Politics

Somalia: Hope after 25 years of bloodshed

Posted 10:37am Sunday 4th September 2016 by George Elliott

While most people’s knowledge of Somalia might come from the 2001 blockbuster Blackhawk Down or occasional horrific news stories popping up, there has been some recent optimism that the state could pull itself out of its long running civil war in time for the 2016 elections. Sadly, this Read more...

Eggs benedict and our humanitarian myth

Posted 10:32am Sunday 4th September 2016 by George Elliott

At New York’s Turtle Bay, where the United Nations building stands, there’s a breakfast club for Security Council diplomats to meet and start the day with a meal and a chat. It has become quite a tradition, and it is all thanks to New Zealand. The bringing together of some of the most Read more...

NZ Politics in review

Posted 10:50am Sunday 21st August 2016 by George Elliott

Parliament’s back for its August session, with new spy legislation set to be introduced by the government. Elsewhere, a new poll shows an increase for the opposition and Labour leader Andrew Little has floated the idea of wiping student loans—with a catch! Following up on Read more...

Island of horror: abuse at Australia’s Nauru detention centre exposed

Posted 10:48am Sunday 21st August 2016 by George Elliott

A cache of 2000 reports pertaining to Australia’s infamous asylum seeker detention centre on the island-nation of Nauru has found its way into the hands of UK newspaper, The Guardian. The leaked documents are sickening, shocking and shameful, which illustrates the scale and severity of the Read more...

National’s Lost Luggage Bill ­— a worthless, cynical attempt to waste everyone’s time

Posted 10:47am Sunday 21st August 2016 by Joel MacManus

National MP Nuk Korako has proposed an entirely ineffective and meaningless Bill in parliament that will do absolutely nothing, is not necessary, and appears to be a deliberate attempt by the government to stall the democratic process. It has resulted in criticism across the board, government Read more...

It’s not looking good for Aunty Helen, according to leaked UN Security Coucil straw poll

Posted 2:36pm Monday 15th August 2016 by George Elliott

Despite a worldwide media campaign, a celebrated televised debate performance and a refreshing message, Helen Clark’s bid for the United Nation’s top job could be coming to an end. Clark is in seventh place, according to the results of an informal straw poll conducted by the Security Read more...

Harawira is back, and a Maori-Mana alliance over Te Tai Tokerau is on the cards

Posted 11:26am Sunday 7th August 2016 by George Elliott

Harawira lost his seat in the Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau to Labour’s Kelvin Davis by nearly seven percent of the vote in the 2014 election. It was a devastating loss for Mana, which had held the seat since it split with the Maori Party in 2011. Pundits chalked the de-crowning moment up Read more...

Have you heard of a feminist foreign policy? Sweden has

Posted 11:20am Sunday 7th August 2016 by George Elliott

In the aftermath of the Cold War, a feminist approach to international relations became popular among some academic circles. Two of the movements founding scholars, Cynthia Enloe and Carol Cohn , proposed using a critical "feminist consciousness" when examining how countries do business Read more...

Plea for Policy: Why the government should devolve social services to iwi

Posted 11:13am Sunday 31st July 2016 by Henry Napier

The 21st century so far has offered some significant ebbs in New Zealand race relations. If one were to ask a New Zealand politics student what the major blows for bi-culturalism were in the last 16 years you would likely receive a list of the following; the passing of the Foreshore and Seabed Act Read more...

Political conventions are stupid, dumb, pointless, fun

Posted 11:04am Sunday 24th July 2016 by Joel MacManus

We are right now in the middle of the most meaningless, overhyped, expensive exercise in political cheerleading in the Western World ­—The Republican and Democratic National Conventions. National Conventions are to the US what the Monarch is to New Zealand – Formerly powerful Read more...