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Greens: Urgent action needed to soften inflation blow for low income NZers

Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, April 21st, 2022 - 68 comments

The Green Party says that if the Government is concerned about fiscal stimulus, the best approach would be to broaden the tax base to cover untaxed capital gains or wealth of the richest New Zealanders… Alongside broadening our tax base, the Green Party proposes a suite of policies.

Green Party press release

Why trust in the media is declining

Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, April 10th, 2022 - 47 comments

A recent study into New Zealand’s media suggests that trust in what the media says is declining and that views of what is good and bad media is more and more dependent on the participant’s world view.

Go well Ashley Bloomfield

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, April 10th, 2022 - 31 comments

With a sense of regret for many of us this week Ashley Bloomfield announced his pending resignation as Director General of Health.

Act’s generous donors and its anti Treaty campaign

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, March 26th, 2022 - 65 comments

This has not had the media attention that it deserves but Act has raised, to use the technical term, a shit load of money recently.  And it is using this money to engage in some good old fashioned racist dog whistling.

Luxon thinks helping poor people is Bottom Feeding

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, March 22nd, 2022 - 81 comments

Chris Luxon has admitted in National media that provision of assistance to the poor is “bottom feeding”.

Crisis, What Crisis?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, March 22nd, 2022 - 88 comments

There is only so much New Zealand and its government can do to soften the blows of the instability that are besetting the world.  And the problem is without dramatic change New Zealand will remain one of the most car-addicted, petrol reliant societies on earth for several decades to come.

Denazifying Ukraine

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 pm, March 6th, 2022 - 128 comments

One of Vladimir Putin’s objectives in the Russian incursion into Ukraine was to “denazify Ukraine.” With the breakdown in the agreement to allow a humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol, this task will be much harder and the terrorist toll much higher. Once Russia has succeeded however, the world will be a better place for it.

Two years of living dangerously

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, March 1st, 2022 - 75 comments

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the first Covid case in New Zealand. What a time it has been.

Watch China’s next move

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 pm, February 24th, 2022 - 61 comments

Why should we in New Zealand give a damn about Ukraine? My answer is: China.

What does the right to protest actually mean?

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, February 16th, 2022 - 62 comments

A primer on the “right to protest”.  Contrary to the views of some there is no right to protest.  Instead there are rights of assembly, movement and a right to freedom of speech.  And there is no absolute right to do these things at Parliament.

100 Things We’ve Lost

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, February 16th, 2022 - 25 comments

Over the past two years we have lost so many things that are not coming back.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff to Retire

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 15th, 2022 - 6 comments

Some thoughts on the contribution of Phil Goff to Auckland during his term as Mayor.

Can this government get re-elected?

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, February 13th, 2022 - 34 comments

Where will the votes come from to get Labour a third term? 

Chris Bishop – manipulated, lying, or just plain stupid?

Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, February 9th, 2022 - 24 comments

Roche, a major manufacturer of RATs, issued a statement to media on Tuesday night saying none of its stocks had been diverted or seized by the Government.
“RAT kits have been, and will continue to be, supplied to all New Zealand customers, including the Ministry of Health, in the sequence that purchase orders were placed,”. Chris Bishop MP is still claiming mythical evidence from local suppliers.

Prime Minister Ardern’s Waitangi Day speech

Written By: - Date published: 1:10 pm, February 6th, 2022 - 34 comments

The text of Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern’s Waitangi Day speech

How New Zealand Reconnects With the World

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, February 3rd, 2022 - 113 comments

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a phased reopening of the country’s border.  Update:  video of the speech is added.

And what have they done anyway?

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, February 2nd, 2022 - 107 comments

With Ardern getting a good-old media beat-down, remember here’s how to change a country for good like no one else but Labour can.

Light Rail: The State Is Back

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, January 31st, 2022 - 30 comments

The light rail route and mode decision this week shows something new. It’s in the nature of the state itself.

The Price Isn’t Yet Right To Invade Ukraine

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, January 26th, 2022 - 59 comments

The entity making the most money out of threatening the Ukraine is the Russian Federation government itself. Follow the money.

He’s not the messiah …

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, January 18th, 2022 - 125 comments

… he is allegedly a very naughty boy.

Human rights and MIQ

Written By: - Date published: 8:42 am, January 10th, 2022 - 155 comments

Well known socialite, fashion blogger and apparent Constitutional expert Jamie Ridge thinks that the country’s MIQ arrangements are completely unconstitutional.

Australia’s Omicron problem

Written By: - Date published: 9:44 am, January 6th, 2022 - 132 comments

Mike Hosking Covid Australia

With over 61,000 new Covid cases reported yesterday Australia is in the midst of an infection surge that it has not seen before.  What lessons can New Zealand learn from Australia’s handling of the pandemic?

Maintenance time

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, January 2nd, 2022 - 15 comments

Luna in the sun

The Standard server is going down for a few hours later today for maintenance. Some of the drives in the archive array are getting old. The SSDs in The Standard array are showing wear. Needs a good vacuum – for which I mostly blame the cat….

A few random predictions for 2022

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, January 1st, 2022 - 117 comments

A few random predictions for 2022.

Let’s punch for peace

Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, December 30th, 2021 - 34 comments

Today’s Herald editorial says New Zealand ‘wisely’ doesn’t punch above its weight in  military activities. That’s not true – I remember sailing around the nuclear-powered USS Truxtun as it entered harbour in a Wellington gale. It was just one of many flotillas campaigning against nuclear weapons and nuclear war that resulted in a knockout – New Zealand’s suspension from the ANZUS alliance on a point of principle.

New Zealand 2 Covid 0 so far …

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 30th, 2021 - 280 comments

But Omicron may be loose.

What Starts off in Support of Alabama’s Miners …

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, December 28th, 2021 - 2 comments

What Starts off in Support of Alabama’s Miners turns into a homily from Beau on the power of getting community change going when and only when you have the organisational power to pull it off month after month after month.

Our Energy Upheaval

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 23rd, 2021 - 79 comments

Ministers Wood, Shaw and Parker (Energy, Climate Change, and RMA reform respectively), must pull their eyes downward from the misty clouds of climate change and stuff multiple decades away and down into the jagged, shadowy deal-by-deal path of the transition to clean energy.

No One Cares

Written By: - Date published: 7:59 am, December 18th, 2021 - 71 comments

I had reason to visit Waitara in Taranaki recently, and I don’t want to sound like there’s a different world still operating … … but the fish and chip shop people weren’t wearing masks, I passed three guys burning the street with dirt-bikes and no helmets and famously lank and long hair, random fireworks lit up […]

Who will be the next Auckland Mayor?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, December 4th, 2021 - 35 comments

Efeso Collins has announced that if Phil Goff does not stand as Mayor and Labour runs a selection process for the next Mayoralty he would be keen to nominate.

Wanted: a new Leader of the Opposition

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, November 30th, 2021 - 70 comments

National needs a new leader of the opposition.  The Standard has been leaked a list of the necessary qualifications …