The Standard

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Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, January 16th, 2018 - 68 comments

The language is the life force of the mana Māori.  Which is why the Government and the Opposition should pledge support to ensure it survives and thrives.

Racist dog whistling

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, January 14th, 2018 - 64 comments

We may think that we now live in more enlightened times where the scourge of racism is finally being dealt to and is no longer considered acceptable but recent events in Australia and the United States suggests that this is not the case.

Won’t somebody please think about the RONs?

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, January 11th, 2018 - 210 comments

National has announced a publicity campaign not about climate change or child poverty or our failing health systems or the housing crisis or anything else but about roads.

What will 2018 hold for Labour?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 10th, 2018 - 201 comments

What does Labour do this year to make sure this Government is a success and its achievements something that progressives can be proud of?

Duck and cover

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, January 4th, 2018 - 184 comments

Over the past 24 hours Trump has threatened war by comparing button sizes with Kim Jon Un and Steve Bannon has described Trump Campaign’s 2016 meeting with a group of Russians in Trump Tower as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.

What will 2018 bring for National?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 4th, 2018 - 179 comments

What are National’s prospects this year?  Will Bill English survive as leader?  Will there be resignations and a clean out of the front bench?  Stay tuned …

Israel fights back

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, January 2nd, 2018 - 168 comments

In what may be the first of a number of publicity stunts Rabbi Shmulay Boteach has placed a full page advertisement in the Washington Post condemning Lorde and New Zealand for showing solidarity with Palestine.

What will 2018 bring for Donald Trump?

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, January 1st, 2018 - 181 comments

The New York Times has broken a astory suggesting that Australian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Downer informed the FBI that the Trump camp knew about the Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton’s emails four months before the 2016 Presidential election.

The ten most popular Standard posts of 2017

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, December 31st, 2017 - 8 comments

The ten most read Standard posts of 2017.

The Standard’s most commented on posts of 2017

Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, December 30th, 2017 - 27 comments

The ten most commented on posts in the Standard for 2017.

The right loses its shit after a public servant accidentally tweets from the wrong account

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, December 26th, 2017 - 111 comments

An accidental tweet from a Government account has led the right to claim the existence of all sorts of conspiracies.

Doofus of the week – Christmas edition

Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, December 23rd, 2017 - 20 comments

Doofus of the week Christmas edition is awarded to Jordan Williams for criticising Jacinda Ardern for entering into the spirit of Christmas through #nzsecretsanta and for comparing socialism to Father Christmas.

The United Nations gives Trump the middle finger

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, December 22nd, 2017 - 252 comments

The United Nations has responded to Donald Trump’s threat to cut aid funding if it voted to condemn America’s decision to recognise Jerisalem as Israel’s capital by overwhelmingly support the decision.

Jian Yang wanted to help the SIS with recruitment

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, December 21st, 2017 - 24 comments

Matt Nippert has made further revelations about Jian Yang including that he lobbied on behalf of an unsuccessful applicant for a security sensitive job with the New Zealand Defence Force and that he disclosed to Auckland University but not to Immigration that he had worked for a PLA University.

National brings its B game to social media

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, December 20th, 2017 - 52 comments

A couple of recent examples suggests that National’s social media game is well below standard.  And Judith Collins is no longer the Parliamentary Queen of twitter.

The new government’s approach to climate change

Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, December 19th, 2017 - 119 comments

The Government has announced the phasing out of the granting of permits for oil gas and coal extraction.  Greenpeace thinks there should be a ban on new permits being granted.

The Herald is obsessed with the latest Colmar Brunton poll

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, December 17th, 2017 - 47 comments

The Herald’s weekend political comment includes detailed analysis of the Colmar Brunton poll, now a week old, but ignored the details of the mini budget.

Doofus of the week – Jami Lee-Ross

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, December 16th, 2017 - 69 comments

Jami Lee-Ross wins the award this week for trying to hold up the passage of a law designed to make sure kids get enough to eat just so he could eat his lunch and then throwing the most amazing of temper tantrums when he did not get his way.

Media response to Labour’s budget

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, December 15th, 2017 - 115 comments

Media response to the new Government’s mini budget has been overwhelmingly positive.

The Alabama senate race

Written By: - Date published: 2:44 pm, December 13th, 2017 - 45 comments

The Alabama Senate election results are starting to feed through with Democrat Doug Jones slightly ahead of Republican Roy Moore in the Republican stronghold after very early results.

The Herald thinks Jacinda Ardern is a Marxist

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, December 13th, 2017 - 204 comments

The Herald has equated Jacinda Ardern’s desire to temper the worst excesses of capitalism with the full embrace of marxist communism.

National needs a friend

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, December 12th, 2017 - 43 comments

National is pondering one of the realities of MMP.  Without friends its chances of becoming Government are very limited.

Latest Comar Brunton poll result

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, December 10th, 2017 - 88 comments

The latest Colmar Brunton results just released suggests that support for the Government parties is stable and support for Jacinda Ardern is surging.

Doofus of the week

Written By: - Date published: 3:09 pm, December 9th, 2017 - 40 comments

Bill English claims the award for doofus of the week with his incredible statement that the country being 72,000 houses short is not a crisis and Labour should just deal with it anyway.

Twyford reverses National’s flawed methamphetamine housing policy

Written By: - Date published: 6:29 am, December 9th, 2017 - 71 comments

Phil Twyford has shown this new Government has a brain as well as a heart by halting National’s ridiculous state house methamphetamine policy where the presence of minuscule traces would result in eviction even though there was no proof the tenant was responsible and he has apologised to Robert Erueti for the harm caused.

National Standards causes decline in educational levels

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, December 7th, 2017 - 30 comments

The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study results suggests that National Standards has been a failure.

Trump trashes chance of Middle East peace for giggles and a diversion

Written By: - Date published: 6:54 am, December 7th, 2017 - 52 comments

Donald Trump is expected to controversially announce the movement of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Australian Parliament votes to accept New Zealand’s Manus Island offer

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, December 5th, 2017 - 30 comments

The Australian Parliament voted yesterday, against the Government’s wishes, to accept New Zealand’s offer to take refugees from Manus Island.  At least for a short time.

Shane Jones and work for the dole

Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, December 4th, 2017 - 94 comments

Shane Jones has muddied a perfectly good job creation policy by talking about work for the dole.

Flynn cuts a deal while Trump scrambles

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, December 4th, 2017 - 147 comments

Donald Trump’s response to news of the arrest of Michael Flynn suggests that charges closer to the office of the President may be close.

Deranged Golriz Syndrome

Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, December 3rd, 2017 - 102 comments

David Farrar has continued his crusade against Golriz Ghahraman with a claim of 15 instances where she has by implication deceived us.