The Standard

Denial in Politics

Written By:
Date published: 9:26 pm, December 17th, 2016 - 33 comments

There’s a lot of it around. The Democrats and their media and spook allies are in a complete lather over Putin’s supposed personal influence in the US election. Confident of victory and its spoils up till midday on election day, the Clinton team are incapable of assessing just what a debacle of a campaign they ran, still less what they need to do now. Lessons abound.

To protect whistleblowers…

Written By:
Date published: 2:14 pm, December 17th, 2016 - 16 comments

One of the claims made by Edward Snowden was that there were no effective channels in the NSA to whistle blow to. This claim appears to have been spectacularly validated thursday with a POGO report that the NSA’s Inspector General, its final whistleblower protector, has been suspended for retaliating against another whistleblower.

The first Trump ripple

Written By:
Date published: 1:17 pm, December 17th, 2016 - 96 comments

Donald Trump’s telephone call with the Taiwanese president has created a response which it seems clear he did not anticipate.

What Paula is proud of

Written By:
Date published: 8:36 am, December 17th, 2016 - 76 comments

Apparently it’s “getting homeless people into homes”. Given the ongoing explosion of homelessness, just think how much scope she has to make herself proud next year…

Open Mike 17/12/2016

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 17th, 2016 - 164 comments

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Daily Review 16/12/2016

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 16th, 2016 - 18 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 …

“Social bonds” fail – blame the officials!

Written By:
Date published: 3:09 pm, December 16th, 2016 - 31 comments

A scapegoat for the failure of the Nats’ first “social bonds” programme has been found. Turns out it was the fault of government officials! Shocker!

Labour reshuffle

Written By:
Date published: 11:13 am, December 16th, 2016 - 96 comments

Andrew Little has undertaken a minor reshuffle of the Labour caucus.

Weak Cities

Written By:
Date published: 8:30 am, December 16th, 2016 - 44 comments

Current governance structures for our cities that rely on corporate management are proving to be ineffective and are not delivering the sort of result our democracy needs.

English honeymoon over already

Written By:
Date published: 7:37 am, December 16th, 2016 - 198 comments

The English honeymoon came to an abrupt end yesterday as the new PM copped an earful in Kaikoura. And bad goes to worse as Brownlee loses his rag (again). Key would have handled it better.

Open Mike 16/12/2016

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 16th, 2016 - 208 comments

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Daily Review 15/12/2016

Written By:
Date published: 5:30 pm, December 15th, 2016 - 93 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 …

McCully is going

Written By:
Date published: 3:27 pm, December 15th, 2016 - 26 comments

Murray McCully has announced that he too is standing down from politics at the next election and his removal as a Minister this week appears almost inevitable.

Housing? A National mess

Written By:
Date published: 12:06 pm, December 15th, 2016 - 97 comments

3 stories from Checkpoint yesterday that add up to a picture of National’s response to housing: waste on unacceptable temporary housing; empty state houses where they’re needed most; and vilify anyone who dares complain.

Taxing multinationals

Written By:
Date published: 9:58 am, December 15th, 2016 - 53 comments

In March the Nats were still rejecting the idea of a crackdown on multinational companies’ tax avoidance. But there has been – in large part due to the work of Matt Nippert in The Herald – a partial back-down. Another Labour policy adopted!

A cutting review of National’s lineup

Written By:
Date published: 8:51 am, December 15th, 2016 - 240 comments

Jay Kuten writing in the Wanganui Chronicle: “Most of these folks couldn’t reliably run a bath.”

Open Mike 15/12/2016

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 15th, 2016 - 112 comments

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NRT: Even more expensive

Written By:
Date published: 7:32 pm, December 14th, 2016 - 5 comments

NoRightTurn: The police’s illegal raid on Nicky Hager’s home has got even more expensive

Daily Review 14/12/2016

Written By:
Date published: 3:14 pm, December 14th, 2016 - 39 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 …

Lotu-Iiga is going

Written By:
Date published: 3:09 pm, December 14th, 2016 - 41 comments

Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga has announced that he will stand down from Parliament at the end of the current term.  He will be a loss to National.

Fare well David Shearer

Written By:
Date published: 8:31 am, December 14th, 2016 - 51 comments

This pattern of Kiwi’s exploiting migrants is shameful

Written By:
Date published: 8:17 am, December 14th, 2016 - 88 comments

A depressing feature in The Herald this morning explores the exploitation of migrant workers. The same pattern as the private sector’s treatment of foreign students. This paints a shameful picture of New Zealand. Greed has made us forget who we were.

Open Mike 14/12/2016

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 14th, 2016 - 288 comments

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Daily Review 13/12/2016

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Date published: 5:30 pm, December 13th, 2016 - 32 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 …

Expert report shows urgent need for Pike River re-entry discussions

Written By:
Date published: 3:47 pm, December 13th, 2016 - 48 comments

The Pike River families have presented expert reports at Parliament today to establish the mine is safe to re-enter.

Andrew Little: Middle New Zealand needs answers from English

Written By:
Date published: 12:48 pm, December 13th, 2016 - 205 comments

Andrew Little talks about what a Bill English leadership may look like.  John Key promised to lift up the underclass, to fix the housing crisis, and to close the wage gap with Australia but failed.  Will English be the same?

The cusp of something “special” in Auckland

Written By:
Date published: 12:47 pm, December 13th, 2016 - 29 comments

Could be that the Auckland property market is turning downwards.

The B Team

Written By:
Date published: 8:29 am, December 13th, 2016 - 72 comments

Govt response to poverty report will tell us all we need to know about Bill English

Written By:
Date published: 8:04 am, December 13th, 2016 - 264 comments

The 2016 Child Poverty Monitor Technical Report is out today. As usual it paints a bleak picture. What will Bill English’s government do about poverty – evasions, words, or actions? Update: Bill fails.

Open Mike 13/12/2016

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Date published: 6:00 am, December 13th, 2016 - 88 comments

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StandWithPike – it’s always “later”

Written By:
Date published: 7:25 pm, December 12th, 2016 - 76 comments

Bill English tells the families he’ll meet them “later”. They’ve waited for justice for six years. It’s always “later”.