy stances on issues such as deep sea oil drilling, the SkyCity convention centre deal, and the Trans Pacific Partnership. [Read more below]

 

Top tweets about Geoff Robinson retiring from RNZ

This is a selection of some of the more interesting tweets in reaction to the Geoff Robinson’s announcement that he will be retiring from Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report next year. As usual, it’s in reverse chronically order – the most recent tweets are first. More will be added. [Read more below]

 

Morning Report ‏@NzMorningReport

Geoff Robinson announces his retirement live on air: http://bit.ly/1a5JVKH 

 

NZ Politics Daily - 27 November 2013: Winning at the 2014 General Election

There’s about one year to go until the general election, and there are some very important debates and decisions in play at the moment relating to the following questions: How can National help get its preferred coalition partner into Parliament (without causing too much embarrassment)? Can National and the Conservatives work together, and what would a Conservative government look like? Is National worthy of another term in government? How will the proposed new electoral boundaries impact on incumbent MPs? Who will replace the Maori Party leaders as candidates in the Maori seats? Will Russel Norman still be co-leader of the Greens? And what’s happening right now with the Christchurch East by-election? [Read more below]

 

Top tweets about the Greens leadership challenge to Russel Norman

This is a selection of some of the more interesting tweets in reaction to the leadership challenge to Green Party co-leader Russel Norman by David Hay. As usual, it’s in reverse chronically order – the most recent tweets are first. More will be added. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 26 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are deep sea oil drilling, the Maori electorates, asset sales, spying, and ACC. [Read more below]

Maori Party and Te Tai Hauauru – a sign of looming defeat

The Maori Party has announced the six nominees vying to replace Tariana Turia as the candidate for Te Tai Hauauru. The absence of Ken Mair from the list of nominees to replace Tariana Turia is significant, as it indicates that those at the top of the Maori Party are no longer confident that the Te Tai Hauauru electorate can be retained in 2014. Ken Mair has been deemed to be the front-runner to replace Turia – and is especially close to the incumbent MP and party leader. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 25 November 2013

The main topics in NZ politics today are electoral seats for the 2014 election, the Conservative Party, deep sea oil drilling, asset sales, Pike River compensation, water quality, housing and health. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 22 November 2013: Blog wars over race, rape & freedom of expression

A vicious blog war is raging over the successful campaign against Radiolive broadcasters Willie Jackson and John Tamihere. After blogger Giovanni Tiso, succeeded in getting Jackson and Tamihere taken off the air via a campaign focused on the radio station’s advertisers, bloggers have been vigorously debating whether this amounts to some kind of economic censorship that threatens free expression and media freedom. The debate has also encompassed highly-contested arguments about racism, feminism and identity politics in general. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 21 November 2013: Challenges for the National Government

The National Government continues to have plenty of challenges and controversies to deal with. Below are some of the recent items that discuss National’s opportunities, successes, failures, and on-going difficulties. [Read more below]

 

Recent images of John Key and National

Here's a compilation of recent cartoons and images relating to John Key and his National Government. [Read more below]

 

 

 

New images of state asset sales

Here's a compilation of recent cartoons and images relating to the National Government's partial privatisation programme. [Read more below]

 

Emmerson - NZ Herald 19 November 2013

 

 

NZ Politics Daily - 20 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are asset sales, Pike River, housing, the environment, and John Key in Asia. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 19 November 2013

The main topics in NZ politics today are asset sales, John Key in Thailand, housing, health, and Labour's new press chief. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 18 November 2013: 20 Questions

1) How bad is the culture of the New Zealand Police? 

 

The latest police scandal involving sexual abuse, bribery and corruption will hardly increase the public’s trust in the force – see Joelle Dally’s Cop admits sex corruption charge. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 15 November 2013: What to read – 30 recommendations

What to read – 30 recommendations 

 

1) Was the campaign against RadioLive’s Willie Jackson and John Tamihere a victory in the fight against sexual abuse, or a worrying suppression of free speech? Chris Trotter thinks it's the latter – see: A Disturbing Precedent. PR professional Mark Blackham raises similar concerns in Professional outrage, as does Karl du Fresne in The tyranny of the mob – again and Miley Cyrus and the Roast Busters. And for a satirical take on this, see Ben Uffindell’s Nation really angry, no fun to hang around with at the moment. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 14 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are the TPP leak, asset sales, the Waitangi Tribunal ruling, the Philippines typhoon, Colin Craig's Conservative Party, and 'Roast Busters'. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 13 November 2013: National’s future coalition with Colin Craig’s Conservatives

