Reposted with permission from Julia Schiller's blog Enough is Enough. Is New Zealand's party of alleged personal agency and responsibility in danger of being overrun by religious zealots who want to control our most intimate choices? One thing I've appreciated about New Zealand since arriving…
An interesting piece (Francis Cook in The Herald): Fear of a Labour/Green Gov 'gone' says business leader Fear of a Labour/Green Government in the business community is well gone, says SkyCity chairman-elect Rob Campbell. A refreshingly honest comment, especially given the amount of time and…
https://twitter.com/AmandaWasteFree/status/906716231855521794 The Greens released their 2017 climate change action plan yesterday. It's bold, and serious as, and makes no bones about the crisis we are in and that we have to act now. It's visionary as well as being a fully fledged strategy that NZ…
Some polls have National below 40%. If that is reflected in the election result then National is in trouble. See this excellent piece by Simon Wilson in The Spinoff: If Labour and National both get 40%, who gets into parliament? Labour: All 28 MPs standing…
Labour insiders on what's going on with National - https://twitter.com/nealejones/status/906776380867723264 https://twitter.com/andykirton/status/906809440166305792
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 …
The big announcements at Labour's rally today: Taking action in our first 100 days Labour will hit the ground running in government, with a programme of work across housing, health, education, families, the environment and other priority areas. Make the first year of tertiary education…
This election is starting to feel like a rerun of 2002. I could not believe how bad the campaign was back then. The campaign launch felt like a funeral and nothing went right. And when the dust settled National polled 21%. This is a graph…
Another update from nine long years of the brighter future: WINZ staff accused of withholding entitlements The Social Development Minister, Anne Tolley, has defended her department after a report showing people on benefits were missing out on $200 million in entitlements a year. The figures…
All politicians are liars, so the saying goes. It's not the case of course, but the lies are so widespread as to tarnish all politicans by association. This damages rational decision making and political engagement. It's bad for democracy. In this election the contrast between…
Over the past nine long years it has been really difficult getting National to even acknowledge that there even was child poverty. Before 2008 National talked big. John Key gave speech after speech about the underclass and how Labour was failing. He even took a…
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 …
The citizens group It's Our Future recently launched a campaign to get political parties to front up on NZ trade and investment policy. They produced ten bottom lines and an analysis of each parties' policies and responses to the bottom lines. These bottom lines were…
Here's some weekend reading for liars Steven Joyce and Bill English: Duncan Garner: Shameless Steven Joyce digs himself a massive hole to lie in ... So let's call it. Joyce stuffed up this week. In his desperation to smear Labour's alternative budget, he got it…
The German, Icelandic and New Zealand Green Parties are the only substantial elected green voice on earth. Should the NZ Greens get back in, the global green movement will be watching. Can the NZ Greens live up to their global role model status? It's worth…
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 …
(Image courtesy of @ToddAtticus - watch out for the T Shirt!) 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…
Jacinda Ardern has released Labour's climate change policy - including zero net carbon emissions by 2050. Isaac Davison in The Herald: Labour unveils climate change policy: All sectors to pay for emissions The Labour Party has released its climate change policy, which includes a new…
One of the dafter myths about the current burgeoning immigration industry is what people are being imported for. For instance, a common one is that we need skilled immigrants for the construction industry and this is a reason to keep immigration high. The following is…
So Steven Joyce thought he was onto a winner. Just like 2011 and 2014 he would jump up and say that Labour had stuffed up its costings and was not fit to lead and hey presto National would have a fourth term. We have been…
Last night in the Stuff leaders' debate Bill English defended Steven Joyce's lie about a "hole" in Labour's budget. He kept trying to move the goal posts of course, but he specifically and emphatically agreed with the disproved figure of $11.7 billion. I honestly thought…
Colin James on RNZ: Labour a nose ahead of National on the averages Labour, on 41.8% has nudged ahead of National, on 41.1%, in the latest RNZ poll of polls - in the wake of tonight's 1 News Colmar Brunton poll. ... The boost to…
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 …
Tonight's TVNZ Poll shows Labour opening a 4 point lead over National. National drop below 40% (well deserved). https://twitter.com/Jess_Roden/status/905672422631735296 https://twitter.com/ColmarBruntonNZ/status/905672450402164736 https://twitter.com/ColmarBruntonNZ/status/905672628286898176 https://twitter.com/MutchJessica/status/905672622167310337
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 …
Tonight at 6pm You can watch the stream directly from the home page on the Stuff website, or through Facebook Live on Stuff's Facebook page, or at the Stuff YouTube channel. Will the debate address climate change? Will moderators call English on National's $11.7bn hole lie? https://twitter.com/rnz_news/status/905671851392696321
First an anecdote. Last week a friend's 28 year old son stole her credit card and ran up a few thousand on it. The same young man who in the middle of August approached a mental health service saying he wants and needs help with…
The RNZ debate between Labour and Nat finance spokespersons has just concluded - Grant Robertson vs a big flaming gasbag. Robertson very strong, gasbag unable to name One Single Person who agrees with his $11.7bn big lie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9US8cbwjtU&t=18m55s Good work by Guyon Espiner. Strong points…
National's campaign is a train wreck. Its defining feature so far has been three attempted dirty hits, each one of them an epic fail. Hit 1: The bungled superannuation attack on Winston Peters. It was supposed to knock out NZF so the Nats could assimilate…