Kia kaha Sonny Bill Williams
Tony Veitch and Mike Hosking are in a lather because Sonny Bill Williams refuses to be a corporate billboard.
Media
the praiseworthy and the pitiful
The United Airlines fiasco
United Airlines in America has in the past few days provided a text book example of how a large corporation should not behave.
A basic primer on the law of defamation
There has been some very confused reporting on the fate of Andrew Little in the Hagaman defamation trial.
The sure fire way that a young person can own a house in Auckland
The Standard has on your behalf read the Herald’s latest article on how young people in Auckland can own their home and worked out the most important thing a young person can do to buy a home in Auckland.
HERALD EXCLUSIVE ON HIT AND RUN shows they haven’t read it
Worst piece of “journalism” on Hit and Run so far.
Update: To their credit, as of 11am this piece of nonsense seems to have vanished from The Herald website.
When right-wing hacks confess the damage that they do
Some right-wing hacks (like Glenn Beck) are recanting their rants and apologising for the damage that they’ve done. I reckon a few more should follow their brave lead.
This Government’s citizenship priorities
Environmental activist Michael Tavares request for an exceptional circumstances grant of citizenship has been refused by this Government whereas right wing libertarian Peter Thiel’s request for an exceptional circumstances grant of citizenship was granted. Why the difference?
Nothing to fear, nothing to hide
Todd Barclay has chosen to co-operate fully with the police investigation into his actions by getting a lawyer and refusing to say anything to them.
#Trumpcare
The proposed Republican replacement of Obamacare will, surprise surprise, result in lower benefits, reduced coverage and a tax cut for the wealthy.
Nick Smith is a disgrace
In a functioning democracy Nick Smith’s handling of the Resource Management Bill should result in him losing his ministerial warrant.
Dick of the year
Yesterday, on International Women’s day David Seymour chose to attack Metiria Turei for what she was wearing.
National accuses John Key of shying away from the hard issues
Shambolic scenes as Bill English’s twitter account tweets criticism of John Key not taking the hard decisions regarding superannuation eligibility, then the tweet gets deleted. And Bill did not know the tweet had been sent out.
Housing crisis what housing crisis
The Government’s estimate of the extent of the housing crisis has recently been shown to be totally out of touch and to add further pathos it is counting kiwi families urgently housed in motels in tourism statistics.
Trump Whitehouse bans critical media from briefing
It is day 37 of Donald Trump’s reign as POTUS. Today he decided to attack elements of the press that have been critical of him by banning them from a press conference.
Nick Smith becomes Minister of Government Information
The Government intends to change the definitions of various indicators in an effort to solve some of the country’s most serious problems.
Jonathan Pie – A Socialist agenda
Jonathan Pie on why being a socialist is actually a good thing.
Watching the journalists
“The obligation of a journalist is to serve the public”
Hypocrisy watch – Michael Flynn
Over in the United States of Trumpsville National Security Advisor to the Trump White House Mike Flynn, who famously said that Hillary Clinton should be locked up for threatening national security by having a private email server, has been sacked for threatening national security and for lying to the vice president.
Heroes
All the “nobody” people.
Medicinal Cannabis law reform
The Government is finally moving to adopt Labour policy and loosen requirements for the use of medicinal cannabis.
The Waitangi Experience
A guest post from Enzo Giordani’s outlining his personal experience of the latest Waitangi day celebrations at Waitangi.
The SOE sell down three years on
Some time in the next 12 months it is likely that the forgone dividend payments and loss in share value from the Power Company shares and Air NZ share sale will be greater than the amount received, only three years after the sale.
Smartest guy in the room
The Government signed a deal with Peter Thiel that socialised the losses and allowed him to privatise the gains of the joint venture fund that the parties entered into.
The inauguration of Trump: Jonathan Pie reacts
Jonathan Pie gets angry at Trump’s treatment of the media.
The great Taxpayers Union fraud and corruption discovery
The Taxpayer’s Union has shown a concerning inability to comprehend in its criticism of MFAT for supporting an aid initiative to address malnutrition in Africa.
Refining that dog whistle
Bill English has used a proposal for timing of his Waitangi speech to wrongly claim that he is being silenced. And most of the media bought it.
Wikileaks unravels
In the space of a day Wikileaks managed to complain about another entity leaking information, threaten to dox pretty well every reporter, delete the tweet and then sound like Donald Trump.
The St Johns Industrial Dispute – #HealthyAmbosSaveLives
St Johns is one of the first organisations to use new Industrial powers brought in by the Government and is attempting to refuse to negotiate with First Union and is docking workers pay for wearing a campaign t-shirt.
The Centrelink fiasco
In Australia the Turnbull Government is implementing a policy that will demand in 12 months at least 200,000 Australians repay benefits they were entitled to because of faulty data mapping.
Some lighthearted banter
Peter Leitch has hired Michelle Boag to deal with publicity issues caused by his comment that Waiheke is a white man’s island. She has not helped.
The return of Kim Dotcom and the Internet Party and the NZ journalist seeking asylum in Russia
In strange news Kim Dotcom is talking about resurrecting the Internet Party and claims have been made that a New Zealand journalist is seeking asylum in Russia. Update: I am satisfied the application is for real.
The Standard’s ten most popular posts of 2016
The Standard’s ten most popular posts of 2016.
Pauline Hanson declares jihad on Vegemite
Pauline Hanson is upset that vegemite has achieved Halaal status.
Facebook, fake news and Donald Trump’s election
Donald Trump’s success in the recent Presidential Election may have had a lot to do with very judicious use of targeted Facebook advertising and the proliferation of fake news stories.
Well done Murray McCully
Murray McCully has had New Zealand co sponsor a successful Security Council resolution condemning Israel for violating International Law through its resettlement policy.
Steven Joyce rewrites history
Steven Joyce believes that doing something is the same as not doing something.