Open Mike 08/03/2017
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Daily Review 07/03/2017
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 …
Congratulations Jacinda Ardern!
Will Collins make a move?
The crisis around English’s amateur-hour handling of the super announcement is an opportunity for Judith Collins.
English a shambles
English isn’t going to be very happy when he opens the papers this morning.
Five ways Donald Trump is wrong about Islam
Donald Trump’s recently announced replacement policy in immigration is wrong. And this is why.
Open Mike 07/03/2017
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Daily Review 06/03/2017
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 …
English proposes raising age of super to 67 (eventually)
In what seems to have been a panicked reaction to a disastrous series of interviews, English has just announced that the age of eligibility for super will rise from 65 to 67, phased in from 2037.
NRT: The banality of evil
I/S at No Right Turn: “This is where National’s cuts and austerity have taken us: to a place where Corrections tortures and abuses people because it is the “cheapest” way of managing them.”
Bowron on English’s ‘useless druggies’ smear
Bowron: “Prime Minister Bill English’s reputation as a safe pair of blands taking the reins after the mysterious disappearance of John Key took a dive last week when he ruthlessly and cynically turned on Kiwi youth.”
National accuses John Key of shying away from the hard issues
Shambolic scenes as Bill English’s twitter account tweets criticism of John Key not taking the hard decisions regarding superannuation eligibility, then the tweet gets deleted. And Bill did not know the tweet had been sent out.
White Man Behind a Desk – Indigenous Rights
We no longer need the Waitangi Tribunal because everything’s fine now. Right?
Open Mike 06/03/2017
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Future state abuse victims
What to do with the helpless anger generated by such a statement?
Images of the week
Just a selection of images that sum up the week in politics (courtesy of the twitter).
Swimmable standards that aren’t for all of our rivers except most of them
Swimmable standards that aren’t, for all of our rivers except most of them, sometime maybe not now. Nat policy at its finest.
Open Mike 05/03/2017
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Social investment meets the surveillance state
First they came for the budgeting services. Now we know that every social service agency has to provide clients’ private personal data to […]
English puts super back on the line
In what was apparently a pretty dire interview on The Nation this morning, Bill English dropped one bombshell, possible changes in superannuation. For the record I think English is right on this. For a change.
A social media primer for progressive candidates
Labour Party General Secretary Andrew Kirton recently sent out a message to Labour Candidates which of itself was a lesson on all things social media …
There are no fascists in New Zealand…
A confluence of circumstantial evidence is all you ever get when you’re dealing with cryptofascists.
Slightly smug about MMP
2017 will be New Zealand’s eighth election under MMP, over 22 years. With very strong democratically elected governments appearing right across the world digging in for the long term, it’s useful to take a moment for MMP.
The social damage wrought by homes as commoditites
A recent UN report highlights the waste of treating homes as commodities. It should sound awfully familiar in the NZ context.
Open Mike 04/03/2017
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Daily Review 03/03/2017
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 …
Encouraging Signs
A refreshing shift in NZ’s political environment.
Trump’s confidence: The kiss of death?
Watching Steve Brannon and his alter ego Donald Trump operate from a long way away is almost amusing. Total confidence == Jeff Sessions needs to recuse himself from the enquiry into unlawful contacts with the Russians..
Thanks Annette
I well remember going to see new Minister of Employment Annette King in 1989 to ask for support for group apprenticeship in the motor industry. “Seems like a good idea, we’ll put up $50,000.” she said. I nearly fell off my chair. It was not the usual response from Ministers in those days, but is Annette King to a T – positive, decisive, and supportive.
Coalition building – deft politics from Little
Helen Clark wrote the book on MMP coalition government, shoring up alliances on the left and the right. Looks like Andrew Little has read the book. Labour + Green + NZF = government.
Labour: Greens are the first cab off the rank
Andrew Little has confirmed that the Green Party will be first party Labour looks to for a coalition deal after the election.
English reckons the collapse of NZ’s housing is “a good problem to have”
In every case a failure to plan, a failure to deliver, and a glib attempt to fob off the victims of his government’s failure.
Open Mike 03/03/2017
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Daily Review 02/03/2017
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 …
Free speech vs hate speech
Auckland Uni is in a difficult position – a classic dilemma with two important principles at stake.
Who would have thunk that Government’s approach to housing is inadequate
Radio New Zealand has reported on a review of the Government’s housing policy which described it as fragmented and lacking a robust plan but it took intervention by the Ombudsman to have the review released.