The scenes outside the National Party conference serve only to remind me that the left apparently continue to favour unreasoning force rather than reasonable debate to promote their views. I would be interested in someone with socialist/union leanings explaining exactly how storming a police cordon, and trespassing on private property, with the express purpose of [...]

When you think about it, democracy is really the tyranny of the majority. It is where the majority gets to impose it’s will on the minority, regardless of what is right or proper. This was made obvious to me in 1999 when Labour campaigned on introducing extra taxes for the “rich” (ostensibly to improve health), [...]

I have noticed this past week that Labour, most of the media and, of course, the left wing blogs seem to be spending their time harping on about the unemployment rate. Invariably they use hard numbers like 1000/week and 45,000 on unemployment benefit, rather than percentages which are peculiarly unimpressive. John Armstrong points out that [...]

Not matter how boring the news is on Saturday, I can usually rely on Matt McCarten to provide me with material to contradict. True to form Mr. McCarten obliges with a diatribe on how deaths from smoking can all be put down to the evils of capitalism. Thanks, Matt, knew I could count on you. [...]

Anyone noticed that Fran O’Sullivan appears to have gone socialist on us, apparently insisting Key dispenses with tax cuts (in contravention of his election promises) and gives the extra money to “pensioners, students and beneficiaries”? And John Armstrong appears to have turned into National’s cheer-leader, this week coming down hard on Labour for not being [...]

Waitangi day does weird things to us. I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with Matt McCarten‘s view on Friday’s events and disagreeing with Bill Ralston‘s. Normally, it would be pretty much the other way round. McCarten was impressed with Key’s handling of his initial manhandling as summed up here: It’s taken a white boy [...]

Matt McCarten exceeds even his usual nonsensical self today in the Herald on Sunday. He managed to accuse the Israeli people of being Nazis and of practicing Apartheid all in the same article. It has possibly escaped his attention that referring to Jewish people as Nazis is a killing insult, on a par with voiding [...]

To hear Matt McCarten tell it, you would think that we are about to be plunged back into the days of slave labour and cotton plantation as workers are placed “back in chains“. There was a lot of discussion on this issue when National first proposed it. Matt sees some sort of descent into the [...]

I don’t know about you, but I find something quite refreshing about Matt McCarten’s articles. They are so unremittingly red. They are beyond simple socialism and into a place where a strange mythical working man strides the world like a colossus, wreaking havoc on greedy businessmen and delivering the poor from harm. Unlike Chris Trotter, who [...]