The Department of Conservation is to shed 140 jobs and reduce the number of conservancy regions, under plans announced today. The department has been under pressure for some time to reduce inefficiency and waste. DOC’s new owners, Warner Bros, are reportedly concerned that too much emphasis has been placed on preserving uninteresting animals, like native parrots and snails. The…

Now that the Hobbit films are here to stay, and that we have established that the ham-fisted attempts by the actors union to negotiate were a handy pretext to enable Warner Bros to extract more cash from us, let’s look at the deal struck today. I’ve now had time to look at the terms.  John…

After a lengthy meeting with Warner Bros executives yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister John Key said that changes would have to be made to labour relations laws if the The Hobbit films were to be filmed in New Zealand. “Warners have said the only reason the film may not be made in New Zealand is the…

I have had a contact in the Beehive (Let’s just call him Bill) drop a bombshell today. He sent me a pile of emails from the PM’s own computer. I can’t even guess how he got hold of them, but he insists I publish them, even though it puts him at great personal risk. The…