I/S at No Right Turn writes... Calling bullshit on "P-contamination" For the past year, Housing New Zealand has been using bogus tests for methamphetamine residue to evict people from state houses. They know the tests are bogus, with a huge false-positive rate, and yet they…
Power and privilege in the modern capitalist society is primarily dictated by your access to, and ability to generate a return on, financial capital. In the present delusional economic system, amassing significant liquid, financial capital gives you serious options in life. It gives you authority…
The Nats are all over the place at the moment. Govt rushed $1b infrastructure fund, Labour claims - The Government's flagship $1 billion housing infrastructure fund was devised in just a month, according to official statements given to the Labour Party by ministers. The policy…
This recent piece by economist Joseph Stiglitz is an important and interesting read: Globalization and its New Discontents Fifteen years ago, I wrote a little book, entitled Globalization and its Discontents, describing growing opposition in the developing world to globalizing reforms. It seemed a mystery:…
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Rodney Hide must be sleeping well, because Auckland’s proposed Unitary Plan will deliver all he and his NACT patrons ever hoped for. For decades, the Auckland Region has been a motley collection of badly led and bickering councils that have allowed strategy and development at…
Posted on Slashdot today: An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Twenty-five years ago, the first public website went live. It was a helpful guide to this new thing called the World Wide Web. The minimalist design featured black text with blue links on…
Cross-posted from Boots Theory. Where to start with Anat Shenker-Osorio's Don't Buy It: The Trouble With Talking Nonsense About The Economy? This review seems redundant, because literally every person I've encountered in the past year has been subjected to my near-evangelist recommendation of it. I…
In 1980, when Rugby and the New Zealand state were in full wedded bliss, playwright Greg McGee decided to draw back the curtains on this sport's seething dynamics of sexuality, gender relations, bullying, and violence. The name of the play, after the nickname for the…
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Last month I found this story pretty staggering. I always knew that "Western" countries threw away too much food - but - half? Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is…
Al Jazeera: Once a pioneer of the social welfare state, New Zealand now has over 40,000 people who are homeless, forced to live in their cars and in garages as a result of rapid house price and rent rises and a shortage of social housing.…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Details of a protest for tomorrow organised by the Unions Auckland Housing Action Committee. The story we’re told in The Block is that if you work hard, then you will be successful. But this opportunity is only for four couples on The Block. Meanwhile the…
In a sign of just how stressed our economy is: IRD chasing employers failing to pay into KiwiSaver Inland Revenue is chasing employers for unpaid KiwiSaver contributions worth tens of millions of dollars. Figures obtained by RNZ showed that at the end of June, Inland…
This piece, Morgan Tait in The Herald, will not please Nat spinsters (or grammarians): Less cops on the street - and the crims know There are less frontline cops per New Zealander than there were five years ago, and "the people who know it the…
Labour has upped the ante on the homeless crisis by announcing plans to remove some tax exemptions for landlords. From the Herald: Labour has confirmed it will introduce a policy to remove tax breaks on investment properties but aims to target speculators rather than small-time landlords.…
Remember that wee incident back in 2008 when the banking sector went bust? And remember how governments came up with a number and then started adding zeros on the tail end of it until the banks said – “yup, that’s enough”? If that can be…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Free Petrol Pt I Free Petrol Pt II There are no schemes involving a price on carbon that can deliver the 10 – 15% annual cuts in carbon emissions we need. So let’s just be cutting that Gordian knot. If we can’t alter consumption and…
A quick heads up on the progress of this global multi-billion dollar infrastructure project that China is pushing ahead with. Here is one part of it: It’s one of the great engineering achievements in history… At 48 miles long, the Panama Canal cuts through a…
For those who don't follow the various genres of do-it-yourself blogging, the top two non-commercial groups are (by people involved), in my view, are mummy-blogging and geek-blogging in various forms. Political and news blogs like this one seldom rate. One of the larger (top last…
The Waikato Chiefs rugby team have admitted homophobic abuse at a post season piss up in a hot springs hotel. Now it has been revealed that the players sexually abused a woman at the same event. So how are the Chiefs management going to deal…
So. Helen Clark wants to be Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Māori Party came out this week and said they didn't support her because of her actions against Māori and Indigenous peoples while she was Prime Minister of New Zealand. All hell broke loose,…
No, not our government, the provincial government of British Columbia: Vancouver slaps 15% tax on foreign house buyers in effort to cool market Foreigners looking to purchase a home in Vancouver now face an additional tax of 15%, as Canadian authorities seek to temper a…
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The Standard's authors have offered candidates for the upcoming Labour Party internal elections the chance to guest post about why they're running. Eva Hartshorn-Sanders has been nominated for the position of Senior Vice President. lprent: Note that, like all campaign for party position posts, this…