The test
After building a political career that has consisted of little more than calling for tax cuts and attacking those that were delivered, John […]
Steve Pierson
Changing the subject
Former National advisor Richard Long has let the cat out of the bag. The day before National’s much-hyped, cure-all tax cut package is to be […]
Will Labour back $15 minimum wage?
The unions want the minimum wage lifted to $15 an hour, two thirds of the average hourly rate, restoring the historic ratio. The […]
Key still hopping on Hobsonville
At the first Helensville candidates’ debate last night, John Key reversed his position on state housing once again. Despite using the years he […]
Spray and hope
This is so funny. Click on image for full zoom.
The rainy day cometh
The Pre-election Fiscal Update projects that gross debt will rise from 17.4% today to 24.3% of GDP in five years. Fortunately, we are […]
Spin-busting: Govt could have used surpluses for tax cuts
With the economic situation deteriorating the surpluses the Government has run for the first eight years have turned to a deficit. National’s line […]
Party like it’s 1946
Reverting to type
Fearing a PR disaster over their tax-cut package announcement later this week, National has reverted to type, shedding the moderate facade and proposing […]
Previewing the Prefu
Tomorrow the government’s books will be opened up. It is not expected to be a pretty picture. Oil prices and the credit crunch […]
Fighting the moral fight
There are two core strains to left-wing thought. Both of them can be seen as rooted in the evolution of the scientific method […]
Drawing your attention
Malcolm Evans, award-winning former Herald cartoonist, is bloody good at what he does – insightful, well-drawn, concerned with the big issues, and always on the side of the […]
The Standard Week: 26 September – 3 October
So, there’s no articles on Key in this edition of the Standard Week. I know! Hardly believable. But there’s a reason for that. […]
CTU on closing the wage gap
The Council of Trade Unions has done a lot of work on why wages are low for many workers in New Zealand and […]
Wage gap decreasing thanks to pro-worker policies
As The Standard first reported on April 1 and Radio New Zealand picked up today, Treasury figures show that the wage gap […]
Good on youse
Yesterday, I printed and cut 6500 A6 leaflets from the designs on the Campaign Hub and took them along to Drinking Liberally. They […]
How big is big enough?
The first round of the tax cuts that National derided as the ‘block of cheese’ tax cuts kicked in on Wednesday. Next week, […]
Rhetoric vs reality
With expectations about National’s tax cuts justifably very high (thanks to National talking them up for nine years), National is suddenly trying to […]
Reminder: Drinking Liberally Wgtn tonight
Just a wee reminder for anyone in Wellington. Scoop.co.nz political editor and former Listener journo Gordon Campbell is at Drinking Liberally tonight to […]
Speculators stuff up, put us all in peril
The formula to determine the fair value of a share is pretty simple – take the expected future dividends,adjust them using the discount rate, […]
Here’s an idea, ask the expert
Don’t take it from me. Certainly don’t take it from a National hack, who despite being a professional statistician, is too dishonest to […]
Insulting
David Farrar really is a disgusting person at times. He writes that we shouldn’t look at overall crime rates (although he made a […]
Great expectations
John Key is being pretty evasive on his tax cut plan. He won’t say whether the famous ‘$50 a week for the average worker’ […]
Crime falls again
Crime fell 1% in the last year from 1025 recorded crimes per 10,000 people to 1014. This is part of a pattern that […]
Nats’ ‘NZ sucks’ campaign vs the facts
08wire produces some of the most well-thought out and best argued pieces on the blogosphere, as well as great videos. Well, I know […]
Between the lines: Nats’ RMA free-for-all
The RMA is a quick and cheap process in the vast majority of cases, and it is regarded as a world-leading piece of […]
When did lying become OK?
On Breakfast this morning, failed National party candidate Paul Henry and Guyon Espiner discussed the possibility of the Maori Party and National working […]
The Kingmaker but only one potential King
Let’s get serious about the idea of the Maori Party working with National. Yes, they want to play up the possibility to enhance […]
More posters and leaflets on the Hub
We’ve got a range new posters and leaflets up on the Campaign Hub and we’re keen to see more. Some people are printing […]
Gordon Campbell at Drinking Liberally, Wlgtn
You probably already read him on Scoop Election ’08 and he’s a former Listener journalist too. The topic of his talk is: ‘Covering […]
Take on Key
Greeenwoman has done it again, another brilliant video on Key using a classic music video:
What will you do with your tax cut?
If your annual income is over $14,000, your tax will decrease by $12 to $28 a week from Wednesday. That’s a reduction of […]
Still nothing personal
National desperately wants to portray any criticism of John Key as a personal attack. Don’t be taken in. Look, PM is a powerful […]
Expect the unexpected
I’m probably going to be at odds with my fellow Standardistas in this but I support having debates featuring just Clark and Key. […]
Nats desperate to silence grassroots activists
An email from a reader: “A friend and I were putting up some Vote with Both Eyes Open posters on Lambton Quay the […]
The Standard Week: 19-26 September
Slippery John does it again. Asked a clear question by a reporter, he lied to her face. It was only when Fran Mold […]