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Sometimes black humour is the only way to cope. These are doing the rounds... You know you're in Christchurch when: 1.You use the term "liquefaction" and "seismic design" in casual conversation. 2.Digging a hole and pooping in your garden is no longer weird. 3. Your…
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One of the names that the self-inflated blogs who consider themselves to be the "taste police"1 give us is the unimaginative juvenile name of "The Stranded". Typically this is when they are writing a silly post trying to tell us why we should think like…
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As was well covered by various media yesterday, the operation in Christchurch has moved from "rescue" to "recovery". In other words, they are no longer expecting to rescue people alive from the wreckage, but only to recover the bodies. Teams have rescued 70 people, but…
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Hopefully this will manage to get some mention amid the earthquake news tonight, as we could do with some more upbeat stories to keep the pecker up: New Zealand has won the rights to host the U20 Football World Cup in 2015. New Zealand Football…
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John Key has tidied up the confusion he caused yesterday and says that the quakes will cost the government $5 billion in rebuilding and $5 billion in lost revenue over the next 4 years. Big bikkies but easily covered by an emergency levy and canning…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Michael Lhaws has done more to worsen ethnic relations in this country than, arguably, anyone else in the past decade. He chose the most racially divided city in the land and cynically exploited those divisions to get the attention his pathetic ego craves. Now, one…
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We've heard figures of $20 billion damage from the Christchurch quakes, $5 billion uninsured for the government to cover. Now, Key has given an estimate of the lost economic output this year - $12 billion, 6% of GDP. He says that will mean $5 billion…
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David Farrar thinks it's 'ghastly' to discuss how to pay for rebuilding Christchurch, since the obvious answer is by reversing the tax cuts rich people like him have pocketed. Well, I think how the poor eastern suburbs of Christchurch have been forgotten is ghastly. Fortunately,…
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The first Drinking Liberally for 2011 is to be held in Dunedin. Pete Hodgson Thursday March 3rd 7:30pm Circadian Rhythm (72 St Andrew Street) The speaker is Pete Hodgson MP for Dunedin North, giving a wrap on his time in the house and perhaps some…
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As the long haul gets under way in Christchurch there are going to be many flash points for conflict. One of the first to emerge is the tension between landlords and tenants, as the following selection of articles makes clear: Christchurch earthquake: Landlords play hardball…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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English on cutting Working for Families: "The National Party's decision not to change Working For Families delivers certainty for struggling families. A careful analysis of Working For Families reveals there would have only been small savings had National opted to remove those on higher incomes…
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This was posted on Redcliffs Quake Newssheet - Stone Soup #2, it exemplifies what is happening on the ground now in Christchurch. Meanwhile the government seems to think that many things can wait until a May budget? Yeah right. Peter asks Please do something to…
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The man tipped to be National's next leader, Simon Power, has announced he will not be standing at the next election. The reasons are obvious. As a decent man and an old fashioned caring Tory, Power has no heart for the direction National want to…
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Simon Power is not going to stand for re-election in November. He has stood out for National with his competency, and as such was entrusted with the Ministries of Justice, Commerce and State-Owned Enterprises, as well as being Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate…
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To get enough oil for global demand requires expensive technologies, and expending more energy. If the price is too low those investments won't be feasible, meaning not enough production. But too high and the world can't afford it and we enter global recession. The 'goldilocks'…
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To tell you the truth my interest in politics is at a pretty low ebb right now. But I can't help but briefly noting these two fine examples of the art of political prediction. Patrick Gower: Quake means Key and National can win election outright…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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I'm really pissed off that politics has come into the Christchurch earthquake so quickly. But make no mistake, the Nats are pursuing a strongly ideological agenda. They're using the quake as cover for radically cutting important policies and making other extreme decisions, while preserving the…
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NATO leaders are discussing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent the crumbling Gaddafi regime bombing and strafing protesters. Gaddafi's loyalists are tied up keeping Tripoli under control, and the opposition is preparing to send in troops. Meanwhile, the big question elsewhere in the Arab…
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The government's wage subsidy and universal redundancy for quake-affected workers is a start. But with 750 red-stickered buildings in the CBD alone and 200+ jobs already lost, it is just a start. The private sector won't rebuild without demand, that will have to be supplied…
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In planning its rebuilding, we need to remember that Christchurch has long been the nerve centre of New Zealand’s tourism industry. And I would suggest that it is so, not only because of its location in the scenic South Island, but also because its cosy…
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As of Tuesday morning, we have had about 249,250 comments since The Standard launched three and a half years ago. We're averaging a 317 comments a day since New Year's. Although politics has rightly cooled in the past week due to the quake, the quarter…
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Today at 12:51 pm marks exactly one week since the earthquake struck, and probably around 300 people lost their lives. PM John Key has called on the country to observe 2 minutes silence, starting at that time, to honour the victims of the quake. For…
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Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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The tax system we currently have is a relic of the pre-IT age. In the days of manual clerk-handled accounts, it was impractical to reconcile tax accounts more than once a year. The introduction of PAYE in 1958 was welcomed as it eliminated the need…
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Tapu Misa's latest piece in the Herald is just so right I can't really add anything to it. She nicely sums up the Welfare Working Group's message: We're not saying it's your fault you can't get a job. We're just saying you're a malingering freeloader…
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Unless a leader is horribly neglectful in the wake of a disaster, like Bush after Katrina, I don't think there is any grounds to criticise them for the immediate disaster response, which is largely out of their hands anyway. But the policy response that follows…
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They are doing pretty well on restoring the power. With the exception of some small outlying areas, along the strike line and the CBD most of the city has power again as you can see from this chart (click to expand). hat-tip: Jamie Gough via…