Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, January 30th, 2016 - 30 comments
The Sheepgate scandal rolls on. PM John Key has just confirmed we will be celebrating the Saudi Arabian government’s recent execution of 47 political opponents by gifting them a portable abattoir.
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, January 28th, 2016 - 21 comments
New Zealand used to be rated as the least corrupt country in the world. Over the past couple of years we have dropped to second and now to fourth. The cynical way that the Government handles OIA requests is the main reason for this occurring.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 27th, 2016 - 79 comments
How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.
Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, January 24th, 2016 - 63 comments
This is a repost of a comment from Incognito on the Building Mass Movements post, with some editing. It’s also linked to one of my points on the Fisiani Gets it Right post yesterday; how does the left with it’s vital and diverse components achieve a unity of purpose, while sustaining the integrity of it’s […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, January 6th, 2016 - 113 comments
David Shearer has disagreed with the Greens that New Zealand should suspend negotiations on the free trade agreement with Saudi Arabia until it improves its human rights record.
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, January 2nd, 2016 - 56 comments
On December 17, 2015 the Government released a series reports suggesting that New Zealand is complying with Kyoto Protocol obligations. A dig into the reports confirms however that the compliance is in name only and is for spin purposes rather than a real attempt at addressing the world’s most pressing problem.
Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, December 29th, 2015 - 88 comments
Some random musings on what happened in New Zealand’s media this year.
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, December 25th, 2015 - 101 comments
Merry Christmas …
Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, December 23rd, 2015 - 61 comments
There’s still a few MPs “on duty”. Their function is to maintain the semblance of active government and to roll out a bunch of announcements they hope will escape full scrutiny.
Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, December 20th, 2015 - 211 comments
Rachel Stewart has penned an opinion piece highlighting John Key’s avoidance of serious media in preference to engaging in rude, crude and highly unattractive stunts on commercial radio.
Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, December 17th, 2015 - 154 comments
While there is a certain amusement value in having a performing monkey for a PM, his participation in the great rape jape yesterday was too far even for his fans.
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, December 15th, 2015 - 10 comments
At the heart of the project is the tension between national interests and individual rights. Questions about how to balance these interests are not new, but they have been brought into sharp focus by recent international events.
Written By: - Date published: 9:35 pm, December 14th, 2015 - 38 comments
2015’s just about up. Here’s my quick summary of the year here at the Standard. Thanks y’all!
Written By: - Date published: 3:09 pm, December 14th, 2015 - 34 comments
The Government has responded to the COP21 convention agreement with the suggestion that little will need to change. And John Key has put the likely annual cost of fulfilling our pledge at less than a tenth of the figure that Tim Groser has used.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, December 14th, 2015 - 108 comments
The dust is settling on COP21. After some initial optimism based on early reports, it’s clear that we didn’t get what we needed from Paris.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, December 14th, 2015 - 214 comments
Over the past decade we have seen sophisticated attacks against academics and NGOs who challenge government or industry. These attacks often appear organic in nature, but many times are in fact concerted efforts by the powerful.
Written By: - Date published: 5:56 pm, December 11th, 2015 - 138 comments
John Key’s $26 million dollar flag flop bores it’s way to the halfway line tonight. The first referendum closes at 7 PM, first results at around 8.30. $26 million … that’s a lot of cancer drugs, child care centres and elder care we won’t be getting because the PM wants a signature legacy his dreary leadership doesn’t actually deserve.
Written By: - Date published: 7:36 am, December 9th, 2015 - 195 comments
Julian Robertston, a US billionaire who made his money with hedge fund Tiger Management, Merryl Lynch’s largest customer when John Key was working there, is the man behind privatisation trojan horse Teach First (NZ).
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, December 7th, 2015 - 113 comments
To date, TeachFirst(NZ) has received more than $6.4 million dollars of public money and, as a result, has infested 18 schools with dozens of so-called “teachers”.
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 pm, December 5th, 2015 - 39 comments
Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle have invoked “Labour’s proud internationalism” to support their votes for bombing ISIL in Syria to keep Britain safe! As Michael Chessum points out in the LRB, this view of Labour’s internationalism is statist rather than socialist. We can be proud that Kirk, Lange and Clark have all shown a different version of left internationalism that is much more genuinely “labour’s answer to capital’s global power.”
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, December 4th, 2015 - 55 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 …
Written By: - Date published: 5:58 pm, December 4th, 2015 - 112 comments
Reeling from tough produce sanctions, Russia will pursue a strategy as the world’s largest supplier of ‘ecologically clean’ food. And where is NZ?
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, December 3rd, 2015 - 17 comments
McClay said he could not answer the specific question because he had “been advised” no such data exists.
How convenient.
Written By: - Date published: 12:48 pm, December 2nd, 2015 - 103 comments
Standard Exclusive:
Te Reo Putake interviews one of the first batch of deportees from Australia under the Liberal Government’s hardline approach to Kiwis who serve jail time in the lucky country.
Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, December 2nd, 2015 - 17 comments
Some time today, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, John Key, will be wandering around the hallways of his Paris hotel in his underpants. Or maybe his swimming togs.
Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, December 2nd, 2015 - 19 comments
John Key has announced an increase in funding on research into the reduction of agricultural emissions of greenhouse gasses of $20 million over four years or $5 million a year. Which is the amount the Government cut from this research two months ago.
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, December 1st, 2015 - 67 comments
New Zealand provides over $80m in production subsidies for fossil fuel industries.
Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 1st, 2015 - 61 comments
I’ve just finished reading all the comments on the reshuffle thread. It gave me an idea. Post here YOUR rankings of the top 20 Labour Party MPs, the role you would give them and WHY. So that is 3 criteria for posting Rank the top 20 of current Labour Party MPs; and The Role […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:09 am, November 29th, 2015 - 22 comments
About time the Police got around to becoming a “very evidence based” service. Building great relationships with academia is a sensible way to start.
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, November 27th, 2015 - 117 comments
Assuming the Russian jet did enter Turkish airspace for 17s, was there really no recourse for Turkey other than using lethal force?
Written By: - Date published: 4:10 pm, November 18th, 2015 - 26 comments
Ad provides some thoughts on the death of Jonah Lomu.
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