Three American prison experts were in NZ when Judith Collins announced a $1bn boost to the corrections department and 1,800 more jail beds. Expansion of an approach that even Bill English calls a ‘moral and fiscal failure’ is a huge mistake, write Erica Meiners, Isaac Ontiveros and Rachel Herzing. And, below, a statement from the … Read more
Experts agree: improving the welfare of our children – especially the most vulnerable – would bring huge social benefits, not least among them a drastic decrease in crime. So what are the fixes? And what’s stopping us? Thalia Kehoe Rowden has some suggestions. What can you say about Thalia Kehoe Rowden? She is a lightening … Read more
Kim Hill fans have been in heaven across the last fortnight. Pete Douglas spends a week waking up to the doyenne of RNZ as she supplements her regular Saturday gig with a super-sub role on Morning Report. My corner of the internet exploded with excitement when it was announced that Kim Hill would join Susie … Read more
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have met for the third and final debate of a face-melting US presidential race. Toby Manhire distills the exchanges into a vile tongue burning hooch. Moderating the 90-minute debate at the University of Nevada is Chris Wallace of Fox News. It is being broadcast on all the world’s channels, streaming … Read more
Last week Metro editor-at-large Simon Wilson hosted a Spinoff debate at Auckland’s Ika Seafood Restaurant about the future of the Labour Party. But does the party have a future at all? He’s not convinced. The Unitary Plan debate in Auckland opened another faultline in the progressive movement, just in case you didn’t have enough to … Read more
You think convicted drink driver Adam Holland sounds like an arsehole? It gets worse. Janie Cameron explains. Self-described “anarchist” and Auckland mayoral candidate Adam Holland has been convicted of driving at five times the blood alcohol limit after he rear-ended a stationary car with a mother and two young children inside, TVNZ reported yesterday. “Everybody … Read more
Despite all the headlines bemoaning apathy over local body elections, voter turnout is on the rise in Wellington. Jeremy Baker, communications director at Wellington City Council, sticks the boot into traditional media and trumpets the council’s polarising ‘Declare Your Love’ campaign. Last week Bryce Edwards, the high-profile political commentator and academic, announced he didn’t vote … Read more
A Wellington school’s use of a ‘seclusion room’ to isolate autistic children has been dismissed by officials as a sorry aberration. But the school cell speaks to a much bigger problem with special education in New Zealand, says Giovanni Tiso, the father of two children with autism. There are few things more distressing and painful … Read more
Morgan Godfery pays tribute to his friend, the impassioned and inspirational workers’ advocate Helen Kelly. Helen Kelly, the mighty trade union leader, the irrepressible campaigner, the bane of dodgy bosses everywhere, was my comrade and hero. She is dead at 52. Even when you know death is coming, when cancer invades the body’s cells and … Read more
These impassioned posts underscore the depths to which the Republican presidential candidate has fallen – and what it says about America today. The weekend release of a recording revealing Donald Trump bragging about sexual assaults saw many of his supporters in the Republican Party who had stuck beside the controversial candidate disavow him. He subsequently … Read more
Once again, low voter turnout in local body elections has sparked a round of hand-wringing about the public’s lack of political engagement. But is political apathy really the problem, asks Marianne Elliott. Despite some promising efforts to get people excited about exercising their democratic rights, this year’s local body elections again failed to attract a … Read more
In an opinion piece for the Spinoff yesterday, the Labour leader said his party will work to ‘eradicate’ child poverty. Janet McAllister explains why she’s raising a sceptical eyebrow. When it comes to cutting the granite rock of child poverty, it takes a lot more than a plastic pair of pinking snips. These are the … Read more
Geoffrey Palmer, Winston Peters, Judith Collins, Andrew Little, Richard Prebble, Metiria Turei, Willie Jackson and more on two decades of a proportional system, how they’ve changed their view of MMP, and what still needs fixing. On Saturday October 12, 1996, New Zealanders voted under the Mixed Member Proportional system for the first time. After 143 … Read more
Since he swept to power in June, President Rodrigo Duterte has ruthlessly pursued his promised violent crackdown, lashed out at foreign leaders and emboldened vigilantes. In a Manila slum, Iris Gonzales meets his supporter and his critics. Jomalene Mabag has seen it all – the rapists, the robbers, the killers. They’re all drug users and … Read more
