Gordon Campbell: On Kiwirail’s Current Problems With Its Chinese-Built Wagons
For many people, Kiwirail’s decision to buy 500 flat top wagons from manufacturers in China instead of building them at Hillside workshops in Dunedin was a classic case of New Zealand chasing short term cost savings from overseas providers at the expense of many local jobs, the development of manufacturing expertise in this country and the related flow-on economic benefits to the wider community.
In recent weeks, the issue of the $49 million rail wagon contract has risen again – this time over news that the Chinese-built wagons are already requiring repairs at a rate significantly higher than normal. More>>
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Christchurch: Canterbury Earthquake Memorial 22/2/12
Coverage and reaction as New Zealand remembers the February 2011 earthquakes. More>>
Roy Morgan Poll: Party Support Stable; Australians Like Cafes
Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party 45.5% . Support for Key’s Coalition partners has changed little with the Maori Party 1.5%, ACT NZ 1%, and United Future 0.5% ... (up 0.5%). More>>
Election Rules: The Radio Network To Police Over United Future Programme
On 21 February 2012, the Electoral Commission referred The Radio Network to the Police for broadcasting election programmes for United Future on 25 October 2011... More>>
Public Address Link: Keith Ng Looks Into McCully's Emails
So, I’m not sure about this story. If this groap was really on an “international hunt for military secrets”, why on earth would they tell everyone about it? More to the point, why would they send out prank emails from McCully’s account in the first place? More>>
Gordon Campbell: On The Crafar Ruling And The China/NZ FTA
At yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference, Prime Minister John Key indicated that the government is waiting for a Crown law office opinion on Justice Forrest Miller’s High Court ruling on the approval process for the Crafar Farms deal with the Chinese, before deciding on its next step. More>>
Justice System: Government's Lawyer Made High Court Judge
Solicitor-General David Brian Collins QC has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today. More>>
Cuts: Government Plans To Trim The MFAT?
As many as one in four employees in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could be sacked as a result of cost-cutting by the Government, Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Phil Goff says. More>>
Health Roundup: Infectious Disease Study 'Highlights Need To Invest In Children'
Child Poverty Action Group is calling on the government to make greater efforts to invest in children, particularly disadvantaged children, following the publication of a research paper showing New Zealand has unusually high rates of infectious diseases. More>>
Gordon Campbell: The Government's Inertia On Housing
The weekend protests about Housing New Zealand’s Tamaki Transformation programme (which aims to relocate residents of 156 state house to make way for a mix of state owned and privately owned housing) are merely the tip of the iceberg of Auckland’s shortage of affordable housing – which is set to get worse, not better. More>>
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Local Board Members: Call For POAL To Back Off, Negotiate And Listen
Thirty-four Auckland Local Board members from twelve different Boards* are jointly calling for urgent action to resolve the Ports of Auckland dispute ahead of a planned two week strike starting tomorrow. More>>
Sanford Response: US Retailers Investigate NZ Charter Fishing
While we take these latest allegations seriously we believe the particular allegations made in the Bloomberg article regarding Sanford charter vessels have no factual basis but we are conducting a further investigation. More>>
Auckland.Scoop: Private Operator Of Mt Eden Fined $150,000 For Prison Escape
Improvements to the security of Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF) have been made following a joint review into an escape from the prison last year. More>>
Scoop Business: Labour Dept Closes Solid Energy Mine On Safety Concerns
Solid Energy, the state-owned coal miner, has stopped work at its Spring Creek underground mine after being issued with a prohibition notice by the Department of Labour. More>>
Taranaki Oil: GNS Sees No Fracking Earthquake Problem
The Taranaki Regional Council has received a geological assessment of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Taranaki which concludes that the practice has had no detectable effect on earthquake or volcanic activity in the region, and is unlikely ever to do so. More>>
Space: Victoria Researchers Help Develop Map Of Milky Way
Dr Johnston-Hollitt and student Luke Pratley, who is about to begin an Honours degree in Physics, are part of an international team that has produced the highest precision map ever of the Milky Way galaxy’s magnetic field. More>>
Scoop Business: Govt Operating Deficit In Line With Forecasts
The New Zealand government’s first-half operating deficit was in line with expectations, though the Treasury warned the corporate tax take may taper off through the second half of the year. More>>
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The Darwin Bombing: The Hidden Story
Binoy Kampmark: On the one hand, the Australian populace had to be convinced that Emperor Hirohito’s armies had the hunger and the ability to march through the wide toasted country of a continent – after all, a suitable defence had to be planned against any onslaught. On the other hand, those oriental savages had to be deemed suitably incompetent and subhuman to be defeated. Surely, they were incapable of such a feat? More >>
Binoy Kampmark: The Farce Of Protection: Humans, Human Rights, And Syria
Humanitarian intervention is often premised on a fetishizing exercise. Protecting civilians has become the time immemorial justification for interventions that rarely achieve that. More>>
Werewolf Satire: The Other People In Your Neighbourhood
With audio! Under a pile of unused plastic spoons I happened to find an old tin of film. There was no clue as to its contents, and it was just made more mysterious by a note scrawled on the label… More>>
Keith Rankin: Asset Sales And Public Ownership
