Tolley upsets Youth Parliamentarian
Anne Tolley has attracted adverse attention to the Youth Parliament by telling a young participant that she should not read from speech notes.
Politics
Posts on government and governence at national and local level, political parties,politicians, and political participation
Brian Easton on methane
Brian Easton has put up a interesting post at Pundit which looks at how we should measure and constrain in our methane emissions. My initial impression is that his approach defeats the purpose of trying to reduce the effects of climate change over the coming century.
Matata
Many a bold claim has been made for the necessity of responding to climate change, but when it comes to storms affecting one’s own home, Matata is surely the test case of this century.
Sometimes explaining is not losing
Stacey Kirk thinks that Julie Anne Genter should not have criticised National’s spin on the Government’s fuel efficient importation policy but forgets to do her basic job of analysing National’s spin.
Dinosaurs Fight Extinction Rebellion
Dinosaurs are speeding up our extinction.
Make America white again
Donald Trump has attacked a group of young female Democrat politicians and has claimed they should go back to the country they were born in. Even though they were actually born in the United States.
D Day for ETS?
There are rumours that the Interim Climate Change Committee will propose that agriculture is included in the Emissions Trading Scheme as an interim measure to allow a levy/rebate system that can operate at a farm level.
Nats must hate Auckland’s building consents boom
The rate at which the building consents have increased in Auckland, and the shift to a more useful mix, has been incredibly fast. You can understand why National after their decade of failure for housing and transport have been targeting the authors of that success. It highlights National’s economic incompetence.
A Good Week for Conservation
Three big, bold moves for conserving nature and expanding our awareness of it were announced inn the last week. All of them led by Minister Eugenie Sage.
Simon Bridges Going Blue in the Face Barking at Green Cars
Simon Bridges is barking madly at green cars.
The return of Banks?
John Banks is reported to be considering another run at the Auckland mayoralty.
Aussies – utterly predictable right down to the last words.
It isn’t often that I read a sports story. My view was that if you aren’t doing a sport, then what is the point in watching others doing it? Work on something that you can do. However a title on an aussie ABC article caught me – “New Zealand earn genuine respect”. Now that was unusual…
How To Get There 14/7/19
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
Trump’s social media summit
Donald Trump’s social media summit, a white house gathering of right wing extremists and media trolls, is the complete antithesis of the post Christchurch massacre gathering organised by Jacinda Ardern to address the damage that social media can cause.
Submit or surrender
The submission period for the Zero Carbon Bill closes shortly. Please make a submission. This may be the New Zealand Goverment’s last chance to put in place measures to get us to carbon neutrality in time to make a difference.
Guest post – Bucking the trend at ECAN
A guest post from Anthony Rimell about a very disturbing attempt by ECAN to allow the levels of nitrate leach into Christchurch’s water supply to increase.
Government plans to disincentivise purchase of gas guzzlers
Julie Anne Genter has released a policy document proposing rebates for the purchase of electric and fuel efficient vehicles funded by a surcharge on gas guzzlers to start the transition of our vehicle fleet to carbon neutrality.
Is POTUS up to the job?
A senior Psychologist thinks that POTUS Donald Trump is not up to doing the job. And the UK Ambassador to the US says that the Trump White House is uniquely dysfunctional and inept.
Labour to repeal ban on family caregivers seeking justice
The Government has increased funding for family caregivers of people with disabilities and is moving to repeal one of the most constitutionally outrageous legislative provisions that the prevoius Government enacted.
How To Get There 7/7/19
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
National supports 47% tax rate for top income bracket *
* this is one possible interpretation for National’s praise of the Morrisonn Government’s change to Australian tax system.
Southland and Thames think they don’t have climate crises
Regular Standard contributor Robert Guyton put up a great fight but has failed to persuade the dinosaurs on Environment Southland to declare a climate emergency.
Tamihere wants to privatise half of Watercare
John Tamihere has caused jaws throughout the region to drop by proposing that half of Watercare is privatised.
5G flip flop
Six weeks after banning China’s leading tech firm Huawei from contracts with U.S. businesses, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have reversed it after meeting China’s Premier Xi Jinping.
The right wing death threat against Winston
Newshub has revealed that Winston Peters has received death threats. And the allegations involve the European far right, the Christchurch attack, the anti UN Migrant pact movement and the National Party.
How Brexit Party won the social media battle
A review of the use of social media has suggested that the Brexit Party’s campaign was far superior to that of its opponents.
How To Get There 30/6/19
Welcome to TS’s Sunday think piece. It’s a blank sheet, a tabula rasa, waiting for your thoughts on the future and How To Get There.
National offers to help with housing crisis
On behalf of the National Party Judith Collins has offered to help Labour deal with the housing crisis, the one that National is responsible for.
What happened to one person one vote?
Did you know that under our local electoral system some people get more than one vote?
Labour’s cautious cabinet reshuffle
The results of Labour’s cabinet reshuffle have been announced.
National’s reshuffle
Simon Bridges had the chance to show leadership yesterday, cement his leadership of the National caucus, reward on talent and hard work and seek to unite a caucus that clearly has a few problems. How did he do?
100% carbon free power generation?
The Interim Climate Change Commission has come out saying that making our electricity generation 100% renewable would be really expensive and that that expense would land on the poor of New Zealand. But the Government has already indicated it could be flexible on the target. ICCC should be helping us plan, not throwing road blocks in the way.
Like nats leaving a sinking ship
Amy Adams and Alistair Scott have announced their retirement from politics at the next election.
Regulating Bankers
Grant Robertson gets occasional criticism from the left but it is hard to fault him for his timing or his delivery in seeking to strengthen banking sector oversight.
The strange case of the missing Oregon Republican State senators
Republican State Senators in the state of Oregon have headed for the hills and are being protected by a local nut job militia in an effort to thwart the democratically elected majority from doing passing a law to address climate change.
Right wing loses it after Prime Minister makes a cake
In a week where Donald Trump almost starts war against Iran, gets accused again of sexual assault, and has his ICE staff deny toothpaste, soap and blankets to kids in detention and Boris Johnson gets accused of domestic violence the local right loose it when Jacinda Ardern makes a cake.