Setting The Agenda

Amit Kumar’s vote-swapping app for the US presidential election shows up how third parties are disadvantaged by the one round, first-past-the-post race.

The first rule of journalism is that you can’t accept the word of a public official unless there is evidence to back it up. However, this principle goes out the window when there are allegations of a terrorist threat, as we’ve seen this past week.

I recommend the Select Committee not proceed with this Bill in its present form. Overall it puts New Zealanders in a worse situation than in already existing legislation, in relation to both their personal privacy and their right to untrammeled freedom of expression.

Up until now most progressive Americans have been backing the “lesser evil” in the US presidential contest. They don’t particularly like Hillary Clinton’s establishment politics but they’ve been scared into her camp because Donald Trump is so terrible.

For anyone pessimistic about the possibility of progressive change, Jeremy Corbyn’s epic victory should be a confidence boost.

Key’s posture is that human rights don’t really matter, or at least are secondary to maintaining warm relations with repressive governments.

Corbyn’s opponents have tried every trick in the book to dent the Labour leader’s support.

Politicians lose respect when they know something needs to be done but won’t do it for fear of losing a few votes.

After 30 years the United States has finally accommodated to our nuclear-free status. It is a victory we should celebrate. We, the New Zealand people, stood up to the world’s superpower and refused to let nuclear-armed or powered warships into our ports. The superpower has buckled first.