The Standard

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Covid-19 and climate change

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, May 3rd, 2020 - 55 comments

The International Energy Agency is forecasting that disruptions caused by Covid-19 will reduce CO2 output this year by 8%. To avoid the worst excesses of climate change the world has a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6% for the next decade. How are we going to keep repeating the reductions that we achieved this year for the next decade?

UMR’s bombshell poll result

Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, May 1st, 2020 - 142 comments

A leaked UMR poll result puts National on 29%.

His work here is not yet done

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 1st, 2020 - 71 comments

Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.

UFOs are real

Written By: - Date published: 3:44 pm, April 30th, 2020 - 24 comments

The Pentagon has confirmed the existence of videos which pretty well prove the existence of Unidentified Flying Objects and released the videos.

Leak, leak, leak, leak …

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, April 28th, 2020 - 19 comments

Tova O’Brien has reported multiple leaks of a Nick Smith email which was highly critical of Simon Bridges.

The class politics of the Covid-19 pandemic response

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, April 28th, 2020 - 59 comments

National economics spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has advanced a plan to address the Covid 19 pandemic which includes union bashing and privatisation.

Will National roll Bridges before or after the election?

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, April 23rd, 2020 - 241 comments

It appears that the National Party is engaged in a bitter discussion of when Simon Bridges should be rolled, not if. Will it be before or after the election?

Eat the rich

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, April 22nd, 2020 - 47 comments

Richard Branson, who has arranged his affairs so that he pays tax to no government, is upset that Governments are not bailing his empire out. And an idea has been floated to allow billionaires to set up boltholes in New Zealand.

BBQ time for National

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, April 21st, 2020 - 88 comments

If the current dip in National’s polling continues then a number of their electorate MPs face the loss of their seats and an increasing battle for a shrinking number of list seat positions.

When Bridges’ social media goes wrong

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, April 21st, 2020 - 77 comments

Simon Bridges’s Facebook post criticising the extension of lockdown level 4 has been met with overwhelming opposition, including from people who are clearly National Party supporters.

Covid-19 decision day

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, April 20th, 2020 - 172 comments

Decision day for the Covid-19 lockdown and my personal view is that although the country has done well it is not quite in a position to ease the lockdown.

Lockdown 4 – do we stay or do we go?

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, April 15th, 2020 - 147 comments

Over the next few days there will be an intense public debate about whether the lockdown should be continued or loosened.

Better footpaths and cycleways are a socialist inspired plot?

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, April 14th, 2020 - 65 comments

National MP Simon O’Connor thinks that making under used streets safer for walkers and cyclers is a Socialist inspired plan for world domination.

National seeks delay to election

Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, April 9th, 2020 - 120 comments

Hot on the news that National’s polling has plunged to 35% Paula Bennett has publicly suggested that the election should be delayed. I wonder if they are related?

The end of partisan politics?

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, April 8th, 2020 - 71 comments

Throughout the world there is an increasing consensus emerging that the free market approach is failing and principled intelligent leadership from governments provide the optimum result.

Clark’s calamity

Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, April 7th, 2020 - 131 comments

Health Minister David Clark has been demoted but has kept his Health portfolio after he revealed that he had driven 20 kilometers with his family to visit a beach during the lock down.

What not to do in a pandemic

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, April 5th, 2020 - 100 comments

The Trump regime has this week plunged new depths in the handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the United States

It’s the end of main stream media as we know it …

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, April 3rd, 2020 - 63 comments

The Covid-19 lock down has and will tip media companies already struggling to survive into closure.

Not a good day for an April Fool’s joke

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, April 1st, 2020 - 24 comments

David Farrar has shown that many of his commenters and followers do not understand satire.

CTU launches online tool for reporting bad employers

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, March 30th, 2020 - 27 comments

The Council of Trade Unions has launched an online tool allowing employees to log complaints against ill treatment by employers during the Covid-19 lockdown.

How this may play out

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, March 29th, 2020 - 212 comments

Developments on Covid-19 are happening at pace as we enter the make or break stage concerning the virus’s spread.

We are all socialists now

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, March 26th, 2020 - 131 comments

It seems that the pure free market approach is ill equipped to provide the world with the leadership and guidance it requires.

Political campaigning in a Covid-19 world

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, March 23rd, 2020 - 15 comments

How will the Covid-19 pandemic affect the 2020 election campaign, and are we looking at a postponement?

Relentless negativity

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, March 18th, 2020 - 57 comments

Simon Bridges has been criticised for his relentless negativity towards the Government’s urgent Covid-19 budget response and for playing politics as usual at a time when unity is required.

The right become socialists as Covid-19 bites

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, March 17th, 2020 - 38 comments

The right, elements of which have thought the best thing to do to the state is weaken it that badly that they could then drown it in a bathtub, are rethinking and now realise that a well resourced, active and engaged State is actually a life saver.

Different responses to the Covid virus pandemic

Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, March 16th, 2020 - 105 comments

It has been disclosed that Donald Trump has attempted to buy exclusive rights to a German vaccine in development. But only for the use of the American people. Meanwhile in New Zealand there is agreat anticipation about the Government’s announced package due to be released tomorrow.

Remember March 15

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, March 15th, 2020 - 9 comments

Today marks the first anniversary of the Christchurch Mosque shooting.

How does the government handle a pandemic induced world recession?

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, March 13th, 2020 - 152 comments

With the world’s economy in turmoil and infection rates continuing to surge the responses of different countries to the crisis shows markedly different results. And the issue could be the determining issue of this year’s election.

Red tape bonfire of the vanities

Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, March 9th, 2020 - 19 comments

National has promised a bonfire of regulations. Just like conservatives in Australia, the United Kingdom, America and previous National administrations.

The politics of gun control

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, March 9th, 2020 - 180 comments

National and NZ First are frustrating the passage of the Arms Legislation Bill by raising issues that may appeal to extremists but will not make the country a safer place after the Christchurch massacre.

What the Government has done for beneficiaries

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, March 7th, 2020 - 43 comments

In Parliament this week Carmel Sepuloni outlined action being taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group designed to improve the plight of beneficiaries.