The Standard

Author Archive

Choices: Paid parental leave

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, July 26th, 2012 - 46 comments

Key loves mythical “mum and dad investors”. Real mums and dads – not so much.

Protests then and now

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, July 24th, 2012 - 19 comments

Looks like we should conclude that opposition to National in 2012 is much stronger and more vociferous than opposition to Labour in 2008.

Rorts

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, July 23rd, 2012 - 59 comments

One law for the rich, another for the poor.

Everyone hears what they want to hear

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, July 23rd, 2012 - 7 comments

Key has been giving different messages on the water rights issue to the Maori Party and to the wider public. No one knows what, if anything, his “promises” mean. Why isn’t the Maori Party (which has been burned before) seeking urgent clarification?

Nat conference protests

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, July 21st, 2012 - 58 comments

This weekend the National Party is holding its annual conference at SkyCity (how appropriate) in Auckland. Protests are planned.  Be careful, keep it peaceful.

Welded to National

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, July 19th, 2012 - 41 comments

The meeting between Key and the Maori Party leaders last night reached it’s predictable conclusion.  From his point of view Key has played this brilliantly.

“Opportunistic”

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 18th, 2012 - 47 comments

I don’t know which is stranger, a currency-trading capitalist denigrating people for maximising their economic opportunities, or claims dating back to The Treaty being passed off as somehow superficial.

Asset sale delay likely

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 17th, 2012 - 62 comments

Even John Key is now admitting that the asset sale program is facing a serious legal challenge, and that delays in the sales are likely.  Any such delay would have several implications…

Bullying schools – again

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, July 16th, 2012 - 29 comments

Threats to schools over the contents of their newsletters?  The “brighter future” doesn’t like dissent.

Cute with semantics on water

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, July 13th, 2012 - 82 comments

John Key has been running round repeating that no one owns water. He’s just being cute with semantics. What is the effective difference between owning water, and owning water rights?

Tabloid news

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, July 10th, 2012 - 29 comments

I know I wrote on this just yesterday, but I can’t help going on about it again.  Here’s the front page of The Herald online last night…

The future of journalism

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, July 9th, 2012 - 36 comments

Confirmation today that The Herald is adopting a format more in keeping with its content, and going tabloid. The media world is changing fast…

Key’s press release on exodus to Australia

Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, July 8th, 2012 - 29 comments

With news that there are now more Kiwis living in Australia than either Christchurch or Wellington, here’s “John Key’s” latest press release on the topic.

Australia’s sweatshop

Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, July 7th, 2012 - 69 comments

The Nats have given up on catching up with Australia, and are content for us to become their low wage sweatshop instead. Their cheerleaders think it’s a great idea.

I beg to differ.

What is “progress”?

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, July 5th, 2012 - 22 comments

If “two-income families are increasingly worse off than single-income families were a generation ago”, then something is seriously wrong with our definition of “progress”.

A quick question

Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, July 5th, 2012 - 197 comments

The Nats are going to terminate the benefits of those who fail or refuse drug tests. I have a question…

1 job 312 applicants

Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, July 4th, 2012 - 41 comments

High levels of unemployment in NZ are both a condemnation of the Nats’ bungling of the economy, and a reality check on their perpetual grandstanding beneficiary bashing.

Iwi and the riverbeds

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, July 3rd, 2012 - 15 comments

The only remaining possible legal threat to the Nats’ plans to sell off our power companies is a Treaty based claim to water rights or riverbeds.

National has no intention of ever enforcing ETS

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, July 3rd, 2012 - 59 comments

As many of us expected, National has no intention of ever enforcing the ETS in the area where it makes the most difference to NZ emissions – agriculture.

Exxon continues denier tactics

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, July 2nd, 2012 - 37 comments

The Exxon Mobil CEO now acknowledges that the world is warming, but claims that there will be an “engineering solution”. This glib reassurance is simply the next phase of Exxon’s well funded and carefully planned denier tactics.

Heroes of capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, June 30th, 2012 - 24 comments

Banks engaged in market fixing. What a surprise. No doubt someone will be held to account…

Parata was briefed on teacher cuts

Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, June 30th, 2012 - 26 comments

It seems that Parata was fully briefed on teacher cuts after all, but she somehow “did not have enough time to mention it”. The government’s most recent humiliating bungle just got worse.

Funding fraud

Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, June 28th, 2012 - 23 comments

It’s not acceptable for the government to keep funding a service provider after fraud has been clearly reported.  It’s not acceptable for a Minister to be aware of “problems” and not even read the audit report before allocating further funding.   Will anyone be held to account?

Competition, cooperation, schools

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, June 27th, 2012 - 12 comments

Competition is the wrong model for education, and National’s nonsense “league tables” are going to make it worse…

Privatisation bill passed

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, June 26th, 2012 - 239 comments

They’re quite literally selling our country down the river.

Ninny state

Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, June 25th, 2012 - 85 comments

National are so scared of the “Nanny state” hysteria that they drummed up from opposition that they’re now ignoring official advice and killing off law changes that would save lives.

What’s in the TPPA?

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, June 24th, 2012 - 44 comments

While we the public distract ourselves with trivia like car crushing, and focus on other important matters like asset sales, the TPPA which is quietly unfolding in the background is actually the most important ongoing political issue.  It has potentially disastrous implications for our sovereignty and our future.

Trash talk

Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, June 21st, 2012 - 34 comments

So the first car has been crushed. While ministerial grandstanding abounds, a criminologist describes it as “vindictive, malicious, petty and an undignified way of dealing with the problem”.

51% swindle averted

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, June 21st, 2012 - 31 comments

It looks like the Nats’ attempt to pull a swindle on the meaning of “51% ownership” has been averted.

Police to march?

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, June 21st, 2012 - 34 comments

Who guards the guardians if the police march on Parliament?

Taxing the super-rich

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, June 18th, 2012 - 21 comments

The Nats like bang on about benefit fraud, are they just as keen to go after tax evasion by the super-rich?