To say that cycle infrastructure has improved over the past five years in the part of Auckland where I live is almost understating the case. ¶ We've had a significant upgrade to the northwestern cycleway, the westward spine that links everything…
As I now do each election (2014, 2011, 2008), below, the results of the 2017 general election if there was no threshold: ¶ National – 54ACT – 1 ¶ New Zealand First – 9TOP - 3Māori Party – 1Labour – 44The Greens – 8(total 120 MPs) ¶ Obviously, voters…
Deep down, we all knew it had to happen some time, but this week's news that The Golden Dawn is to close in March, seven years after it first opened its doors as a three-month pop-up, still seems calamitous. That…
If you've found our political season wearying, spare a thought for the journalists. And, in particular, for John Campbell. He has hosted the Silver Scroll Awards for the last couple of years, but this time the demands of post-election news…
A little over a week ago, I was sitting in makeup getting prepped for the last pre-election episode of Media Take. As is often the case, ZM was on the radio. And during a commercial break, two campaign ads came…
The Government lost the election. ¶ This isn't an angle you'll have seen much lately, or will in the coming days, with a news media full of talk about "moral authorities", and speculation about Winston's role as kingmaker, but it's the…
The 2017 General Election has a preliminary result. ¶ The preliminary result is an unofficial count of all the ordinary votes cast at the election: votes cast on the day by people whose name appears on the printed electoral roll who…
Kia ora koutou. It's been a big few weeks, I'm tired and there's work to be done yet – so I thought I'd just whack in a few quality music-related videos for you all to enjoy. See the (very simple) instructions…
This is the last of the Disabled Persons Assembly’s (DPA’s) election blogs, and includes an overview of disabled people’s political participation, related questions for candidates, and a wrap up. ¶ For marginalised groups everywhere, increasing participation and achievement in political life…
This is the fourth of a series of blogs from the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA). We have used DPA’s strategic areas of focus, as identified by our members, as a guide to examine key areas of each party’s policies. We…
The Westpac McDermott Miller consumer confidence index dipped marginally this week, but, said the bank's chief economist, "households remain in good spirits". In truth, our good spirits rely on us not looking too far ahead. ¶ New Zealanders' perception of their…
This is the third of a series of blogs from the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA). We have used DPA’s strategic areas of focus, as identified by our members, as a guide to examine key areas of each party’s policies. We…
Kat Greenbrook (@katgreenbrook) is on a mission to increase the number of data insights actioned as she sees a growing gap between analytics teams and decision makers, stemming from a breakdown in communication. Kat, through her own company Rogue Penguin,…
This is the second of a series of blogs from the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA). We have used DPA’s strategic areas of focus, as identified by our members, as a guide to examine key areas of each party’s policies. We…
Disabled people are more than a quarter of the voting age population. Our families and allies make an even bigger block. At least 30% of us are open to changing our vote, so that’s at least 13 seats of disabled…
Just a quickie today, what with there being an election on and everything, but the big music news this week was the announcement of the Laneway 2018 lineup, which includes Bonobo, The War on Drugs, The Internet and Canadian funk…
There’s no doubt that the decline in landline usage is creating big challenges for the pollsters in New Zealand's general election and they’re dealing with it in different ways. ¶ Unfortunately for the New Zealand public, we seem to be down…
Labour announced its media and film industry policy yesterday – and inevitably most of the attention has focused on the proposal to develop RNZ into a full-service public broadcaster, television included, provisionally called RNZ+. ¶ Labour would achieve this by making explicit…
People who follow me on Twitter, and people who read me here, may recognise that I like facts, and accuracy. ¶ I will see a claim in a tweet, and wonder if it is true, or I will see a question…
Complaining about the news media at times of peak news is less a habit than an ingrained reflex for many of us. And sure, there have been things to complain about in coverage of this campaign. But in general the…
The lost episode. We recorded this one a while ago but unfortunately we misplaced it, until now. ¶ Kai Koenig (@agentK) works as a Software Solutions architect for Ventego Creative in Wellington, New Zealand. He also co-founded the company with two…
I sometimes have mixed feelings about leading these Friday posts with obituaries – it just seems to happen too often – but Celia Mancini's passing this week cannot go unremarked. ¶ You may know Celia, or you may have seen or heard her…
This is my second column about voting: the first, on advance voting, is here. Please note that I’m only talking about voting, not politics. Some of you are probably going to ask questions I simply can’t answer because of the…
So I can’t talk about politics at the moment, and not just because my family want a break from the shouting and swearing. What I can talk about, however, is voting. Endlessly. Try to stop me. ¶ This is the first…
Over the past few weeks we spent some time with the main party political parties and their ICT representatives in order to have them articulate their stance. ¶ ICT representatives We get to hear from: ¶ Greens: Gareth Hughes, @GarethMP NZ First:…