Charlie Brooker’s school of news production
His formula appears to have been faithfully replicated here. Our only significant divergence is the recent inclusion of a live cross to the […]
Open mike 30/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
The Public Domain Manifesto
The public domain, as we understand it, is the wealth of information that is free from the barriers to access or reuse usually […]
Obama’s State of the Nation
I suspect more than one reader of the Standard would have been glued to the live stream yesterday of Obama’s state of the […]
Discussion: The usual suspects in 2009
Ok, I promised a review of the comments in 2009. Here are the usual suspects with both the number of comments and the […]
Steven Joyce and the new Think Big
The first half of an excellent piece by Kent Dunston of Save the Basin (which is opposing the construction of flyovers around the […]
Goff: no GST hikes or tax cuts for rich
In his speech yesterday Phil Goff articulated Labour’s position on tax in no uncertain terms and came out very strongly against wealthy tax dodgers […]
Turei pushing me back to RAM
Check out this exchange between Trevor Mallard and Metiria Turei on his Facebook page (great how the new media allows these spur of […]
The joy of tory trolls
One of the great pleasures I get from writing for The Standard is making the trolls scream. There’s no better sign that you’re […]
Thanks Jeanette
So Jeanette Fitzsimons is, as expected, resigning from Parliament. After 13 years her last day will be February 11th. Parliament will miss her […]
Goff advocates real solutions to crime
Goff and his advisers knew that the wage cap on public service CEOs would be the headline grabber of his widely praised speech. […]
Maintenance time
On Friday at 7 p.m the server is getting kernel upgrades and other maintenance upgrades. They reckon that it will take 10-15 minutes. […]
Open mike 29/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Keys ‘Master Brand’ marketing.
The John Key led National Ltd® government lands yet another axe blow on our 100% Pure brand by cancelling a scheme recognised internationally as a best practice model. This latest announcement caps off a busy year for National Ltd® on the environmental front. Its list of actions include spending millions on establishing the 100% Pure Brand as the “Master Brand†of Aotearoa while simultaneously it has:
The many. Not the few
Phil Goff has just delivered his first major speech of the year to state what Labour stands for and where it is going. […]
Minimum standards
Drinking Liberally – Auckland
The first Auckland Drinking Liberally of 2010 takes place NEXT TUESDAY upstairs at The Purple Bar @ The Naval and Family and features new Labour MP Kelvin Davis (and we’re hoping to get Maori Party leader Pita Sharples) to talk about the Treaty of Waitangi in the 21st century.
Colin, I missed you
Colin Espiner’s back with his first blog of the year. It’s so much fun having him back. In his first outing, he comes […]
Meetings: Auckland super-shitty
Phil Twyford has been organizing a series of meetings about the impending Auckland super-city 3rd bill. The date for submissions to the select […]
Privatisation failures: Telecom
If Telecom were an SOE there would be cries to privatise it. These repeated crashes of XT simply aren’t good enough. Just the […]
Joyce’s holiday highway
Steven Joyce has announced plans for a motorway from Puhoi to Wellsford at a cost of $2 billion ($1.4 billion in today’s money). […]
Open mike 28/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Outsourcing away
We’ve had a few posts about the lack of action from the government – but over on Bernard Hickey’s blog he’s spotted progess […]
Year of the wolf?
I really thought the rumour that the minimum wage would only rise by 25c had been put out by the government to make […]
Te-henua-e-noho. There once was an island.
Today my partner Lyn Collie will be at the world premiere at Festival International du Film Documentaire Oceanien in Tahiti of the documentary that she has been producing part-time all the time I’ve known her. My congratulations to both her, the director Briar March, and the many other people who have worked on this documentary since they started working on it in 2006 for getting it out and being seen.
Nats in line for big $$ from own tax reforms
Fran O’Sullivan has a piece pointing out the vested interests of senior Nats regarding tax reform: “More than two-thirds of the National line-up have […]
On intellectual failure & economic crisis
Before they were swept along by the latest incarnation of US Right anti-intellectualism, National used to have some smart people. One of the […]
Minimum wage: what will it be?
The Government is set to announce its decision on the annual adjustment to the minimum wage today. So what’s it going to be? […]
Double-dip recession on the horizon?
Leading US economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman sees a 30-40% chance of the US re-rentering recession this year, and the conditions that […]
Open mike 27/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Key admits mistake: Tolley and Groser shuffled out
Today John Key admitted his mistake in two Ministerial portfolio appointments, as two long overdue changes were announced. 1) Chopper Tolley has rightfully […]
Massachusetts not about health care
I’m getting a bit sick of commentary suggesting Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts Senate race was a thumbs down for Obama’s […]
Why should the rich get to queue-jump?
Rahui Katene is worried that people who can’t afford stomach staplings here (which supposedly cures diabetes, although the evidence is mixed) are getting […]
Campbell and Hooton on do nothing Key
I can’t work out how to embed audio alone, so here’s a YouTube of Andrew Campbell and Matthew Hooton on the Key Government. […]
You’re not a doctor, Tariana
Tariana Turia got her stomach stapled to tackle her diabetes and it seems to have worked. She wants more people to get the […]
Open mike 26/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]