Open mike 29/12/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Comments at the end of 2012
The average daily comments by week for 2012 are pretty healthy. 2012 was a post election year. 2012 was consistently higher than the election year 2011.
I’m pretty pleased with the comment’s growth. It looks like the policy of offloading all of the idiots to the sewer works well for steadily increasing rational dialogue on this site.
Weekend social 28/12/2012
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Will the real David Shearer please stand up?
Many want Shearer to break with neoliberalism, clearly state his politics and a new political direction. He became leader with a compelling, but worryingly selective, back-story. Party members want democratic participation. What of consensus-building, coercion, public services, social security, TPP, PPPs, state assets, sustainability?
Open mike 28/12/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Mud-slinging
Khandallaviper asked today in Open Mike “What is characterising and feeding the ongoing divide?” when I said our aim in setting up the Standard was not to “join Farrar in making the prospect of a Labour government the principal target for attack.” Links to Chris Trotter’s latest post on Bowalley Road, titled “Who is David Shearer?” provide a good example. Farrar slung the same mud three years ago.
From me culture to we culture
Today Al Jazeera News reported on the rise of collaborative consumption in Europe; from rent-a-present to car sharing. Just an extension of Trade Me or something bigger? How can sustainable practices of collaborative production, consumption and living be developed in NZ? [AJ Link added]
Fear factors
Another in an on going non-chronological series on options in the face of global warming.
Open mike 27/12/2012
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Take the damn chocolates AWAY
I’m about to start doing some substantial site changes. So don’t get worried if the site disappears for a few minutes at a […]
Best and worst of 2012
Well it’s the end of the year and everyone else is doing it so…
Here’s my political awards of 2012.
Open mike 26/12/2012
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Open mike 25/12/2012
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Merry Xmas!
Or should that be Marxmas?
It’s been a bloody good year here at the Standard and we’d like to thank our readers and commenters and wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas day.
Quote of the Year: “Planet Key”
I don’t know what universe the panel is in, that judged the “zip it” one as quote of the year. The political one that has been repeated most and spawned a load of images and comments, is surely “Planet Key”?
Open mike 24/12/2012
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Amidst th’encircling gloom…
I was going to do a retrospective, but changed my mind – the message of Christmas is one of hope. Some indicators of better times in 2013: long-time leftie Matt McCarten makes Shearer his politician of the year, long-time righties Bob Jones and Rodney Hide go hard at Judith Collins for her unconscionable treatment of Justice Binnie, and in the middle Kerre Woodham winds up on Key’s failure to deliver. Time to balance things up a bit, I think..
Minister for Oversea Holidays
Getting away this summer? Or having a ‘staycation’ and selling your leave to make ends meet? Are you “jealous” that Key’s off to Maui for 3 weeks, again? Or are you just a bit pissed off to learn that our Minister of Tourism has so far spent over 100 days overseas on holiday since becoming PM, while the average Kiwi’s had just 27 days abroad and tourism here is in crisis?
2012: “celebrity” PM – collective action
Individualism & “celebrity” PM, John Key were still strong in 2012. But, there was opposition from some (often local) groups working collaboratively: Occupy, Glen Innes protesters, MUNZ, Asset Sales referendum, AAAP advocacy activism, manufacturing inquiry, NZLP democratisation, TS nest of vipers. And 2013?
Open mike 23/12/2012
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John Key’s Summer
While John Key spends the summer in Hawaii, he will need to make some decisions about the future of his cabinet. Parata’s future is poised in the balance, and he is looking to move Tim Groser on later next year.
Open mike 22/12/2012
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Weekend social 21/12/2012
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
I wish it could be Xmas every day…
… then maybe more attention would be given to increasing numbers of people struggling to get the necessities of life. Record queues outside Auckland’s City Mission. The Brighter Future never comes. Revisit The Spirit Level.
Apocalypse Now
Humans have a paranoid fascination with our own demise, as seen in doomsday movies. They portray our fears, hopes, politics and delusions. Children of Men: the demise of capitalism; Day after Tomorrow: climate collapse. Is today a Mayan prediction of the end or a new beginning?
NZ falling in education under Nats
Open mike 21/12/2012
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Emerson on choices
Media Bias & Democracy I: truth to power
Democracy needs independent news media, acting in the public interest, to speak truth to power. The commercial imperatives and neoliberal capture of corporate news organisations skew their political coverage, and contribute to voter disengagement. A perfect context for Key’s government to dismantle democracy: ECAN, CERA, Auckland Council, asset sales.
Shearer Says
David Shearer’s weekly e-newsletter, this week – Merry Christmas!
We’re happy to post similar newsletters from other opposition leaders – our email is on our contact page.
The beggared neighbour
Japan just elected a Liberal Democrat government promising more jobs through a huge quantitative easing programme. The US has stated it’ll continue QE until unemployment drops below 6.5%. The effect has been to send our dollar to new highs, killing exporters and import-exposed local businesses. Contrary to media belief, Japan and the US aren’t in worse positions than us.
If
If you and I were told that (variously) our sons and daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews were going to be killed tomorrow, would I be right to suspect that we might sit up and take notice?
Sacred cows
An anonymous editorial in The Herald yesterday suggested that the government raise revenue by cutting the “sacred cow” of interest free student loans. For some strange reason the sacred cow of National’s tax cut bribe for the rich was not similarly offered up for sacrifice. I wonder why that might be.
Govt tries to bully Wellington Council
Wellington Council has voted to spend some time looking at a new alternative to the Basin Fly-over plan. The government’s response has been to threaten the council that other transport investment in Wellington will be scrapped unless they get their concrete monstrosity built. In related news, NZTA systemically under-estimates the costs and overstates the benefits of roading projects.
Open mike 20/12/2012
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Parata won’t quit, Key won’t sack her
Parata isn’t the most corrupt minister Key has but she’s definitely the most incompetent. Now, the Secretary of Education has been paid out to take the fall for Hekia’s incompetence and that of her sister, Apryll, Deputy Secretary Performance and Change. Parata has maintained her reputation for nepotism being an appalling people manager. But she won’t go, and Key won’t make her.