National’s future appears to be with Colin Craig’s Conservative Party. John Key’s cultivation of this ally has now reached the point where it is quite clear that the PM is essentially giving up on the hope of other potential coalition partners being enough to get him a third term. From this point onwards, we can probably talk about a National-Conservative coalition being the main rightwing option at the 2014 election. So Colin Craig’s ability to win seats next year will be the vital determinant for National achieving a third term in government. This now makes Craig an important player – a point strongly argued in a must-read opinion piece by Patrick Gower – see: Beware Colin Craig – Conservatives on rise. Gower puts forward an array of evidence and logic for why the Conservatives are the next big thing in politics. [Read more below]

 

Images of Colin Craig and the Conservative Party

This is an aggregation of various cartoons and photos relating to Colin Craig and the New Zealand Conservative Party. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 12 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are the 'roast busters', MP housing perks, latest polls, Sri Lanka, and the Labour Party. [Read more below]

Top tweets about Colin Craig’s Conservative Party

This is a selection of some of the more interesting recent tweets in reaction to Colin Craig’s Conservative Party becoming more relevant. As usual, it’s in reverse chronically order – the most recent tweets are first. More will be added [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 11 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are the 'Roast busters', National Party, United Future, Labour Party, the economy, and MP housing. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 8 November 2013: Police, rape, censorship, and sexual politics

The politics of policing, rape, sexual politics, social media and censorship are all potentially explosive and they’ve all gone off at the same time with the so-called Roast Busters social media group. The public’s revulsion and outrage about the scandal is immense. On Twitter you can see some of the strongest and most interesting reaction and debate – see my blogpost Top tweets on the Police and ‘roast busters’. The controversy has also attracted global media attention with reports such as the Guardian’s Roast Busters: we can't let such Facebook groups thrive – written by Nicole Skews (AKA, New Zealand blogger and activist ‘Coley Tangerina’) – the BBC’s New Zealand police probe ordered over 'teen rape club', CNN’s New Zealand 'Roast Busters' alleged teen rape victim: I filed a complaint, the Daily Mail’s The 'Roast Buster Facebook rape gang' who boasted online about vile actions, and the International Business Times’ Did Police Ignore Rape Complaint of 13-Year-Old Kiwi Girl in 2011 Because One of Roast Busters Members Is Son of a Cop? [Read more below]

Images from the police and ‘roast busters’ scandal (updated)

This post provides an aggregation of various images relating to the police and 'roast busters' scandal. More images will be added. [Read more below]

Emmerson - NZ Herald 8 November 2013

 

NZ Politics Daily - 7 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are the 'Roast Busters', the Labour Party, National Party retirements, the GCSB reforms, SkyCity, UFB/Chorus, and inequality and poverty. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 6 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are drink driving rules, the 'roast busters', Chorus, SkyCity, GCSB, and Maori politics. [Read more below]

Top tweets on the Police and ‘roast busters’ (updated)

This is a selection of some of the more interesting recent tweets in reaction to the Police action and inaction over the ‘roast busters’. As usual, it’s in reverse chronically order – the most recent tweets are first. More will be added [Read more below]

 

Top tweets on RadioLive’s ‘roast busters’ interview (updated AGAIN)

This is a selection of some of the more interesting tweets in reaction to the controversial RadioLive interview of a ‘Roast Busters’ victim by John Tamihere and Willie Jackson. As usual, it’s in reverse chronically order – the most recent tweets are first. [Read more below]

 

NZ Politics Daily - 5 November 2013: Labour avoids a lurch to the left

Labour’s party conference has been portrayed by much of the media and the party’s opponents as proof of a lurch to the left under new leader David Cunliffe. But a more sober reading of what occurred in the weekend shows that the main features of the conference were compromise, moderation, and even a suppression of radicalism. Very few genuinely contentious policies were adopted and rather than driving the party leftwards, the Labour left was largely defeated on the biggest issues. Instead of a ‘lurch to the left’ there was more of a ‘lurch towards liberalism’ – epitomised by the adoption of gender quotas. [Read more below]

NZ Politics Daily - 4 November 2013

The main issues in NZ politics today are about the Labour Party's conference, and various related items. [Read more below]

Top tweets about the 2013 Labour Party conference

Here's a selection of some of the more important and interesting tweets about the New Zealand Labour Party’s 2013 annual conference being held in Christchurch this weekend. It's in reverse-chronological order - the most recent tweets on top. It'd be constantly updated over the weekend. Please let me know of any good tweets I've missed. [Read more below]