Based on the valuation ... the present government would gain 7.2 billion dollars, and lose two years' worth of dividends ($1.44 billion, assuming annual dividends are 10% of valuation). All future three-year governments would be about $2.2 billion worse off. More>>
Werewolf: Why State Capitalism Is Beating The Free Market
Gordon Campbell: Late last month, the Economist magazine published a debate on state capitalism, in which it proposed that state-led market economies are fast becoming a global rival to the old models of liberal, free market capitalism. More>>
So far, the fighting in Syria has largely been limited to its smaller cities – Homs in particular... All the same, Homs is a cautionary example of the dangerous fault lines that run through the entire society. More>>
It gets really tiring living in Oakland. Practically every television newscast is straight from the police blotter. Murders. Marches. Mayhem. Mayoral recall. (Oops! That last one’s not from the blotter but from the OPD to-do list.) ... More>>
Werewolf: Human Rights, Pinochet And Asset Freezes
Gordon Campbell interviews Baron Collins of Mapesbury, recently retired judge from the British Supreme Court. Politicians are always tempted to take pot shots at judges, who have relatively few friends among the general public. More>>
Sarawak:First Pictures From Sealed-Off Bakun Dam Zone
Exclusive: First Pictures From Sealed-Off Bakun Dam Zone Reveal Social And Environmental Disaster Bruno Manser Fund investigation in the Bakun dam’s exclusion zone shows increased poverty due to Malaysia’s disaster dam – Displaced indigenous communities ... More>>
Richard S Ehrlich: Alleged Bangkok Iranian Bomb-Makers Arrested
Malaysia arrested on Wednesday an alleged member of an Iranian bomb-making gang who plotted to assassinate Israeli diplomats, one day after he fled Bangkok where their house exploded and another Iranian had destroyed his own legs ... More>>
U.S. Politics: STOCK Act Passes House - 'Political Intelligence' Omission
The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the STOCK Act today, which omits disclosure requirements for "political intelligence" workers that were included in the version of the bill passed by the Senate last week ( S 2038). More>>
Exhibition - West Papuan Women of Resistance: Dear Friends Of Art And West Papua
You are invited to what is perhaps a unique exhibition featuring women of West Papua in their living response to the suppression of human rights and freedom under Indonesian occupation and military brutality over the past fifty years. More>>
U.S. Politics: David Swanson: The Election We Should Be Following
For progressives and populists around the country who take an interest in Congressional races there are always a few good challengers we might hope to send to Washington. Incumbents, we assume, can take care of themselves. But in Northern Ohio, redistricting ... More>>
Greenpeace: Industry Figures Confirm GM Food Is European Commercial Flop
Annual industry figures to be released on Tuesday are expected to confirm the commercial failure of genetically modified (GM) food in Europe, said Greenpeace. Only around 0.06% of the EU’s agricultural land was used in 2011 to grow GM food, the report ... More>>
Asia: IFJ Press Freedom In China Campaign Bulletin
1. China’s New Clampdown: Press Freedom in China 2011 2. Senior Newspaper Staff Sacked for Reporting Inflation Concerns in China 3. Journalist Attacked in Taiwan 4. Dissident Writer Yu Jie Flees to the United States 5. Writer Li Tei Sentenced ... More>>
Women’s Rights: 2,000 African Communities Abandon Female Genital Mutilation
New York, Feb 6 2012 1:10PM A new United Nations report shows that almost 2,000 communities across Africa abandoned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) last year, prompting calls for a renewed global push to end this harmful practice once and for all. More>>
Connie Lawn: Newt Gingrich Wins In South Carolina
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich gives his victory speech in Columbia after winning the South Carolina primary with 40% of the vote. Runner-up Mitt Romney pledges to fight for Republican nomination in 'long race', while third-placed Rick Santorum says of Gingrich: 'He kicked butt. I'm proud of him.' Ron Paul finished fourth ... More >>
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Wellington: Arts Festival Begins Friday With Public Events
Prepare for 24 days of extraordinary arts experiences when the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival opens this Friday, 24 February. More>>
Meathead: NZ Short Wins At Berlin Festival
The 62nd Berlin international Film Festival has awarded a Crystal Bear to New Zealand short film Meathead, for Best Short Film in the Youth Jury Generation 14plus section. Writer/director Sam Holst was in Berlin to receive the award. More>>
Fringe Festival Continues: Divas And The Beast
Troublesome neighbours? Difficult spouses? Offensive bosses? Never fear! The Improv Divas (NZ’s only all-woman improv act) are here with a brand new show that takes on the hassles of modern life and offers purely improvised solutions. More>>
Weta Winner: Kiwibank New Zealander Of The Year 2012 Announced
Reknowned for taking New Zealand film to the world, Sir Richard Taylor of Wellington, has been named the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year 2012 at a glittering Awards gala in Auckland last night attended by 500 guests. More>>
Dr Grordbort:
'The Deadliest Game' Premieres In Auckland
The retro-future world of Dr Grordbort comes alive in Media Design School’s sci-fi short film The Deadliest Game , which premiered in Auckland last night. Based on the richly imagined universe of Weta Workshop Conceptual Designer Greg Broadmore, ... More>>
Charity Travel: Three Kiwis Skateboard Through The Andes And Atacama Desert
Three young Kiwis have become the first people to ever skateboard through the driest desert in the world... More>>
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Catherine Saunders on generous figures, genuine ad... 05 Feb- ScreenTalk, 2012
Te Rerenga Wairua 23 - Short Film, 1984
Valley of the Stereos 23 - Short Film, 1992
Tonight 23 - Music Video, 1999
Advice for Young Mothers To Be 23 - Music Video, 2006
Reb Fountain 22 - Music Video, 12
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Gordon Campbell: On Syria
Werewolf: Undaunted Oakland