The characteristic signature of a Talley's Group company spin that I've observed over the last five years on this site has to do with their worker relationships. They lie, prevaricate, and fracture the truth whenever it comes to the welfare of their workers. They appear to be…
Judith Collins has finally filed defamation action against Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little. She's waited until close to the Budget so that the story would be quickly overshadowed and then forgotten. You see, Collins had foolishly got herself between a rock and a hard place.…
If there was any doubt that National has an anti-teacher, anti-education agenda, it's gone. Increasing class sizes will 'save' $43m a year by reducing the number of teachers that would otherwise be required by 500. National standards will be used for performance pay. It's a…
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The Jackal raised the question of corruption in relation to John Banks in a comment on Eddie's "met or meet" post, and has written more about it on his blog. It was based on Dave Fisher's revelations in today's Herald. DotCom's bodyguard reported that in July…
There are 72 days to the Olympics, which is what many people are counting down to - but the planet will be much more interested in the Rio+20 conference in 36 days. This is the chance for world leaders to put global society on a…
TVNZ7, in its current form, will stop broadcasting on the 30th of June and will be changed to a plus one channel along the same lines as TV3 Plus One. Now I don’t know about you, but I could live without seeing another repeat of…
John Key will be regretting his moan about the media yesterday. His reward has been to be shown to be lying in the banks.com affair. Key has previously claimed he first heard of Dotcom (a flamboyant multi-millionaire living in the most expensive house in the…
His policies (such that they are) aren't working, his government is now being questioned, his economy is stuck in the doldrums, so naturally Key is looking for someone to blame: Key: Media 'aggressive and hostile' toward Govt Mr Key on Newstalk ZB this morning responded…
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Rebekah and Charlie Brooks have been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the News International phone-hacking affair. Others to be charged are Mrs Brooks's former PA Cheryl Carter, the company's head of security Mark Hanna, News International chauffeur Paul Edwards and…
So, Cunliffe was invited on The Nation. He said, yup but not if leadership nonsense is raised. Garner agreed. Then the leader office said it should be Parker as Finance spokesperson this close to the Budget. Cunliffe agreed. And this is meant to be some…
Creating a life is a uniquely pleasant experience. There is nothing like it. Not just at the time of conception. So, having deliberately conceived children, then watched them grow and finally “leave the nest”, go out and conquer the world then form their own family,…
Sometimes during union bargaining that has hit a wall, workers will vote to 'work to rule' - ie not do extras beyond the terms of you contract. It's perfectly legal. In fact, it should be what we all do every day. Working beyond rule is…
Unemployment's up, wages are flat, retail and export prices in freefall. Last week, the government didn't get enough bids on its debt issue - usually it gets bids totaling 3 or 4 times what its issuing. Last budget National promised 4% this year - it's…
Remember when John Key said he'd love to see wages drop? Yep. How about when Bill English claimed our low wages were our competitive advantage. Uh-huh. Well the changes they're bringing in to undermine working Kiwis' bargaining power will do exactly that. In particular the…
For all that we give the Nats a hard time here at The Standard, we're also careful to give credit where it's due. So I guess we should give credit to National, in this time of economic stagnation, for the one and only growth industry…
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An interesting press release from David Clark, sponsor of the "Mondayisation" bill: True ‘cost’ of Mondayisation deliberately hidden John Key’s calculations around the cost of Mondayising public holidays read like Maths 101 gone wrong, says Labour MP David Clark. The Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day…
1 in 80 New Zealanders left for Australia last 12 months. Emigration so far this year is 15% higher than the same months in 2011. 6,000 people attended the 3rd Aussie jobs expo in Auckland in 18 months this weekend. The question is becoming not…
Gay marriage. There's been plenty of coverage in the American media, with echoes here in NZ. As reported by 3 News last night, it looks set to become a "key election issue" in the Obama vs Romney presidential contest. How utterly depressing. There are major…
Remember National's 'fiscally neutral' tax cuts? Turns out they've cost $2 billion in their first 18 months (previously, we only knew they had cost $1.1 billion in their first 9 months). Without those reckless tax cuts, we wouldn't be facing zero budgets. Now, the Right's…
I chuckled to read Fran O'Shillivan on Sunday: "John Key has made a strategic decision to burn some political capital and front-foot major Government decisions" - yeah, all those major decisions: $1m for contraception, 'tackling cyber-bullying', a petty pokies for convention centre deal, even their…
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The recent beat-up over an imaginary challenge to Shearer's leadership is well and truly behind us. Recent coverage has been quite positive, such as this anonymous editorial from a couple of weeks back: Editorial: Labour leader shaping up as quiet achiever They say Leader of…
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In a bold new initiative the government has announced that the shareholders of companies that receive corporate welfare will be compelled to vaccinate their children or sell their shares to people who are willing to have their children vaccinated. Fronting the announcement, Prime Minister John…
It is the Nats' belief that those on a benefit have fewer human rights than the rest of us. They can simply be told what to do. Here's the latest example: Benefits may be linked to kids' jabs The Government is considering requiring beneficiaries to…
While the daily doses of soap opera that pass for political and/or social commentary in New Zealand rumble on, something very fucking unacceptable is also rumbling. The bellies of children in New Zealand. Remember the reports of a 6 year old from the Bay of…
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