Key is blaming child poverty on – wait for it – – drugs!
John Key has tried to deflect from his government’s appalling record on child poverty with some throw-away nonsense about drugs. There are just three teeny tiny problems with that line…
Obesity is a structural problem
Structural problems need structural solutions. Progress on this major public health issue has been set back by a decade because we elected a useless National government.
Supply side Jesus
Ad proposes the theory that Jesus was actually a right winger.
Apparently solar panels suck up all the sun’s energy and cause cancer
Elected representatives in Woodland North Carolina were persuaded by arguments that solar panels were sucking up all of the sun’s energy, were preventing plants from photosynthesising and were causing cancer to ban a proposed solar panel farm.
Open mike 16/12/2015
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 16/12/2015
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 …
Child poverty – it’s not choice
Protection of National Security Information
At the heart of the project is the tension between national interests and individual rights. Questions about how to balance these interests are not new, but they have been brought into sharp focus by recent international events.
Rhetoric and reality: Nats on climate change
The Nats want to wallow in the feel-good rhetoric of COP21 action to address climate change. But it’s clear that they don’t intend to take the “ambitious action” they are heralding.
Open mike 15/12/2015
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This Year
2015’s just about up. Here’s my quick summary of the year here at the Standard. Thanks y’all!
Daily Review 14/12/2015
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 …
John Key is relaxed about COP21
The Government has responded to the COP21 convention agreement with the suggestion that little will need to change. And John Key has put the likely annual cost of fulfilling our pledge at less than a tenth of the figure that Tim Groser has used.
Truthiness
They say that reality has a left-wing bias. Turns out that truth does too.
COP21 – More than we expected, less that we needed
The dust is settling on COP21. After some initial optimism based on early reports, it’s clear that we didn’t get what we needed from Paris.
On Shooting the Messenger
Over the past decade we have seen sophisticated attacks against academics and NGOs who challenge government or industry. These attacks often appear organic in nature, but many times are in fact concerted efforts by the powerful.
Open mike 14/12/2015
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COP21 and the implications for New Zealand
COP21 has set the benchmark, no greater than 1.5 degrees increase in global temperatures. But current national pledges suggest that the world is on track for at least 3 degrees. And if New Zealand’s effort was replicated throughout the world the increase would be more like 4 degrees or more. So what should New Zealand be doing?
CERT: the partial privatisation of the GCSB
A public private organisation with the acronym CERT was announced this week along with the new cyber security strategy. CERT’s role is to provide information to government so it can protect against cyber threats. Which is one of the roles of the GCSB.
Open mike 13/12/2015
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COP21 making history
Big news from COP21 in Paris, with a final draft of the agreement just released. It is sounding surprisingly good, 1.5 degree target, “fair, durable, balanced and legally-binding”.
The mantra of ‘Poor Choices’
It is that time of year when poor people realise just how poor they really are – the season for giving, the season […]
Education mess
Details of a mess in tertiary education published yesterday. On top of the mess in charter schools. National aren’t very good at this.
Flag observations
The current result (black and blue fern) is preliminary and may still change when the final vote is announced on Tuesday. Other observations from Twitter last night…
Sua William Sio: COP21 and the Pacific Islands
Labour MP and associate spokesperson for Foreign Affairs (Pacific Climate Change) Sua William Sio describes the repercussions of a COP21 conference that does not agree to limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.
Open mike 12/12/2015
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Daily Review 11/12/2015
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Flagpole Sitta
John Key’s $26 million dollar flag flop bores it’s way to the halfway line tonight. The first referendum closes at 7 PM, first results at around 8.30. $26 million … that’s a lot of cancer drugs, child care centres and elder care we won’t be getting because the PM wants a signature legacy his dreary leadership doesn’t actually deserve.
Eagle vs. Trump
Xero doesn’t like being on the receiving end
Xero used to fund hate for hire blog Whaleoil via advertising, because “we like to support the sunlight of good challenging discussions”. But when they became the targets of attack they didn’t like being on the receiving end.
CORTEX Trojan horse?
The government plans to roll out a new “cyber security action plan”. Given their record of secrecy, lies, and misuse of surveillance, I think we the people would be naive to believe this will be anything less than another escalation of the surveillance of New Zealanders.
New Zealand wins fossil of the day award – again
For a small country New Zealand is certainly punching above its weight. It has been awarded a second fossil of the day award by the Climate Action Network.
Open mike 11/12/2015
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Daily Review 10/12/2015
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“Jihadi brides” and Peter Dunne
Like a stopped watch, Peter Dunne sometimes gets it right.
Le Pen, Trump, dark times
As the world meets in Paris, in desperate need of sanity and unity, the tides of political madness seem to be rising everywhere.