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National has been going on about the number of comms staff at the Ministry of Social Development. Rather than ask 'what do these people actually do that the Government employs them, rather than undertaking other spending or giving bigger tax cuts?', Bill Ralston parrots the…
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Hat tip: onegoodmove.org
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The Unionist reports Nicky Hager's book The Hollow Men has been made into a film and will be screening as part of this year's New Zealand International Film Festivals. The 98 minute documentary is directed by Alister Barry, whose previous work includes the excellent In…
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Every month, Stats releases migration figures. Each month, they show little change in the pattern from last month. And each month, National comes out all in a fury over the figures as if they herald Armageddon while offering no substance, just a lot of bluster.…
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‘Unemployment benefits at record low.' The number of people receiving the unemployment benefit has fallen to just 17,465. That's the lowest number since at least 1979. At the same time, Sickness Benefit numbers fell 1,542 (3%) in the last year, DPB numbers are down 12%…
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It's a viral ad, but still pretty cool...
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Frogblog has footage of Nandor Tanczos blasting the Government's anti-tagging legislation and noting that "Judith Collins would be screaming about the nanny state if we tried to tell her that she had to keep her Chardonnay under lock and key." Sounds like Hone Harawira was…
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Both major parties show-boated over getting tough on crime this week. The only difference being Labour actually had policy; National, just slogans. We generally steer away from covering 'I'm tougher than you' politics on The Standard. Instead, we focused on the fundamentals that matter to ordinary Kiwis,…
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When a band who sued after their work was famously plagiarised by a certain leader of the National Party is themselves sued for plagiarism. All it needs now is for National to sue the guy suing Coldplay and they'll have completed the circle. [Creaky Boards'…
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Here's the waste National has identified so far: 1) Embassy in Sweden - approx $3 million capital, $3 million operating 2) Badges about Te Teo for school kids - $56,000 Why it's waste: badges for Maori language! Next they'll be wanting their land back. Why…
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Kiwibank, New Zealand's supreme award winning Sunday Star-Times/CANNEX best value bank for the third year in row, the Socialist Bank of Jim Anderton, the one doomed to failure but making healthy profits, is now advertising on Kiwiblog. Strange, 'cause I wouldn't have thought that the Kiwiblog right are quite…
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Times are going to get harder for workers in the next few years. Unemployment is set to rise to 4.5-6% (still well under 1990s levels). The wages of those who keep their jobs won't rise as fast. At…
benefits economy election 2008 greens labour tax wages workers' rights
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National has announced that John Key donated $30,000 to the party this month. That's all well and good; Helen Clark donates a similar amount to Labour most years. What's new is that the donations Key and every large donor to National or any other party are…
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For everyone who says apostrophes don't matter, try telling that to the Bioethics Council.
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Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality' government spending. How? To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation is projected to run at 4.7% this year. The Government makes up a third of the economy. If Key was to bring…
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Kevin Rudd's Labor government has begun the roll-back of John Howard's unpopular WorkChoices legislation with ten new National Employment Standards aimed at providing a safety net for all Australian workers. The new standards include a 38-hour maximum working week, 12 months unpaid parental leave (24…
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You'll have noticed that Key only ever talks about increasing 'after-tax incomes'. Even when he's asked about wages for government employees, like doctors, he responds that National would increase their after-tax incomes with tax cuts, not by increasing their wages. But anybody can see that…
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I put a comment on one of Steve's posts a few days ago and he suggested I put it up as a post so here goes: National have been playing a hit and run public relations game for a few years now. It's not a…
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I was just checking the links to the standard and I see that Whale is being his usual self. It looks like he has finally managed to read a DNS. He has discovered that I run a server at home, and that I'm a labour…
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From Time magazine: Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we're no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe…
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"Hi all, Ok, we're going to try to lock in a regular Drinking Liberally schedule now: first and third Thursdays of each month. Which makes the next session this coming Thursday... And a huge thanks to Dr Michael Cullen for coming along to the last…
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Kiwiblog now has a cartoonist and it's simply disgusting stuff. I'm not going to post the cartoon because I don't want the image on our blog (you can see it here) - it mocks Folole Muliaga, an ill woman who died needlessly. It's irredeemably uninsightful,…
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Sick of Internet Explorer for being slow and buggy and not open-source? Why not try out Firefox instead? It's a free, open-source browser, developed collaboratively for Windows, Mac and Linux. It's claimed to be (and most people seem to agree) the fastest most secure, most customisable…
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Reports have been circulating around Wellington for several weeks about a night on the town for John Key with a couple of senior (though not old) Press Gallery members. Apparently John called them up and said he was in town and did they want to…
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And the winner is... the compact fluorescent lightbulb! Stuff reports that "from late next year, the old incandescent bulbs will be phased out as part of an Efficient Lighting Strategy". The strategy aims to reduce lighting energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2015 and to help…
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Nominations have opened for this year's Roger Awards, naming and shaming the worst transnational corporation operating in New Zealand in 2008. Previous winners have included Telecom, Progressive Enterprises and TranzRail, but I reckon Rio Tinto and Spotless Services would have to be odds-on favourites for…
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A reader sent us this graph. It plots President Bush's approval rating and the price of petrol. (the price of petrol is upside-down, a fall in the price is a rise on the graph) As you can see, spikes in the price have been followed…
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The ODT reports that Bill English's brother, Conor English, has been picked as the new CEO of Federated Farmers. Once the press secretary to National Government Lands Minister John Luxton, Conor replaces ex-National MP Annabel Young as CEO.
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That is the reported view of the secretary of the Sikh Council of New Zealand in response to some attention grabbing behaviour from National Manakau East candidate in the wake of the tragic shooting of Natjev Singh. Specifically the article says: Mr Verpal Singh said…
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From The Huffington Post's "Fundrace" website: Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence? Whether that new guy you're seeing is actually a Republican or just dresses like one? If your boss maxed out at that fundraiser or got comped?…