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Tomorrow the government's books will be opened up. It is not expected to be a pretty picture. Oil prices and the credit crunch have forced the economy into recession. The debt to GDP ratio will be higher than was modelled in the Budget for three…
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There are two core strains to left-wing thought. Both of them can be seen as rooted in the evolution of the scientific method during the 18th and 19th centuries, although the essential ideas, of course, existed long before. The first is liberalism. Liberalism holds that…
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Malcolm Evans, award-winning former Herald cartoonist, is bloody good at what he does - insightful, well-drawn, concerned with the big issues, and always on the side of the underdog. His leftwing views made for a difficult relationship with the Herald's editors. In 2005, they 'accidentally' published a cartoon in which…
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So, there's no articles on Key in this edition of the Standard Week. I know! Hardly believable. But there's a reason for that. After his dodgy Tranzrail dealings came to light last week, Key has been trying to keep himself out of the media except for the most soft-news…
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The Council of Trade Unions has done a lot of work on why wages are low for many workers in New Zealand and how they can be increased to close the wage gap with Australia. They offer six proposals: Increase the minimum wage to at…
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I don't have a lot of time for Winston Peters' politics or his dodgy electoral practices, but sometimes the man just hits the nail on the head: Rt Hon Winston Peters has accused a number of media outlets of trivialising general election coverage to the…
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We've seen the work of Declare Yourself before. Their message is aimed at voters in the US but the call to engage and get involved resonates just as strongly for us here. This time some big names are promoting the message to get involved including…
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As The Standard first reported on April 1 and Radio New Zealand picked up today, Treasury figures show that the wage gap between Australia and New Zealand increased 50% under National in the 1990s and has decreased moderately under Labour since then. Now, a…
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Yesterday, I printed and cut 6500 A6 leaflets from the designs on the Campaign Hub and took them along to Drinking Liberally. They were all gone in minutes. The Right wins and keeps power by dis-empowering and disenfranchising, by taking away our voice. So, it…
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The first round of the tax cuts that National derided as the 'block of cheese' tax cuts kicked in on Wednesday. Next week, National will show us how they would do better. How much on top of Labour's cuts do you expect National to offer?…
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With expectations about National's tax cuts justifably very high (thanks to National talking them up for nine years), National is suddenly trying to change course. John Key, who has promoted tax cuts as the solution to doctors' strikes, the wage gap, and petrol prices along…
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Just a wee reminder for anyone in Wellington. Scoop.co.nz political editor and former Listener journo Gordon Campbell is at Drinking Liberally tonight to talk about 'Covering the issues - how to escape from the who's winning, who's losing style of election coverage'. Gordon Campbell is…
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When a commentator like Jenni McManus raises questions over Key's leadership ability in troubled global economic times you know National should be getting worried. In today's Independent Financial Review she writes: Just as the United States House of Representatives this week rightly refused give a…
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The formula to determine the fair value of a share is pretty simple - take the expected future dividends,adjust them using the discount rate, and add them up, there's your fair share price. Of course, expectations on future dividends and people's discount rates vary but it…
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Don't take it from me. Certainly don't take it from a National hack, who despite being a professional statistician, is too dishonest to even adjust his stats for population growth. No, listen to the Assistant Police Commissioner explain (in a measured and charmingly earnest tone) the details…
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Just one in 10 school principals support the type of national standards for pupils being proposed by the National Party, a study reported in the NZ Herald suggests: National education standards are favoured by: * 10% of the 196 primary school principals surveyed. * 13%…
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David Farrar really is a disgusting person at times. He writes that we shouldn't look at overall crime rates (although he made a big fuss when the overall recorded crime rate went up because of changes in recording practice in 2006). Instead we should just…
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John Key is being pretty evasive on his tax cut plan. He won't say whether the famous '$50 a week for the average worker' (note that's not every worker, your income has to be $47K plus) is additional to Labour's cuts, the first round of which…
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National just can't stop lying. We've covered National's lies on wages and migration in the past and our last two posts have debunked National's lies on crime, the economy, compliance costs, corruption, press freedom and, well, just about everything. Now they've resorted to repeating David…
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Crime fell 1% in the last year from 1025 recorded crimes per 10,000 people to 1014. This is part of a pattern that has continued since National was booted from power and living conditions for the poor started to improve. The only big increase after…
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08wire produces some of the most well-thought out and best argued pieces on the blogosphere, as well as great videos. Well, I know what to do when I see gold - thief it. From 08wires' post, here's a table of arguments that comprise National's 'New Zealand sucks' campaign…
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On occasion I've had my ire raised by Danyl Mclauchlan over at The Dim-Post, usually after he repeats crap from the sewers about this site. Every so often (quite frequently) he manages to do something that is almost perfect satire. Poneke has captured such a…
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The RMA is a quick and cheap process in the vast majority of cases, and it is regarded as a world-leading piece of legislation. Few consent applications are refused or appealed. Reforms of the RMA over the years have made it more efficient. The studies…
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Bill English has put out a press release whingeing about Helen Clark's promise to lift wages for low-paid school support staff, and fearmongering that it might mean Michael Cullen will cancel his tax cuts. Presumably, English's statement means National would cancel the planned pay increase…
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On Breakfast this morning, failed National party candidate Paul Henry and Guyon Espiner discussed the possibility of the Maori Party and National working together in a government. Henry: Do you get the feeling National would do anything for power, they would cut almost any deal…
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Need a little respite from election madness? Utilise your keyboard to reach your desired poll result with Whack a Poll...
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Let's get serious about the idea of the Maori Party working with National. Yes, they want to play up the possibility to enhance their bargaining position, just as the Greens were last month, but it's not going to happen. National and the Maori Party voted…
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We've seen Mr Key look evasive on the topic of Lord Ashcroft, so when his name popped up in the British media over the weekend I had a closer look. It made me wonder exactly what Key and Ashcroft talked about recently - and whether there…
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We've got a range new posters and leaflets up on the Campaign Hub and we're keen to see more. Some people are printing off two different designs and making doubled-sided leaflets, which is a really good way to get two messages distributed in one go. Best…