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The Greens want to charge 10 cents per tonne of water used by farmers. Use the revenue to restore our rivers and lakes. Even Actoid types can support this: internalise externalities, use price mechanisms to encourage efficient use of resources. Naturally, the farmers don't want…
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We have a representative democracy, which means that we elect people to represent us. People to work for us. People to consult, and listen, and act. Or not, as the case may be: Key defends non-attendance decision The Prime Minister's defending his decision to stay…
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At the start of the year, John Key said that he wanted to have a mature debate on asset sales. Now, his Finance Minister and SOE Minister are refusing to front up to debate David Cunliffe on the issue. Instead, that was left to old…
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Good to see Labour up 3% in the latest TV1 / Colmar Brunton poll. All the results should of course be taken with a good helping of salt, and the short term trends are wandering around near the margin of error, but in terms of perception…
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About now or very shortly, Trevor Mallard and Cameron Slater should be dismounting from the cycling race that has obsessively awaited by the right on the blogosphere. I've been aware of that this 'political' event was going to happen because of the frequent waffling that…
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Peter Sinclair has been putting out great videos for years on climate change as Climate Crock of the Week. They focus on having a close look at climate change deniers claims. The following video looks at a series of talking heads claiming that the world…
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I'm the worrying kind, and not too optimistic about our collective future in the medium to long term. So it's nice every now and then to find a hopeful little snippet like this one, as featured on Slashdot: An anonymous reader tips news of 7th…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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So we can safely predict this National govt will score it's usual epic fail around youth unemployment. And we all know the reasons why this is such a critical issue, so I'm not going to re-hash them either. It's just that both sides in this…
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Last weekend Eddie wrote about Part 1 of The Herald's extensive profile of Phil Goff. Today Part 2 is out, and once again it's a very interesting read. For me perhaps the most interesting aspect was the account of Goff's early political opinions. The Nats try to…
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Prime Minister John Key has reacted to growing fears that the world is slipping into a second round of financial crisis and recession before it has recovered from the first one by boldly opening a 180km cycleway through the King Country. Part of a $50m…
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The Robin Hood / Tobin / Financial Transactions tax. We've written about it before here at The Standard. Earlier this year 1000 economists wrote to the G20 leaders - here's an extract from their letter: This tax is an idea that has come of age.…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Reports from Afghanistan are that a New Zealand SAS soldier has been killed in a double suicide attack on the British Council Offices in Kabul. The reports also confirm what has become apparent in recent months: the SAS aren't training Afghanis, they're leading the combat…
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I see there is another round of Labour leadership rumour mongering going on. Goff has patiently (yet again) rubbished the "claim", and pointed out that it is just stories spread by the Nats to try and distract from the mess that they are in. Goff…
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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I came across this blog called Howdaft written by Darkhorse last night. It consists of five posts written in June. Five of the best pieces of leftwing economic thinking you'll see anywhere - something we've been short on recently. I've tried to contact Darkhorse, but…
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h/t g.blog
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An interesting opinion piece by Tim Watkins can be found on TVNZ; he offers a stark reminder to the public that National are toying with our democratic ideals, and suggests that voters would be wise to remember the consequences of a returned National Government. He…
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Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, and the cost of living, are shaping up to be the big election issues. Pretty inconvenient for the Nats, because their record on all of the above is terrible. Very very inconvenient for Paula Bennett, because it's her patch. On Tuesday…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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Naomi Klein writes "We keep hearing England's riots weren't political – but looters know that their elites have been committing daylight robbery". Some comparisons are relevant here too. She gives some examples: Argentina's mass looting was called el saqueo – the sacking. That was politically…
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Sourced from Statistics. NZ. Pretty self-explanatory except for 'jobless'. That's people who have given up looking. So don't count as official 'unemployed'. 115,000 more people with not enough work since National came to power. Nearly one in five of the labour force out of work…
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Nats have announced 6 more DoL safety inspectors for mines and oil drilling. Up from 2 now (only one position filled). Sounds good but DoL's failure at Pike River was systematic, not just about numbers. Where's the stronger safety standards? Why aren't they bringing back…
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The "authorities" don't trust communications technology and social media. They don't control it (yet). It empowers communication between ordinary people. It can facilitate mass movements, and that can be "dangerous". Western governments tend to sing the praises of this new technology when it is used…
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In a desperate and heartless attempt to spin their way out of their awful record on jobs, National is getting surreal. First, there's Bill English claiming that the job you used to have under Labour wasn't a real job. Then, you've got John Key saying…
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQD2u4Rblw&feature=player_embedded John Boscawen thought he was on to a winner yesterday. In an unprecedented move, he asked Parliament's permission to ask a question of Phil Goff on the youth minimum wage. He got it, and the result was Goff at his very finest. He looked…
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Who said: a payment card for people on a benefit that forbade alcohol and tobacco purchases would require moral judgments by the Crown, would be highly intrusive, would rob individuals of freedom of choice, and would impose an enormous administrative burden on Work and Income,…
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