Written By: - Date published: 12:54 pm, October 4th, 2025 - 20 comments
I’m moving the hosting of The Standard from a server in my living room to a cloud hosting this weekend. There may be some issues. If it works then it will stay there, otherwise The Standare will be coming to you from the deep south for while.
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 30th, 2025 - 36 comments
In 1947 the Palestine as an area held under mandate by the UK was divided in resolution 181. The creation of independent Arab and Jewish States plus Jerusalem outside both. Trumps’ new ‘peace plan’ isn’t one because it doesn’t deal with the problem of Zionist terrorism that prevents the creation of a Palestinian state. It merely creates a temporary ceasefire without looking at the problem. New Zealand and other UN members should just start treating Israel as a terrorist state.
Written By: - Date published: 6:41 am, September 7th, 2025 - 27 comments
I was asked “Do you think that the Tamaki Makaurau by-election will be a signal of whether the TMP almost clean sweep of the Maori electorate seats will continue?”. My response was that the characteristic of by-elections was that results were defined by people not voting. It is also what is going to happen in local body elections later this year. That is a problem.
Post updated
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 pm, July 3rd, 2025 - Comments Off on Keith Locke Inaugural Memorial Debate – Live
View the inaugural Keith Locke Memorial Debate!
July 3, 2025 | Auckland Irish Club or via livestream
The moot? China is a threat to regional peace
Moderator: Simon Wilson
On the Affirmative Hon Dr Wayne Mapp, Dr Cam Calder, Andrew Dickens
On the Negative Trevor Johnston, Dr Marco de Jong, Dr Arama Rata
Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, June 27th, 2025 - Comments Off on Oceania: Journey to the Center and other Auckland events
A few things I will be heading to over the coming 5 days in Auckland. A documentary on climate change on pacific islands. Phil Goff on foreign affairs. And the Inaugural Keith Locke Memorial Debate. Moot is “China is a threat to regional peace”. I kind of got caught up in each of these for one reason or another…
Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, June 23rd, 2025 - 67 comments
The major problem with the political model of a Republic, from Greek and Roman times to the present, is that eventually they invariably deteriorate into an imperial mess and war mongering. for purely domestic personal and political reasons. Which is exactly what Donald Trump did yesterday.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, May 22nd, 2025 - 17 comments
Generally I like reading Liam Hehir over at the The Blue Review. He is usually interesting despite his position. However he asserted that “Parliament Must Rule Itself”. Of course parliament must control itself. But rule itself – no! Voters do that. Parliamentary rules are mainly there to keep a low profile to voters looking at their poor performance. Right now that is inside the privileges committee.
Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, May 4th, 2025 - 9 comments
The defining characteristic of the 2025 Federal election in Australia to me is that the Dutton model of vague way down in the future policies, and grumpy grievance now policies was soundly rejected. The voting of preferences is ongoing. But Labour has already up a sound majority in the lower house. It also looks like it will be in a much better position in the Senate – but not a majority.
Written By: - Date published: 5:47 pm, May 2nd, 2025 - Comments Off on The monkey still has the gun!
When John Oliver isn’t ragging on New Zealand, he and his writers have a keen senses in explaining complex topics clearly. He did one long section a couple of weeks ago that took apart the Trumpian view on the economic value of tariffs. Worth watching.. But first about that monkey image
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, April 11th, 2025 - 29 comments
Faced with an inability to fund the the US government debt, Donald Trump halted his insane rush to toward a global depression. However the political system in the US that produced this global economic insanity is still there and is still nonfunctional. Time to disengage and let the US time to heal itself.
Written By: - Date published: 3:51 pm, April 4th, 2025 - 1 comment
I turn up to Fabian meetings, when I remember . They are often useful for understanding how other people view topics that I am either familar with or sometimes have little information on. Like the Zoom tonight on the ongoing conflict in the Congo from invading Rwandan troops and their local proxy insurgents.
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, February 26th, 2025 - 15 comments
Read an amusing quora reply that rather crystallised my thinking on the US compared to here. It started as a click-bait clearly written by the usual American fool blinded by propaganda glare from their border mirrors. A Canadian responded with with and accuracy. But on a more serious note, if US intentions have skewed towards supporting annexations, we need to improve our military capabilities.
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, February 24th, 2025 - 1 comment
Last week, I pointed out that Internal Affairs under Act Minister Brooke van Velden, had managed to lose RSS communications from the Beehive to the world. It’d been offline for about three weeks at that point. That was just sloppy and incompetent for the DIA who amongst other things are responsible for overseeing government technology services.
Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, February 18th, 2025 - 10 comments
Earlier today I sent a missive off to point out a little flaw in a new and updated Beehive page. Like all things from this current government, it was long on flashiness and extremely light on the functional details. It also doesn’t appear to have been picked up that for 3 weeks that the government’s messaging was self-limited. Pretty typical of this sloppy and incompetent government.
