A chirpy press statement from Steve Marshall and Conor English of the Employers Federation seems to have been released on precisely the wrong day, according to Labour industrial relations spokesperson Pete Hodgson.

"Just as the Employers Federation released a bunch of statistics designed to show that things are not too bad under the Employment Contracts Act , the Deputy Government Statistician released another bunch of statistics showing that things are not too good.

"Real incomes are up, according to the Employers Federation. But the Deputy Government statistician has other news. He says that 58 per cent of the workforce received no income increase at all this year. That figure of 58 per cent is an increase on last year (53 per cent) and the year before (47 per cent).

"Similarly, the Employers Federation purrs that employment is up. Not quite right, says the Deputy Government Statistician, who points out that employment is down in the year to June in the manufacturing and construction industries.

"As we approach the election we can expect the Employers Federation to intensify its own particular brand of the truth. It is to be hoped that next time they will take the trouble to look over their shoulder and check that official statistics rebutting their claims are not being released on the same day," Mr Hodgson said/

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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>>