Charter $chools
Today’s Herald has an excellent piece on charter schools – School cash flows to owners’ pockets. What a surprise!
Social issues
Zero integrity on zero hours
If you thought the Nats promising to sort out zero hours contracts was too good to be true — you were right.
Daily Review 20/08/2015
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other.
John Key’s brighter future is not for everyone
While beneficiary numbers decrease the incidence of beneficiaries being trespassed and the numbers of pregnant women living homeless is increasing. Are we really seeing things improve or are more and more people falling through the cracks?
Housing selloff – obsessive secrecy and power
National’s selloff of our state houses is yet another example of its two main obsessions, secrecy and unaccountable power.
Most allegations against Julian Assange dropped
Most of the allegations against Assange have been dropped but Swedish authorities still refuse to question him in London. And Assange still hasn’t been charged with a single crime.
TPP and the Pharmac reality
Key glibly says that the government will meet increased costs for medicine under the TPPP, but the reality for Pharmac is that its budget is already squeezed. If the TPP goes ahead Key’s promise will quickly be “forgotten”.
Hosking, Henry and Media Bias
Yesterday a debate that has occurred on the Standard about how main stream media has a right wing bias became mainstream when Winston Peters accused Mike Hosking of being a National Party Stooge. An online poll provided overwhelming support for his statement. And recently Steven Joyce attacked Rod Oram because his analytical thoughtful analysis critical of the Government displayed evidence of left wing bias.
Parsing John Key on TPPA
John Key made some outlandish claims about TPPA opponents this morning on the Paul Henry show. And in response, as usual, he was not pulled up on his claims by his interviewer.
TPPA Dairy Trade provision on the ropes?
The Herald is reporting this morning that the TPPA may not actually improve access for New Zealand’s Dairy exports to overseas markets.
Look at the future of families
In South Korea the colliding intersection between economics, tradition and demographics is probably at its most extreme. However the same kinds of effects are being seen all over the developed world, and increasingly in parts of the underdeveloped world – and here.
Daily Review 13/08/2015
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other.
TPPA Protests this week – Its our future
A large anti TPPA protest is scheduled for Saturday in Auckland and throughout the country during this week.
David Seymour is a Puppet
Bruce Robertson and Key have played Seymour like a Puppet. It’s like this was all ready to go. Just needed the right person […]
Corbyn and the Overton Window
A recent YouGov poll in the Times predicts Jeremy Corbyn will win the UK Labour leadership on first preferences alone. If he does win, Corbyn will shift the “Overton Window” of acceptable ideas leftward in the face of formidable opposition.
#Sheepgate and the war of metaphor
The war of metaphor requires the continuous repetition of a simple statement in the hope it becomes the accepted truth. Most of the time it works. But with #sheepgate it is starting to unravel.
Sunshine Coast holiday a life changing experience for our Children
…is swimming all day in a pool at the luxurious Denarau suite of high class hotels a learning experience? Spending days in water parks in Queensland life expanding? Is this sufficient to justify thumbing your nose at our education system, its principles (and principals) and making teachers re-teach these children to catch them up? What happened to the notion of “one law for all”?
Colin Craig’s electoral return
John Stringer has accused Colin Craig of filing a false electoral return. But even now it looks like the complaint may be doomed to failure.
Zero by 50
In Copenhagen, our government committed itself, and by extension, us “To hold the increase in global temperature below two degrees Celsius and to take actions to meet this objective, consistent with the science and on the basis of equity”
And yet…
National’s terrible deal making
A brief analysis of a number of deals that National has negotiated suggests that its reputation as a supposedly tough dealmaker is misplaced.
250 to 300 Job Losses at Unitec in Auckland
Under Unitec’s new vision students will be known as Customers. Student services will be outsourced (overseas)
Aspiration statementTo be a world leader in contemporary applied learning and an agent of positive economic and social change.
The Flag will make us rich
John Key thinks the new flag will make us all rich and be worth billions.
The dump of the #sheepgate papers
The sheepgate papers have been dumped and despite John Key’s claims to the contrary the only evidence of a change in position on live sheep exports is that of the National Government, not the previous Labour Government.
Colin Craig is serious
Colin Craig is serious about suing Williams, Stringer and Slater. His pamphlet is appearing in letter boxes (as far south as Dunedin). He’s putting dirty politics back in the spotlight, reminding NZ what a sleazy and amoral government this is, and the tactics and tools to which it will stoop. Updated with the soap-opera latest developments.
Well he would wouldn’t he
Key denies claims that he said Maori language month would be boring. Whatever the phrasing it’s clear that he was insensitive and a 16-year-old girl has been upset. Key should just do the decent thing and apologise.
Let’s Lynch the Landlord
As The Standard said at the time, the Government’s decision to destroy Relationships Aotearoa could be a colossal stuff up. And this morning we learn that a Canterbury landlord has allowed access to the sensitive files left behind when RA closed. Anne Tolley must act or Anne Tolley must go.
The modern precariat and the Unconditional Basic Income
A UBI would allow ordinary people to shift their daily focus from doing paid jobs making money for others, to doing useful work of their own choice, under their own control.
Maori language is not boring, John Key
John Key has managed to insult an idealistic young woman and Maori at the same time by saying that her suggestion that Maori Language week should be extended was boring.
Whitewash
Astonishing release late on a Friday afternoon (dump time!) that the police will not be pursuing any action against Slater/Ede for hacking Labour’s website. Given a whole year to investigate, they didn’t manage to find out how to spell Nicky Hager or Tim Barnett’s names.
All police to carry tasers
All frontline police will routinely carry tasers.
What’s a charter school gotta do?
What exactly does a charter school have to do in order to be held accountable?
Breathless children
Tim Groser has some advice for us on the TPP – “We need adults to do this, not breathless children to run off at the mouth when the deal is not actually finished.”
Jumped tripped or fell
Then they came for the Health Boards
It appears that the Government has a radical proposal to undermine democratic participation in our Health Boards. Although the Minister claims not to know about it.
Paula Bennett feeds raw meat to the base about Social Housing waiting lists
Paula Bennett wants us to believe that people on Housing Corporation’s waiting lists are choosy.
It’s not just Serco, it’s state operated prisons
Recent focus has been on the tragedy and incompetence of a Serco run private prison. But problems extend further than that, into the entire way NZ views its prison system. We need fundamental penal reform.