Dear Mr. Sharples I judge from your recent remarks that you are not aware of the definition of the word racist. In the interests of helping you understand your colleague Hone Harawira, I thought I might help you out: racism Pronunciation:/ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m/ noun [mass noun] the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or [...]

Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article Following on from my previous post on the futility of government intervention in the case of obesity, the Herald obligingly provides this piece of on-topic spam: Support high for GST trim Political momentum for removing GST from healthy food is increasing with both [...]

I know I am showing my age a bit here, but I can remember the days when newspapers used to report actual news. This is in direct contrast to this morning’s Herald (it certainly is “the weak-end” Herald). We have the mercurial Hone Harawira admitting to skipping official meetings (the ones we paid for him [...]

Tariana Turia laments the sad state of Maori Health after reading the Mortality and Demographic Data for 2005 (PDF here) and the report of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PDF here). She is right that they make grim reading for Maori, although it is not all doom and gloom. Although Maori mortality is [...]

I see that Tracey Watkins at the Dominion Post is still rabbiting on about the small increase in electorate funding for Maori and other large-area electorates. She asks “Why should Nats get away with what Labour couldn’t?” I can’t really answer her question, because I have no real idea with what she thinks National is [...]

I see the Pod People are advancing their take-over of the world. As fast as Chris Trotter is mellowing over at Bowalley Road, Brian Rudman is becoming more rabid by the moment. His latest target is the Maori Party and their willingness to have their people look at running prisons. He reckons that this is [...]

Yesterday, I blogged about how I thought left-wing remarks about a deal between the Maori Party and National were very patronising and insulting. It seems that Tariana Turia agrees with me. I am struck by the sheer stupidity of Goff’s remarks. They can only ensure that the Maori Party have even less reason to support [...]

Am I the only one that thinks that John Key is a clever bugger? (Correction: I think BustedBlonde thinks so too). I have heard a great deal over the past few days about how boring the election was and how the election was lost by Labour rather than won by National.  No one seems to [...]