Labour's Beach House Subsidy

The Labour Government is proud of its new interventionist energy policy - it's greatest boast seems to be the new obligation that low-use energy users receive a 30-cents per day tariff, ACT New Zealand Commerce Spokesman Stephen Franks said today.

"This has been trumpeted as a benefit for frugal pensioners - but the greatest benefit seems likely to be for people with second houses, who only turn the water on and use the heaters in occasional bursts.

"Nothing is for free, and these costs will be met by ordinary high-use families who must now pay extra for their daily laundry, showers and to keep warm.

"I will be one of those enjoying the lower costs, but I regret that it is at the expense of ordinary New Zealanders," Mr Franks said.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>