Open mike 19/01/2015
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 …
2014 hottest year – a good thing!
As widely reported, 2014 was the hottest year on record. And that’s a good thing!
A discussion on the media
The team at Scoop are running a series called “The State of the NZ News Media – A Public Conversation”.
What should John Key do in 2015?
James Griffin has written a tongue in cheek article on what John Key should be doing this year. But the article is full of political fluff and has no real proposals for action. What should John Key be doing this year?
Open mike 18/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
The “pop-star” economy could go pop
This the time of year when papers are thin and economic prognostications abound as the pop-star economists from banks and brokers look to […]
TV3, Cameron Brewer and more of the same
TV3 recently interviewed Cameron Brewer to provide adverse commentary on a story about Labour seeded by David Farrar and Cameron Slater. And they did not even mention Brewer’s links to the National Party.
Free Raif Badawi
Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi has been sentenced to 1000 lashes. The international outrage is growing.
Skypath
Generation Zero encourages you to make a submission on the Skypath. All those in favour – say so!
The Light Dawns
The evidence is surely mounting that the remedies to recession proposed by orthodox policy have failed.
The whole basis of monetarist policy is revealed to be a charade.
Open mike 17/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
Shortlist for GCSB Chief announced
It makes for great reading and throws the net wider than last time… just Check it out here
Who texts the PM?
The latest excuse for John Key deleting his texts wholesale is wafer-thin.
No quick fix for diseases of poverty
The continued rise of rheumatic fever is an indictment of our society.
New figures show that there is no quick fix for diseases of poverty.
Your move, National.
Open mike 16/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
Sacrificing our Sovereignty in the name of Free Trade
The United Kingdom is debating entry into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which like the TPPA will allow investor-state disputes to be resolved by unappealable unaccountable private arbitration. George Monbiot in the Guardian describes the issue well and has suggestions on how the proposal can be challenged.
Emerson on Key’s hypocrisy
Exploiting the Charlie Hebdo attack
How many governments are using the Paris / Charlie Hebdo attack as an excuse to increase surveillance or otherwise remove civil protections? The UK and Australia for starters…
Open mike 15/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
NRT: Waihopaiology
Idiot Savant speculates on why GCSB Director Ian Fletcher is standing down so unexpectedly. Maybe another GCSB stuffup? Which of course someone has to fall on their sword for, but which must be kept secret for “security reasons” (aka “if the victims knew, they’d sue us and complain to the police”).
The Key dynasty
What is with the paparazzi-like obsession with Max Key?
Dame Anne Salmond: Erosion of democratic rights
An excellent piece by Dame Anne Salmond in the Dominion Post yesterday. Salmond reviews the government’s attacks on journalists, institutions and privacy.
Open mike 14/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
“But he hasn’t got anything on!”
The self righteousness of the leaders who marched in Paris was there for all to see, but few in the media decry and […]
GCSB Head, Ian Fletcher resigns
For family reasons he is stepping down… Nothing to see here says Chris Finlayson, great guy who did a great job. For national’s supporters of course there is far more importance in receiving speeding fines Woodhouse is moving quickly to say the enforcement is ambiguous. It appears that he sees a universal right to speed and kill people…
Advertisements pretending to be news
No surprises to find that The Herald is sliding in to the muddy waters of “advertorials”.
Dirty Politics in 2015
Political Scientists Bronwyn Hayward and Mark Boyd were interviewed on Radio New Zealand yesterday on New Zealand politics in 2014 and what happened during the election. They talked extensively on dirty politics, on the role of the media and how things can be improved in 2015.
Open mike 13/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
SkyCity a nightmare for the Nats
Far from fading away into the Christmas haze, SkyCity looks likely to be one of the defining political issues for 2015.
The state of freedom of the press in the world in a series of tweets
An English student, Daniel Wickham has in a series of tweets questioned the commitment of various world leaders who marched in support of freedom of the press to that concept.
Open mike 12/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
The Hypocrisy of Hate
You’d think that with all the WW1 commemorations going on at the moment it would make us more vigilant about our freedom and security, not sleep-walking towards another Holy Crusade (in the name of the God of Money and Father of Fossil Fuels), seduced by slick liars and the gods of commercialism and greed.
Rupert Murdoch on Charlie Hebdo
Rupert Murdoch has tweeted questioning if most Moslems are peaceful and saying they are responsible for extremists within their ranks.
Summer rerun: Deserted cities
I think it is a pity that the currently dominant country / culture in the world, America, has had such a short history.
Open mike 11/01/2015
The Authors of The Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm.
Local Bodies: Neoliberal Economics Limits Food Choice in Southland
bsprout on the Local Bodies blog, provides a case study, specific to Southland. At the same time, it outlines a more general pattern that can be seen in many places, each with their own local circumstances.