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Social issues

Categories under Social issues

MPs are harmful to digital communications

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, September 11th, 2015 - 21 comments

As anticipated, what is the first complaint at this site under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015? Not from a kid cyber-bullied by the classmates. But by an adult trying to stifle legitimate criticism and analysis of what they wrote and distributed digitally. And they didn’t read what they were required to do under the act.

Flag process a missed opportunity

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, September 10th, 2015 - 123 comments

Any new flag for NZ should have been a unifying symbol. Instead Key has turned the referendum into a divisive process. Faced with four crap flag choices we’ll probably vote for no change and the whole stupid $26m process will have been a complete waste of time and money. Ludicrous.

In Our Back Yard – Manus Island and Nauru

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, September 9th, 2015 - 12 comments

As the photo claims, refugees are human beings. We can tell this from general expressions of resignation, desperation and misery.

But what about our own expressions of humanity?

The strip mining of Housing Corporation

Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, September 9th, 2015 - 82 comments

At a time where the need for social housing has possibly never been greater the Housing Corporation is to pay the Government a dividend of $118 million, the third largest in the Corporation’s history.

Those who would censor

Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, September 8th, 2015 - 106 comments

NZ’s first book banning in over 20 years. Another own goal from “Family First”.

Body on Key’s moral compass

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, September 8th, 2015 - 48 comments

moral choices focus groups body

Geddis on Key’s guts

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, September 7th, 2015 - 10 comments

Andrew Geddis on Key’s bravado when it comes to sending other people to fight in a war, and his prevarication when it comes to helping war’s victims.

Syria and Internationalism

Written By: - Date published: 4:02 pm, September 6th, 2015 - 90 comments

I wonder if the current public outpouring of sympathy for Syrian refugees is nought but a ‘fashion’, or whether it’s the beginnings of a renaissance for internationalism.

National’s refugee backdown

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, September 5th, 2015 - 82 comments

In both England and New Zealand conservative Prime Ministers are looking to urgently backtrack from recent refusals to do anything further for refugees.

Red Peak

Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, September 5th, 2015 - 296 comments

I’m no fan of the flag process. I think its a waste of money and a distraction from the real issues. I don’t think there has been any public sign of engagement or interest to be worth commenting on. Until now. Red peak for the compromise win?

A schools league table that we need

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 am, September 4th, 2015 - 15 comments

The Nats have created the (spurious) data for school “league tables” so that parents can be fully informed and make choices, so they tell us. But it seems that parents don’t deserve to be fully informed about the dangerous physical health of schools. That would be just too inconvenient.

Maurice Williamson super jerk

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, September 3rd, 2015 - 111 comments

National MP Maurice Williamson was reported to have been so offensive in a recent presentation at SkyCity that attendees walked out of an awards dinner.

Is Syria the first failed state because of climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, September 2nd, 2015 - 172 comments

A climate change induced drought from 2006 to 2009 appears to have sparked the instability that has caused the Syrian Civil war.  The mass exodus of citizens that we are witnessing may be the first of many climate change induced events.

Daily Review 01/09/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, September 1st, 2015 - 23 comments

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.

NRT: Meh

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, September 1st, 2015 - 92 comments

Today the government announced the four candidates for John Key’s vanity flag referendum: three ferns (one of them the logo of Immigration NZ and the Companies Office) and a koru. And really, all I can say is “meh”. So how about defining a good way of doing a informal or invalid vote on this stupid first referendum on selecting John Key’s underwear..

Regional Realities.

Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, August 31st, 2015 - 133 comments

FYI. The most populous town in Clutha District is Balclutha, which lies 81km south of Dunedin by road. Balclutha’s population, by the 2006 census, was 4,062 (down from 4,137 in 1996). Other towns are Milton (pop. 1,887), Kaitangata (pop. 810), Tapanui (pop. 744), Lawrence (pop. 432), Owaka (pop. 327), Stirling (pop. 309), Clinton (pop. 291), Kaka Point (pop. 201), and Benhar (pop. 96). For a while in the 1980s Balclutha was New Zealand’s most wealthy town, per capita

The politicisation of the All Blacks

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, August 31st, 2015 - 224 comments

All Black fan boy John Key opened up Parliament to allow the New Zealand Rugby Union announce this year’s world cup All Black squad on the weekend.

70 refugees dead in small truck on Austrian roadside

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 pm, August 28th, 2015 - 107 comments

When European and NATO countries participate in destabilising and destroying nearby countries, the human tragedy doesn’t stay neatly confined to the other side of the border.

Tom Scott on housing

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, August 28th, 2015 - 20 comments

Scott-on-housing

In face of share market meltdown, Govt’s options limited

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, August 26th, 2015 - 55 comments

John Key says New Zealand has options in the face of a share market meltdown and is not like Greece (well that’s a relief). Simon Louisson asks how real are John Key’s options? Thanks to this Government’s profligate past spending, including irresponsible tax cuts, our options have narrowed drastically.

National Ltd™’s Shane Reti Caught Out In Another Lie

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, August 26th, 2015 - 32 comments

Shane Reti lied about the process of ratifying the TPP. In a Press Release to the Northern Advocate, Reti states “. . . the agreement comes before parliament and opposition parties and select committees for debate and modifications . . .”

TPP – dooming our grandchildren to poverty

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, August 25th, 2015 - 31 comments

… up to 45% of current jobs will cease to exist.

Those abused in state care deserve apology

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, August 25th, 2015 - 9 comments

The report of the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service highlights a shameful chapter in NZ history. What possible reason could there be for the government not to apologise directly to the victims?

Serco has yet more explaining to do

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, August 24th, 2015 - 10 comments

New allegations that at least one Serco prison guard was active involved in Mt Eden’s “fight club”. In some ways the public mess that Serco has made of Mt Eden has done us all a favour

The Centre of Attention

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 pm, August 22nd, 2015 - 93 comments

In a post on Public Address titled “In defence of the centre” Rob Salmond uses a Guardian article by George Monbiot to pose the question “whether the old political orthodoxy of ‘move to the middle’ is, long term, a death-knell for left-leaning parties.” It’s good that Salmond’s raised the question; it’s certainly a matter for debate.

Charter $chools

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, August 22nd, 2015 - 20 comments

Today’s Herald has an excellent piece on charter schools – School cash flows to owners’ pockets. What a surprise!

Zero integrity on zero hours

Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, August 21st, 2015 - 4 comments

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

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, August 20th, 2015 - 11 comments

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

Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, August 20th, 2015 - 46 comments

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

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, August 19th, 2015 - 21 comments

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

Written By: - Date published: 6:39 pm, August 18th, 2015 - 94 comments

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.