The Standard

Open mike 27/12/2020

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 27th, 2020 - 20 comments

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 …

Plan B activists still think NZ should be like Sweden

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Date published: 11:50 am, December 26th, 2020 - 171 comments

In a letter published in the Royal New Zealand College of Medical Practitioners journal Plan B academics have criticised the Government’s Covid elimination strategy because of the economic effects at the same time that recently announced growth figures show the economy grew in the past 12 months despite Covid.

Open mike 26/12/2020

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 26th, 2020 - 3 comments

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 …

Meri Kirihimete ki a koe me te whānau

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Date published: 10:12 am, December 25th, 2020 - 5 comments

Meri Kirihimete ki a koe me te whānau.

Open mike 25/12/2020

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 25th, 2020 - 6 comments

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 24/12/2020

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 24th, 2020 - 2 comments

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 …

Words of Outrage or Outrageous Action?

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Date published: 7:00 am, December 24th, 2020 - 30 comments

Do you reward rage with rage or do you ignore it and walk away quietly?

Open mike 24/12/2020

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 24th, 2020 - 41 comments

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 23/12/2020

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 23rd, 2020 - 10 comments

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

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Date published: 8:37 am, December 23rd, 2020 - 22 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 23rd, 2020 - 32 comments

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 22/12/2020

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 22nd, 2020 - 2 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 22nd, 2020 - 123 comments

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 21/12/2020

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Date published: 5:45 pm, December 21st, 2020 - 2 comments

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

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Date published: 11:31 am, December 21st, 2020 - 30 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 21st, 2020 - 63 comments

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 …

The Malthusian Spectre

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Date published: 10:52 am, December 20th, 2020 - 46 comments

Population has always been a critical driver of events and prior to the Industrial Revolution we lived in a zero sum world, with energy and resources effectively limited to that which could be harvested from photosynthesis, one person’s gain was at the limit, always someone else’s loss. Very low density hunter gather populations could thrive […]

Must New Zealand Pay Back All This Public Debt?

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Date published: 9:34 am, December 20th, 2020 - 22 comments

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

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Date published: 9:05 am, December 20th, 2020 - 30 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 20th, 2020 - 32 comments

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 …

Open mike 19/12/2020

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 19th, 2020 - 58 comments

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 18/12/2020

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 18th, 2020 - 28 comments

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

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Date published: 7:31 am, December 18th, 2020 - 54 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 18th, 2020 - 103 comments

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 17/12/2020

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 17th, 2020 - 11 comments

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

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Date published: 10:38 am, December 17th, 2020 - 21 comments

This short post reprises a comment on Kaya’s Identity a few weeks back. Kaya identity is expressed in the form: F = P . G/P . E/G . F/E Where: F is excess global CO2 emissions from human sources P is global population G is world GDP E is global energy consumption And: G/P is […]

The Government’s finances are in very good shape

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Date published: 7:55 am, December 17th, 2020 - 66 comments

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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Date published: 6:00 am, December 17th, 2020 - 52 comments

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 …

Nanaia Mahuta – Peacebroker

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Date published: 6:07 pm, December 16th, 2020 - 22 comments

“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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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 16th, 2020 - 6 comments

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 …

What does Steinlager and the Pacific anti nuclear movement have in common?

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Date published: 10:07 am, December 16th, 2020 - 25 comments

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.