Transport Minister Simon Bridges has been derailed by his underlings at Kiwirail. Or he's been caught lying. Or he hasn't got the first clue about what's going on in his portfolio. Whatever his specific inadequacy is, his resignation should be on John Key's desk in…
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 …
As widely reported this morning: Dr Ranginui Walker dies Dr Ranginui Walker, the noted academic and writer on Māori issues, has died aged 83. He was a leader in many of the debates and developments among Māori. Dr Walker became secretary and later chairman of…
Charter schools have it pretty good - Charter schools given $60k in performance payments despite contract issues. Four charter schools were awarded $60,000 in performance payments last year, despite only one of them fully meeting the terms of their contracts. Since they didn't meet their…
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The second part of John Key's failed legacy project is almost upon us. The PM is quietly distancing himself from the flag referendum, not wanting to be associated with failure. He's relying on the B Team within his cabinet and caucus to try and instill…
Oh yes, he's got a lot of good advice for the lefties. Before your head explodes, hold your nose, because there is really good precedent for those same lessons, from a guy called Huey Long. In no particular order, here you go. Populism melts hearts,…
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John Michael Greer, of the Archdruid Report, has just written a fascinating post on why Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush, once the two 'favourites' for the 2016 Presidential campaign, have fallen, and fallen hard. JMG says that Jeb Bush did everything right, by the conventional…
Remuera branch meetings of the National Party must be fun events these days. John Palino has all but confirmed that he is going to give the Auckland mayoralty another run and if the rumours are correct his campaign manager will be the one and only Simon Lusk.…
Yep you read this right. David Seymour has gone on the offensive and has claimed that ACT is more of an environmental party than the Greens. From Stuff: ACT leader David Seymour is readying to fire shots across the Green Party bow, accusing them of…
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 …
This week the Auckland Council debated proposed changes to the unitary plan. Residents of the leafy Eastern Suburbs were up in arms at the prospect that more people were going to live there and their homes were going to be surrounded by huge apartment buildings…
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Don Brash is in the news again complaining that a certain sector of our society may be receiving some sort of privilege. He is claiming that the decision not to prosecute Josie Butler for throwing a fake penis at Steven Joyce is because she is…
One of my frustrations with the mainstream political parties is how they are avoiding the obvious using policies of 'pretend and extend' symptoms management and crisis fire fighting. It's nice to talk about where KiwiSaver and NZ Super is going to be in 30 years…
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 …
Seems that Christchurch people are quite reasonably demanding that all residential insurance claims be settled by the end of March – ie, after a period of five years and six weeks (some say it’s five years, six months and six weeks). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQmxeD2f2xE (speakers begin at…
Barak Obama is moving to fulfil an election pledge made in 2008 and close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre. From the New York Times: President Obama on Tuesday sent Congress a long-awaited plan for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, beginning a final push to fulfill…
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 …
National must really want that flag referendum to succeed. Not only does John Key have a new flag badge attached permanently to his lapel and groups of National MPs are having secret meetings to try and get the project over the line, but groups of New…
I figure that the US is unhappy with ultimatums and other rash actions from Turkey. I figure this because the MSM has started printing articles entitled something like "Turkey's actions make world war more likely." Whoah! However when I looked at the very same NZ…
Presented with no additional comment: Emirates' boss in New Zealand says there's strong demand from Kiwis willing to spend more than $10,000 apiece for first class travel. Chris Lethbridge said the airline was selling first class suites for around $12,000 to Europe. The airline has…
I'm all in favour of robust political debate, and letting the world know that all too often the tories are greedy, useless and unethical. But this is going too far - Arrest after foul smelling muck tipped over Gerry Brownlee Chirstchurch Police confirmed the charge…
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 …
Danyl McLauchlan over at The Dim-Post makes some observations about the latest Roy Morgan and Colmar Brunton polls out. My reading of it: that two years into their third term, the Labour and Greens opposition have been quite ineffective in getting soft National voters to…