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, December 30th, 2024 - 17 comments
In Australia, the Fair Work Act is enhanced to provide for jail time and large fines for individuals and companies who deliberately indulged in wage theft. It is a Federal act with investigative powers. Our members ‘Theft by Employers’ bill looks pathetic by comparison. But worth passing in its 3rd reading. It would be a “real tough on crime” act – not weak like Mark Mitchell’s tee-shirt snatch.
Written By: - Date published: 4:49 pm, November 30th, 2024 - 7 comments
David Farrar’s company Curia abruptly exited the Research Association of New Zealand (RANZ) in August. It was triggered by a complaint about the fairness of the wording of a question in a April poll. This was a really bad poll, and this question a particularly egregious breach of any fairness. The question was paid for by Family Fi(r)st.
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, November 20th, 2024 - 51 comments
In recent days, David Seymour has been whining that no-one is seriously debating his stupid little bill to supposedly try to redefine what the Treaty means. But it is the constitutional arrangements of this country that this bill attacks. The bill is essentially treasonous. It also isn’t worth debating. Prepare against a dictatorship of the executive.
Written By: - Date published: 4:21 am, October 28th, 2024 - 11 comments
The Standard’s server is now in a new case that is streamlined for its new location. Mostly the same. But separating off my personal archive array. It won’t need that where the server is going. But I also fixed up a previous hardware mistake and changed one VERY old boot drive.
Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, October 24th, 2024 - 5 comments
If you’re in Auckland and are the first named electricity holder for a household power account, then you should be able to vote in the Entrust election. But you will have to post TODAY. The damn election got around 9% turnout last time, so putting in a vote is actually significiant. I posted mine last week for More for You, Better for Auckland.
Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, October 24th, 2024 - 17 comments
Welcome news from yesterday was the request to the Auditor General under the Public Audit Act on the arbitrary and unsupported by evidence decisions on tobacco products by the Customs Minister Casey Costello. As the request stated, Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall had reached the limits of the information that she could seek using the Official Information Act.
Written By: - Date published: 2:51 pm, September 18th, 2024 - 7 comments
The Civilian, a site that publishes the satire news is back. Hopefully for readers this will last. It only appears to have been running for a few days. Clearly the governments ongoing unemployment program is working well for the art of satire.
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, September 12th, 2024 - 46 comments
David Seymour finally released some hard information about Act’s coalition bone – Treaty Principles bill. The regulatory impact statement is damning and points to the status quo as being preferable. It will provide an interesting scope for Judith Collins in her non-partisan role as Attorney-General.
Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, August 21st, 2024 - 63 comments
It gets rather depressing reading the statistics on National’s induced recession as they steadily push New Zealand into stagflation. The Reserve Banks unplanned OCR decision last week wasn’t a hopeful sign. We’re in for a few years of a National led and created recession. Get out while you still can
Written By: - Date published: 4:36 pm, August 5th, 2024 - 32 comments
Another minister is lauding themselves falsely. David Seymour bragged about school attendance at the start of term three, and claiming the credit for that happening. The problem is that it was worse than the attendance for the start of term two. It was a worse school attendance after he tried to improve attendance. Is he competent as a minister?
Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, July 18th, 2024 - 3 comments
The PSA just won an important case in the Employment Relations Authority against the Ministry of Education about collective agreements. There are significiant downstream implications to planned layoffs, legal fights, and Nicola Willis’s already tax cut strained budget.
Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, July 11th, 2024 - 15 comments
My ire was raised this morning when I read a pile of PR drivel from acting PM Winston Peters about the Interislander. If he wanted to be useful looking at “critical part of our infrastructure” – then there are number of better things he could usefully do – rather than chasing headlines.
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, July 9th, 2024 - 12 comments
With all of the issues about Green party MPs, who have been having issues recently, I was intrigued to run across the article in the Guardian “Reform UK under pressure to prove all its candidates were real people” after the recent election in the UK.
Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, June 27th, 2024 - 6 comments
About time. Not that I have that I really have that much sympathy with Julian Assange. Always seemed like a bit of a narcissistic dickhead to me. But I get really pissed off with the level of US over-reach with their laws. Seems to me that this is a good time to rework our extradition treaties with them.
Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, June 25th, 2024 - 5 comments
Keith Locke, ex Green MP, died last week aged 80 after a long illness. I am going to miss him because he was a hell of a nice person, extremely bright, very well informed, and fast at figuring out where there was common ground and room to work together. I think that NZ will miss him and those like him over the decades ahead.
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, June 13th, 2024 - 19 comments
National and their minion parties just announced another massive $400 million R&D subsidy for agricultural greenhouse gases by taxpayers for the low profit industry of pastoral farming. This joins the other large and hidden subsidies levied on tax and rate payers to support rural and state roads capable of sustained heavy agricultural and forestry trucks.
Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, June 4th, 2024 - 41 comments
Today is my 65th birthday. So I’m trying to check out a PDF letter on MyMSD which probably has some details about superannuation. But I get ERR_CONNECTION_RESET consistently. Looks like the idiots in this government have managed to screw up the efficient systems already. The MyMSD site is currently partially dead.
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