I don't get farmers, or at least their representative organisations. You would think that a sector whose business model depends completely and entirely on the environment would be concerned at the prospect of environmental devastation. And that melting ice caps and out of control recent…
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This post is a place for positive discussion of the future. An Open Mike for ideas, solutions and the discussion of the possible. The Big Picture, rather than a snapshot of the day’s goings on. Topics rather than topical. We’d like to think it’s…
From the you have to be freakin kidding file. Boris Janic at the Herald has reported that National created *more* working groups than Labour during the first two years of each party's latest term of Government. From the Article: Since the early days of…
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Posted on 16/01/2020 by Nick Kelly UK Labour lost the general election. A new leader needs to be elected. The Labour Party is now consumed in this process. Much has been said and written about why Labour lost, the quality of which varies considerably. The broader context…
There has this week been the release of an interesting report by Freedom House, an independent US watchdog that provides reports on trends and changes in freedom and democracy throughout the world. From Zane Small at Stuff: National MP Todd McClay has been accused of…
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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 …
Posted on 15/01/2020 by Nick Kelly The UK Labour Party in the 2019 election assumed that like in 2017, the release of their policy manifesto would see their support increase significantly. Assuming that 2019 would be a re-run of 2017 was a foolish mistake. Also in 2017…
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The previous post looked at how those who opposed Corbyn contributed to the election loss. Corbyn's allies also contributed to Labour's loss. The factional organisation Momentum was formed after the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader in 2015. It is headed by longstanding party…
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 …
In 2017 Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell and those in Labour who had never accepted Jeremy Corbyn being elected party leader had their speeches prepared. Worst defeat since 1983. "Look, this just shows that Labour can't get elected if you move too far to the left.…
As Australia continues to burn more and more attention is being paid to Rupert Murdoch and Newscorp and its actions in attacking responsible climate change abatement policies and enabling climate denying politicians. News this week included the leaking of an email sent by a News…
Statistics New Zealand recently tweeted this graph. It laid out for all to see the cause of the housing crisis. There was a calamitous lack of new homes being built from 2009 to 2013 but clearly figures have now improved dramatically. For the last year…
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
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 …
Well the political year is up and running. And Simon Bridges is complaining about the Government politicising the police. Given all of the law and order themes the opposition has run in the past year and especially the Simon Bridges video which featured a former…
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Posted on 13/01/2020 by Nick Kelly For UK Labour Antisemitism has been a festering sore. This issue could have and should have been dealt with earlier on in a far better way. As I said in my blog post about this during the election Jeremy Corbyn is not antisemitic.…
When a party loses an election, the leader has to take responsibility. Many cite Jeremy Corbyn's lack of popularity as a key reason for Labour's loss. These calls have been made particularly by his opponents on the right of the UK Labour Party. Few expected…
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 …
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Many commentators say that the election result for Labour was about more than Brexit. It was, but Brexit was by far one of the major reasons for the result. 43 of the 47 constituencies Labour lost in the 2019 election were leave constituencies. To argue…
I've made the point a number of times before, during and immediately after the election on this blog about the First Past the Post electoral system. I'll make it again, the results in parliament DO NOT reflect the true vote. Labour won 10,269,076 votes in…
