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Australia’s Omicron problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, January 6th, 2022 - 132 comments

Mike Hosking Covid Australia

With over 61,000 new Covid cases reported yesterday Australia is in the midst of an infection surge that it has not seen before.  What lessons can New Zealand learn from Australia’s handling of the pandemic?

A few random predictions for 2022

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, January 1st, 2022 - 117 comments

A few random predictions for 2022.

New Zealand 2 Covid 0 so far …

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 30th, 2021 - 280 comments

But Omicron may be loose.

The Standard’s 2021 political awards

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, December 28th, 2021 - 68 comments

It is that time of year where nostalgia kicks in and the desire to review current events dims.  So much has happened this year.  It has truly been twelve months of the praiseworthy and the absolutely pitiful. And it is time to reflect on the personalities who made us smile, made us frown and made us raise our eyebrows to breaking point.

Die Hard is a Christmas movie

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, December 25th, 2021 - 33 comments

Here at the Standard we choose to debate the important issues of the day.  What needs to be done about climate change, how the Country’s covid response is going (remarkably well and don’t believe the naysayers), and which National faction is leaking and undermining which leader.  But there is one debate that is currently raging that has until now not been addressed …

Bad Covid takes

Written By: - Date published: 3:11 pm, December 19th, 2021 - 130 comments

There seems to be a correlation between commentators who have both Herald and Newstalk ZB exposure and how really bad their Covid takes are.

V Day!

Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, December 17th, 2021 - 319 comments

Yesterday was Aotearoa’s V day, the day that we reached the goal of having 90% of the target population vaccinated against Covid.

The country’s books are in remarkably good shape

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, December 16th, 2021 - 79 comments

As the country rebounds out of partial lockdown the Treasury’s recently released half yearly Economic and Fiscal update suggests that the Country’s accounts are in remarkably good shape.

Clearing the decks

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, December 13th, 2021 - 14 comments

The draft report into Nick Smith’s treatment of a young staff member that eventually saw him leave Parliament has made its way into the public realm, just in time to be lost in the pre Christmas media wash up.

Fair pay agreements – the employers fight back

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, December 11th, 2021 - 48 comments

BusinessNZ and Federated Farmers have this week attacked the Government for intending to implement policy designed to improve the plight of poorly paid workers.

Anarchy in the UK

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, December 10th, 2021 - 25 comments

Boris Johnson is on the ropes.  Not because of the disastrous effects of Brexit which only passed because of some of the whoppers that he told, but because of a Christmas party held last year at 10 Downing Street at a time when the UK was under a strict lockdown.

The Freedom Bus is on the move *

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, December 9th, 2021 - 44 comments

But special entry conditions including being double vaccinated or having a recent clear Covid test apply.

National’s caucus reshuffle

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, December 7th, 2021 - 140 comments

The deckchairs have been reshuffled.  And Chris Luxon is confident that reorganising the pecking order of a deeply dysfunctional caucus will make all the difference.

Some good news about Covid

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, December 6th, 2021 - 230 comments

In Auckland there ares welcome signs that the spread of Covid is declining and the Health system is holding up.  And the Vaccination roll out has gone that well that Chris Luxon has described Auckland as having some of the highest vaccination rates of any city in the world.

Who will be the next Auckland Mayor?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, December 4th, 2021 - 35 comments

Efeso Collins has announced that if Phil Goff does not stand as Mayor and Labour runs a selection process for the next Mayoralty he would be keen to nominate.

Chris Luxon is not National’s messiah

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, December 2nd, 2021 - 245 comments

Two days into Chris Luxon’s reign as National leader and my initial impression is an overwhelming Meh.

National’s new leader is …

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, November 30th, 2021 - 291 comments

Chris Luxon is set to be the next leader of the National Party.

Wanted: a new Leader of the Opposition

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, November 30th, 2021 - 70 comments

National needs a new leader of the opposition.  The Standard has been leaked a list of the necessary qualifications …

National’s factional problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, November 28th, 2021 - 91 comments

National’s basic problem is that it has three discrete factions, christian conservatives, urban liberals and the country grouping.  And no coherent vision to reconcile these totally disparate groupings.

The winners and losers from National’s leadership spill

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, November 25th, 2021 - 146 comments

The winners and losers of today’s National Party leadership spill are …

National’s civil war reerrupts

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, November 25th, 2021 - 131 comments

National’s civil war which has been simmering for a while erupted last night after Judith Collins demoted Simon Bridges for making inappropriate comments to Jaqui Dean five years ago.

National – let the virus rip

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 pm, November 24th, 2021 - 21 comments

There is no other explanation, and this week Paul Goldsmith gave the game away, National thinks that we should let the Corona virus rip.

See what happens when you put a woman in charge?

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, November 24th, 2021 - 120 comments

Remarkably low Covid death and infection rates, good and improving vaccination rates, low unemployment and debt to GDP …

Stop being a dick Barry

Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, November 23rd, 2021 - 54 comments

At yesterday’s post Cabinet Press Conference Barry Soper overtalked a number of reporters, demanded answers to his questions, and then stormed out of the press conference.  And then immediately wrote a piece accusing Jacinda Ardern of overtalking reporters …

Astroturfers of the world unite

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, November 20th, 2021 - 52 comments

Two days before what is claimed will be the mother of all protests links between the Groundswell organisation and the Taxpayers Union have been discovered.

National is being utterly irresponsible

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, November 19th, 2021 - 58 comments

In the middle of a pandemic where the numbers in hospital are increasing and a number of Kiwis have died from a virus that is spreading promising the loosening of current restrictions is the most irresponsible, stupid, foolhardy, idiotic, imbecile thing I could ever expect a political party to do.

Down the rabbit hole

Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, November 17th, 2021 - 83 comments

Former National MP and University Lecturer Simon Thornley are in the news after publishing a video interview questioning the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine and suggesting that the evidence that Ivermectin is useful in treating Covid is epidemiologically sound and strong.

How Covid may play out

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, November 15th, 2021 - 74 comments

Modelling produced for the Government suggests that weekly new covid infections  could plateau in the next two weeks.  And the modelling so far has been remarkable accurate.

Covid and the latest polls

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, November 12th, 2021 - 148 comments

The results of two polls were leaked recently both showing a drop in support for Labour.  Clearly the Delta outbreak has rattled confidence.  But National has not surged up in support and the Greens have picked up some of the former Labour vote.

Shock horror, Ardern chooses to keeps her mask on

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, November 11th, 2021 - 79 comments

Barry Soper has accused the Prime Minister of, wait for this, not taking her mask off when she was inside visiting a vaccination centre in South Auckland.

The Freedumb Protesters give protesting a bad name

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, November 10th, 2021 - 58 comments

As a principle the right to protest is important.  But the freedumb protesters making outlandish claims and at the same time plagarizing the language of progressive protest movements deserves to be called out.