Words of Outrage or Outrageous Action?
Do you reward rage with rage or do you ignore it and walk away quietly?
Open mike 24/12/2020
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Daily review 23/12/2020
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 …
A Few Good Green Wins
There is always plenty of bad news when it comes to nature in New Zealand, but this year has had an accumulation of good.
Open mike 23/12/2020
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Daily review 22/12/2020
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 22/12/2020
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Daily review 21/12/2020
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 …
Beefing up the border – expensive and essential
From a few days ago (it seems like an eternity), RNZ reported “Govt to pump almost $3 billion into its Covid-19 response after report identified failings”. There were several points I’d make about the border controls and generally with our border and the long slow years in constraining this pandemic. But the Sydney outbreak and the UK Xmas Grinch appear to be making them for me already.
Open mike 21/12/2020
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The Malthusian Spectre
Population has always been a critical driver of events and prior to the Industrial Revolution we lived in a zero sum world, with […]
Must New Zealand Pay Back All This Public Debt?
Without much fanfare, Minister Robertson has used 2020’s crisis to bury the historic scourge of monetarism and within it the excuses of the governments that used it as a pretext to sell off our key government income generators.
Operation warped
Donald Trump has spent the past week stuffing up the vaccine roll out in some states, fighting attempts to cancel the Trump wall and blaming China for Russian hacks on American institutions and corporations.
Open mike 20/12/2020
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Open mike 19/12/2020
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Daily review 18/12/2020
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 …
Shock horror, trickle down does not work
In yet another study academics at the London School of Economics have concluded that trickle down leads to higher income inequality but do not have any significant effect on economic growth or unemployment.
Open mike 18/12/2020
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Daily review 17/12/2020
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 …
State Zero
This short post reprises a comment on Kaya’s Identity a few weeks back. Kaya identity is expressed in the form: F = P […]
The Government’s finances are in very good shape
The Government’s finances are in remarkably good shape. Who would have predicted that dealing properly with a global pandemic would have had better results for the economy than timidly dealing with it and trying to ensure that economic activity continued? But by international levels our Government debt is already low and maybe now is the time to spend on vital areas such as poverty, climate change and the housing crisis.
Open mike 17/12/2020
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Nanaia Mahuta – Peacebroker
“Do I believe that there might be an opportunity for New Zealand to create a different environment and have a conversation? Yes, I do.” Nanaia Mahuta told Reuters on Tuesday the country would be willing to help negotiate a truce between neighbouring Australia and regional heavyweight China, who are caught in an escalating trade and diplomatic spat. Great idea.
Daily review 16/12/2020
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What does Steinlager and the Pacific anti nuclear movement have in common?
In as blatant a case of cultural and historical misappropriation as you can imagine the makers of Steinlager has produced a dumbed down video that distorts the history of decades of opposition to French Nuclear testing in the Pacific in an effort to sell beer.
Open mike 16/12/2020
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Daily review 15/12/2020
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 …
Show me the climate action New Zealand
The Prime Minister is talking about demonstrating a plan for action, but as we move into 2021 we need to settle back into grappling with the urgency of the climate crisis.
Open mike 15/12/2020
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Daily review 14/12/2020
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 …
Ihumātao deal imminent
Radio New Zealand is reporting that a deal on Ihumātao is imminent and that Cabinet is expected to sign off on the deal today.
Open mike 14/12/2020
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Brexit revisited
With Brexit looming there is talk of unfinished customs software and the possibility of chaos around ports, the UK’s food supply being compromised, and potential skirmishes with France at fishing spots. And Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are refusing to talk to Boris Johnson. Hang on England, this is going to get wild.
Open mike 13/12/2020
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Blind-sided by Five Eyes
It has been good to see some pushback in the media questioning the wisdom of Mahuta’s FiveEyes alignment as the first public act […]
How can NZ incomes be lifted to match housing costs?
Not a vague let’s raise wages and benefits explanation, but an in-depth, number crunching, evidence-driven explanation. Where is it?