When the Government came under fire over National Standards John Key was quick to raise the anti-union bogey. The old stereotypes are certainly still strong in National, but they have led Key into a trap. What might have worked for Muldoon or Maggie in the past won’t work now for a number of reasons.
Whanau Ora is a terrible idea. It is the beginning of the privatisation of social services, wrapped in a cloak of Maori-centred solutions […]
We market ourselves internationally as “100% pure New Zealand”. That’s a powerful claim and a powerful brand, but also a fragile one. A bubble that is easily popped. Stupidly, the actions of the National government seem likely to damage the brand, and with it the tourism industry, beyond repair.
Key has explicitly promised that no-one will be left worse off by these changes but he doesn’t have the money, can’t have to money, to do that if he persists in handing over buckets of money to the rich.
The Standard has been sent copies of documents (1,2,3,4) released under the Official Information Act which show that one of National’s first acts in government was to trim a Conservation Park at the request of a mining company, ignoring local concerns and official advice, to let the company dig up the land for coal.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
You may have noticed that The Standard looks a little different from the last time you logged in. That’s because today we’re launching The Standard version 3.0, and with it a new legal entity to own the site called, inventively, The Standard Trust.
So, why the new site?
The Economist has been looking at the failures in the financial markets at assessing risk. They have quite a lot of material available. But here are some audio visuals that are of interest.
Note: These clips are all in iFrames which may not display/play where there are strong web controls.
Matt McCarten asks “are we still in love?” with John Key after a year of do-nothing government and a promised ‘step change’ that is really just favours for National’s rich mates. If the views of people on McGehan Close, Key’s famous ‘underclass’ street are anything to go by, the answer is increasingly ‘no’.
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Tracy Watkins awards the first week of Parliamentary politics this year to Phil Goff, and points out that it’s as much due to his and Labour’s much improved performance as it is to Key and National’s shambolic, over-promise, under-deliver governance.
There will be up to 15 minutes of maintenance around 5pm. I have to shove some directories around to better structure the server […]
National love to tell us what we want to hear. Among their many pre-election policy lies they waxed lyrical about the value of education, before effectively cutting funding in the budget. On Adult and Community Education (ACE), Bill English was particularly supportive…
Protests are taking place around the country today against the National Government’s miserable 25 cent increase to the minimum wage.
Click through for today’s Tom Scott cartoon.
He hits the nail on the head.
Putting up GST hits the poor the hardest.
For Kiwis who are barely scrapping by every cent counts.
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Update: Link’s dead but I found this trailer on youtube
This is pretty classic. Found it on one of The Standard’s old posts. I think we’ll be seeing a bit more of this […]
Relating to what I wrote yesterday about the Right and much of the media being largely blind to the existence of those of […]
The other day I wrote: I reckon we probably will see a passing reference to the ‘underclass’ for appearance’s sake [in John Key’s […]
Minister of Justice Simon Power has unfortunately decided to completely ignore recommendations made by the Law Commission on drug reform. This is an […]
The best political commentary these days doesn’t come from the political journalists. As Zetetic shows, they have turned themselves into government minders. But […]
It turns out that the silly ‘no-one owns it’ option for the foreshore and seabed is John Key’s ‘elegant solution’. Here he is defending […]
In chronological order: John Key: “[I never promised I wouldn’t raise GST]. I said I would not raise GST to cover deficits, and […]
Paying a person doing the same work as another person less money because of their sex or religion or ethnicity or any other grounds […]
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your […]
Campaign for a living wage is protesting the offices of National MPs this Saturday to protest increases in GST and the miserly increase […]
Enough of all of this politics. Lets look at something that is more mysterious than the hole that John Key is digging for […]
Over the last month or so National’s pollster David Farrar has been running a series of posts desperately trying to pin the spike […]
Twenty years ago, on 11 February 1990, after 27 years of incarceration, Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster prison on a hot Sunday afternoon. And history changed.
My my, things are turning quickly for John Key. We now have the first sighting of the red flag term “the beleaguered PM” […]
“Last GST hike had little impact, say tax experts” – Herald The article is about inflation but it is also true of growth. […]
The Government and the secretive Iwi Leadership Group are looking at an option where no-one owns the foreshore and seabed. It’s often forgotten […]
As I have mentioned before, Jeanette Fitzsimons is one of the very few members of parliament for whom I have the utmost respect. […]
