Proxy Music
Jami-Lee Ross has passed his proxy vote to NZ First, elevating waka jumping to an Olympic sport. How bad does it have to get before the Tory caucus puts Simon Bridges out of his misery?
Politics
democratic participation
Labour Party Conference 2018
It’s conference time! The NZ Labour party is into it’s second century and into Government. What can we expect from this weekend’s hui in Dunedin and what policies and positions do Standard readers think need to be pushed?
An Ineffectual Opposition Is Bad News
An ineffectual Opposition creates a vacuum that will be filled by the Mainstream and Social Media as they will assume the role of unelected and non-representative opposition in effectuo.
Concert Woes.
Compensation for not getting to see someone in concert? $12 000. Compensation for being imprisoned in a big bloody compound and shot at by snipers if you go anywhere near the perimeter fence? Nothing. But…
Modern Technology Is Eroding Our Society
People are losing their people skills rapidly and it is having an effect on society.
Will there be a Brexit?
In short, I think not.
Coalition Problems? Tell ’em they’re Dreaming!
Oh dear. The Winston Peters led governing coalition has completely collapsed and thank God Simon Bridges is there to pick up the pieces. I warned you this would happen! And look! Over there … the sky is falling. Falling, I tells ya!
US Mid Terms; Obama Enters the Ring
America gets ready to rumble in the November mid terms, as Barack Obama enters the ring. At stake is control of both houses and the fate of the Trump presidency.
Let Chelsea Manning speak
Chelsea Manning wants to visit New Zealand and talk about how evil war is and what should be done to stop it. We should let her.
The end of ACT
With his proposal to reduce the effectiveness of Parliament David Seymour is clearly looking for relevance.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, New Zealand
In 1962, John F Kennedy said “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Is peaceful revolution possible in South Africa, Zimbabwe or New Zealand?
Happy birthday Nelson Mandela
It is Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday. Happy birthday to him. If he was alive today he would be 100 years old.
Where have our rights gone?
Great to see that the State Services Commissioner has widened the investigation into the use of private investigators hired by the state against its citizens. But. They should go further.
Were Etu union delegates threatened at a select committee?
National MP Parmjeet Parmar has been accused of threatening to tell the employers of submitters to a Select Committee what they had said in evidence if they did not withdraw their statements.
The law and order debate and the grade one tosser
The Government has announced it will not proceed with the Waikeria mega prison as part of its policy to decrease the prison muster by 30%. And the called for public debate starts off with one of the major players using a study the author of which subsequently retracted because the data he relied on was wrong.
Democratic Party thunks on Gaza
The “lesser of two evils” speaks its mind.
Algorithms are threatening our democracy
Algorithms are a form of fascism – yet a fascism from data manipulation rather than from the state. Are they a threat to our democracy?
The election year party donations returns
The election year donation returns have been released and show a surge of donations for Labour but National still well ahead.
New Zealand Is all right, at the end
Democracy’s permanence is not inevitable. Its imagining is not beyond imagining. And New Zealand is one of the shrinking number of democracies who really have it.
“Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job”
Two speakers from yesterday’s March for Our Lives.
Democracy, Faux Democracy and Terror.
Facebook, Putin, poisoning and Ghouta have all given fairly extensive media coverage of late. Nothing much on Afrin. Afrin has just fallen to terrorists backed by Turkey.
Update: the photo used for this post is of the The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA), who are part of the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces fighting in Syria.
Green Party statements on giving their parliamentary Questions to the Opposition
“As Greens, we’ve always stood for modernising our democracy, making MPs more accountable and giving the public better access to the levers of power.”
Greens give National their primary questions for oral answer
The Greens have offered National their Primary Questions for oral answer in Parliament without conditions.
Is youth the new political divide?
There is evidence in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand that youth and not class may be the new political divide.
Genter and Davidson
The Green female co-leader candidates did a Q and A last night with Stuff political reporter Henry Cooke. They covered a range of topics, including the Budget Responsibility Rules. The interview gives good insight into how the Green Party works and where they are headed, as well as into the two candidates themselves.
Nationwide public meetings: TPPA-11 update, and what we can do
Auckland 12 Feb – Wellington 14 Feb – Nelson 20 Feb – Christchurch 21 Feb – Dunedin 22 Feb
The Housing Crisis.
Can politics deliver?
The 2017 General Election electorate expense returns
Last year’s electorate expense returns have now been made public.
Zen and the art of greening the government
Democracy, protest, and what makes this the first ever progressive New Zealand MMP government.
What should happen at Waitangi
The ideal occurrences this year at Waitangi would be …
Join Marama for an Announcement February 4th
Marama Davidson – Kia ora whānau! It would mean so much to me if you would all come and support my event on Sunday 04 Feb at 11am. We’ll be livestreaming the event so even if you can’t physically be there and you’d like to tautoko you can click ‘going’.
Solidarity
History not forgotten.
Shock horror right wing think tank thinks NZ not very democratic
National’s cheerleaders are pushing an international report which suggests that New Zealand’s democratic system is only slightly better than average in world terms. But the organisation behind the report and the methodology used need some checking.
Another middle finger?
With just over half the votes counted, it looks like Catalonia has opted to ditch Spanish central rule.
Gareth Hughes: Passing a motion and other Parliamentary jargon
Democracy misunderstood is democracy denied.
Broadcasting Standards Authority finds Mike Hosking’s election comments about the Māori Party inaccurate and misleading
“Further, his comments the following evening were confusing and insufficient to correct the inaccurate information for viewers.”