Two public meetings are being held next week to shine a light on the government’s Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. It would allow the Minister for Tertiary Education – currently Epsom’s Paul Goldsmith – to take public funds away from universities, polytechs…
Labour's health spokesperson David Clark is doing good work: Fiery exchanges over mental health as Minister fronts to Parliament's health committee ... Coleman's appearance came at the same time the Labour Party released its own updated figures, claiming $2.3 billion had been effectively stripped from…
Timeline: Election day Thursday 8 June British Time/Friday 9 June NZT. Polling stations open from Thurs 7am to 10pm BT/Thurs 6pm - Fri 9am NZT. First exit poll at 10pm BT/Fri 9am NZT. First seat to declare usually Sunderland before midnight BT/Fri 11am NZT. If…
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 …
Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will…
PM Bill English denies there is a housing crisis. In 2010 he knew about and warned of the housing crisis - PM talked of major housing crisis - Salvation Army A senior Salvation Army staff member says Prime Minister Bill English talked with him about…
Jeremy Corbyn has already won, exposing and demolishing May's Conservatives in a stunning electoral turnaround. If the campaign was a month longer I have no doubt that Labour would win outright. As it is I think they will probably lose, and this will be a…
I've only just caught up with this depressing piece by Amanda Saxton in the SST: 18-month-old Julia, the innocent face of modern NZ's brutal, archaic boarding houses Eighteen-month-old Julia Alatina is smiley, snotty-nosed, and dotted with flea bites. She's trusting; exchanging her toy broom, made…
A general discussion thread for the lead up to the UK General election. This post will be bumped up daily, and a new one will go up Friday morning for the day of the election itself. To get us started, here's Jonathan Pie in fine…
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 …
Predictably, the Nats don't dare to speak any sanity to the visiting representative of the Trump regime. Patrick Gower: English tries to hide from the reality of Trump's America ... Mr English said "I don't think it is our position to comment on the way…
The current incumbent in the White House is an unusual person, even when compared to other right wing American politicians. He lacks even a basic sense of humanity. And his approach to all issues is that superficial it can be captured in a tweet. Exhibit…
The political right try it on every election year, in an attempt to sow a bit of discord. But it's all just a bit too obvious and clumsy really. Alex Braae explains: Greens would be fools to court National Around this point of the electoral…
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 …
A scoop from The Intercept: Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than…
The server will be shifted when its network link gets shunted to a new location. That will happen sometime this morning.Wednesday (I hope - see comments). So the site will be offline when it does. I have to physically pick up the server and reconnect at the new…
June 5th is the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War. Following Egypt’s military closure of the Straits of Tiran, the armed forces of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon were defeated by Israel, pretty comprehensively. Israel then occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the…
This is a repost from the Green Party blog On June 1st the Greens swimmable rivers tour visited the Mataura river and communities connected to it. All we need now is a Government willing to set clear strong rules and support the new conversation about…
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 …
Nicky Hager will talk about his book Hit and Run, and the issues it raises about New Zealand's values and role in the world at 5:30pm on Wednesday 7th June at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington. The book is about important and tragic events, but…
Who would have thought even two weeks ago that Labour had a chance of winning the UK election. It was meant to be a foregone election. Theresa May's Conservatives were meant to crush all before them, achieve an increased majority and then proceed to dismantle the last…
For creating a New Zealand where there are over 250,000 kids living in poverty ... For refusing to get the bodies out of the Pike River mine and thereby helping individuals avoid justice ... For Dirty Politics ... For the increasing numbers of homeless sleeping rough…
The title is a quote is from John Hart in response to the US administration saying it will withdraw from the Paris Agreement. This came out the following day, https://twitter.com/skepticscience/status/870897868013539328 Salient reminders of reality. Here's two more reminders from climate activists, on how we can respond, Keep…