Open Mike 30/05/2017
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Daily Review 29/05/2017
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 …
Gangs to vote – a hopeful sign for turnout?
Is this an isolated case or is it representative of a change of mood in the non-voting electorate?
Government was advised the Accommodation Supplement increase will not work
Radio New Zealand has reported that the Government ignored two year old treasury advice to implement the increase in the accommodation supplement.
Family package that punishes families
Apparently the Nats can’t even run a lolly scramble.
The Greens and voting on the Budget
Wondering about what the Greens are voting for? It might not be what you think.
The Greens on record
Despite rumours to the contrary, the Green Party was highly critical of National’s Budget.
Open Mike 29/05/2017
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UK Defense Secretary on Corbyn
A quite remarkable interview of Michael Fallon by Channel 4 News in the UK.
What the feck Greens
The Green Party caucus decision to support the Government’s tax reduction legislation is hard to comprehend and has created a perception of messiness in the way the Labour-Green MOU operates.
Book review: Eaarth
Good news for landlords
How nice of the government to help out property investors.
Open Mike 28/05/2017
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Corbyn on terrorism and UK settings.
Full speech given by Jeremy Corbyn yesterday.
Dumbest tweet – Collins vs Seymour
Each in its own way a masterpiece character study.
White middle class male privilege
Rohan Lord this week pulled out from being a Labour candidate because he thought his prospects of being elected were remote because he was a white middle class male. His comments displayed a complete lack of understanding of how the Labour Party works and ignores the fact that having a truly representative caucus is a virtue.
The cigarette crime spree
The cigarette crime spree is a real problem for National. Their “law and order” credentials are in tatters.
Ban cigarettes, find a way to compensate dairy owners for a transitional period.
Campbell on the budget
Campbell: “As I asked Joyce at the Budget lockup: ‘What is to stop landlords from treating this increase as a green light to hike up rents?’ … In reply, Joyce said that the government would be ‘keeping an eye’ on landlords, to ensure they did not abuse the situation.”
Stunning nature
Drilling for oil we shouldn’t use, in a place that should remain untouched. Is this really what NZ wants?
Roy Morgan poll (please no not Winston)
The chronically erratic Roy Morgan poll is out again, with Nat vs Lab/Green in a dead heat.
Open Mike 27/05/2017
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Daily Review 26/05/2017
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 …
NRT: A constitutional change
I/S at No Right Turn writes: “The Court has ruled that the High Court was right to declare that National’s 2010 prisoner voting restrictions (the ones which were so shabby and shoddily passed that they brought Parliament into disrepute) were inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act“
Why Islam is incidental.
How (According to The Guardian) a neo-nazi turned Islamist flipped terror narratives upside down.
The Greens respond to the Budget
James Shaw on National as the masters of the shell game.
The three big fails in the budget
It was National’s best budget. Which means there are only three critical areas of failure.
Open Mike 26/05/2017
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Daily Review 25/05/2017
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Budget analysis and reaction – The One Dollar Bill budget
Andrew Little calls it the ‘The One Dollar Bill Budget’, a $1 tax cut for cleaner on minimum wage.
As usual it is the already well off who do the best out of National’s election year tax cut bribe.
The Labour lite budget
From pre announced budget initiatives it is clear that today’s budget will provide National the opportunity to announce watered down insipid versions of current Labour Party policies.
Keith Ng’s four tax myths
A useful piece from Keith Ng on myths about tax. It’s an extract from The PSA’s “Progressive Thinking: Ten Perspectives on Tax” booklet.
Budget 2017 – general discussion post
Budget Day.
Open Mike 25/05/2017
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Daily Review 24/05/2017
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What Now?
Where to from here?
Nat tactics Ngaro and third term arrogance
Ngaro has fronted up with another grudging apology. English should have fired him and it speaks volumes of third-term arrogance that he hasn’t.