In the Spinoff’s monthly politics recap, Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas join Toby Manhire for a power-walk through the topical rain forest. If you’re interested in hearing what Toby, Ben and Annabelle have to say about the local elections, the excitements of Phil Goff, someone called Tana winning the Porirua mayoralty, voter turnout, a byelection … Read more
Child poverty is unacceptable in modern New Zealand, and the Children’s Commissioner is right to urge politicians to agree to a definition and set a target, argues Andrew Little. I can tell you the horrific numbers: 295,000 children are living in poverty; 149,000 children are in material deprivation; 110,000 children live in damp, mouldy houses; … Read more
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet again for the second of three debates in the most bonkers and disturbing campaign in the history of the universe. Toby Manhire watches and boils it down into a sticky raspberry jam. Read the five-minute version of the first debate here. Co-moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC: I’m Martha Raddatz. … Read more
It’s a good time to become mayor of Auckland, but there’s a huge challenge ahead. Matt Lowrie of Transport Blog offers some constructive advice for Phil Goff’s early mayoralty. Dear Phil, Congratulations on becoming Mayor. While the margin was a bit closer than some had expected, that’s what happens when you get such a low … Read more
A state of emergency has just been declared in Ethiopia amid anti-government protest. The true colours of New Zealand’s diplomatic commitments will be shown in its response to the state crackdown, write Nureddin Abdurahman and Malcolm McKinnon Through the early part of this decade the New Zealand government carried out a sustained campaign for one … Read more
For the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the American people of the internet have been asked to submit their own ideas for questions. Toby Manhire goes in search of some of the best America is all about its ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ ethos, and when Abraham … Read more
You won’t believe who’s won the Auckland mayoralty race (you will), and all the other outcomes of interest. And the new Mayor of Auckland is … They tried, oh how they tried, to sex up the contest. Guyon Espiner called the leadup to Phil Goff’s candidacy announcement “the longest striptease in history”; Hayden Donnell made … Read more
Registers of foreign workers and attacks on human rights lawyers show the poison of Trump seeping into the Conservative government’s new, cynical strategy, laments London-based New Zealander Tze Ming Mok This time last year Theresa May, not yet the prime minister of the UK, dominated the Conservative Party conference. To my outsider ears, her message … Read more
This is not a tabloid story, taking things out of context and boasting a headline like: “Sex Scandal Made Me a Better Mayor” – Len Brown But you could see how it could appear under that title. For, in a more nuanced, reflective and brutally self-aware way, that is what Len Brown said, when we … Read more
Local government is crucial and too often ignored. Our proposed constitution starts by recognising they need greater autonomy, explain Geoffrey Palmer and Andrew Butler. The local government elections for New Zealand conclude this week. We hope the voter turnout is high, although we worry it will not be. Local government is very important. But because … Read more
Josh Drummond should be delighting at the former Conservative Party leader being hoist by his own legal petard, he writes. But instead he just feels disgust Colin Craig! The one-time leader of the Conservative party is in the news again, this time after a court found that he had defamed Jordan Williams, to the tune … Read more
Hayden Donnell pays tribute to the brave men and women who sat through four awful weeks of the Colin Craig defamation trial. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” – Edmund Burke “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – Jesus “Welcome to the black parade” … Read more
The government has formal yardsticks and ‘ambitious targets’ coming out its ears. But not on child poverty. “It sounds airy-fairy but it’s the advice we get.” That was the prime minister this morning on RNZ Morning Report, in response to questions from Guyon Espiner over the government refusal to set a target for reducing child … Read more
It’s a struggle to like either of the creeps who locked horns in the High Court, but the measure of the winner’s character will be in how he spends the damages, writes Toby Manhire The Hollow Men was turned into a stage play. Secret Power was adapted into a visual art spectacular. And now another … Read more
Rapid divestment decisions by funds with money in nuclear weapons, landmines and cluster bombs is a credit to people power. But the battle is far from over, writes Grant Bayldon If you like a good David and Goliath story, you’re in luck. News broke in August that millions of New Zealanders had unwittingly invested in … Read more