Kia kaha
The Greens have joined in opposing National’s “Fire at Will” Bill which they say puts “jobs and democracy at stake”. They’re calling on […]
Bringing it home
These ads made by the ACTU to oppose John Howard’s removal of unfair dismissal rights sure bring home what National’s fire at will […]
Ramming it through
I’ve just been informed that the National/ACT Government has put its 90 day fire at will bill on the Order Paper and could […]
No longer at the back of the class
Word is National’s David Bennett will be chairing the Transport & Industrial Relations select committee. After his unhinged performance over the youth minimum […]
Work rights? Gone by Xmas
Tracy Watkins reports that the National/Act government will be taking all work rights from anyone in a new job in a firm with […]
Dear John
In case, like me, you tend to mainly read the news online, here’s what was stuck to the Dominion Post this morning:
Kiwisaver changes
NZPA reports that the Government is looking at reviewing its changes to Kiwisaver so that workers who don’t earn enough to get the […]
Urgency
During this morning’s Nine to Noon politics segment Matthew Hooton was saying how he thought the Government’s 100-day action plan would only include […]
Occupy, resist, produce
Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis describe in the New Statesman how: [a]lmost entirely under the media radar, workers in Argentina have been responding […]
The Secret Diary of Prime Minister John Key aged 47 1/3
If someone sent me this to put up as a guest post on The Standard, I would probably reject it as too childish. […]
Unambitious
National/ACT has cancelled the Buy New Zealand Made programme. So, this is that ambitious and positive vision for New Zealand we’ve been hearing so much […]
Playing with rankings
Since the 16th of November, I’ve been running an experiment with the Alexa ranking system to look at the site sensitivity in rankings […]
Taking responsibility, a trait of government
I was looking back at posts from last year to get some idea of traffic patterns over the December period. I found this […]
Hanging up on Barack
According to the BBC: US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen thought she was being hoaxed when a man who sounded a lot like Barack Obama […]
Off the Agenda
Well, if that was the best they could manage for the final Agenda then we haven’t lost much. There was one decent question […]
The ethical considerations of Christmas trees
Christmas is coming. We want to feel like we’re part of the sustainable, clean and green in action movement. So what sort of Christmas tree […]
Farrar back on the PS payroll?
A mate just pointed out that the metadata of David Farrar’s election analysis document suggests it was authored on a Parliamentary Service computer. […]
The Standard Week 28 Nov – 5 December
At the election, National won a mandate for its platform to review the Work Account of ACC, to see whether privatisation might make […]
What to do with Treasury
It’s good to see Treasury’s extreme right-wing prescription for New Zealand has not been wholly embraced by the National Party – and it’s […]
Govt’s ACC spin working
We’ve covered the National/ACT government’s latest ACC beat-up extensively already. IB spelled out rather well here the techniques being used by the government […]
Treasury – Labour left us in good shape
Treasury’s briefing to Bill English as the new Minister of Finance must’ve pissed him off big time. Aside from the expected ideological burp […]
The moral high ground
Murray McCully has just used his recently acquired ministerial discretion to allow Fiji’s under-20 soccer team to enter New Zealand in transit on […]
Ad-men
What would you guys think about us taking on advertising? A few months ago, I saw Public Address’s advertising rates card and it […]
A journal for the ruling class
The Herald continues its campaigning today with a puff piece about a poll that claims business wants National’s 90 day ‘fire at will‘ […]
Spinbusting: the anchor-story
There’s a lot of talk about the ACC budget deficit and National’s use of the issue to create an environment in which their […]
Ad rant
I despair at the mentality behind this ad. Why should universities, which are all publically-owned, be advertising to try and take students off […]
Slash and pray
The Reserve Bank has cut 1.5% off the official cash rate, bringing it down to 5%. The rate has now been cut 2.5% […]
Laying the foundations
Let’s not fool ourselves that what we’ve seen from National over the last 24 hours on to the shortfall in the ACC non-earners […]
Merriam Webster word of the year: Bailout
It often provides an interesting take on what’s on people’s minds. The top ten was filled out by: Vet Socialism Maverick Bipartisan Trepidation […]
Nowhere to Hide
“Far too much irksome regulation is putting unnecessary burdens on households and businesses,” says Rodney Hide. Problem is, for all his rhetoric, Rodney […]
Drinking Liberally – Christchurch
Matthew Hooton calls Drinking Liberally ‘a trendy leftie clique’. Well, I’m not sure I would agree with mad Matt on the ‘clique’ bit, […]
It’s 3am again
Armstrong’s a little more charitable in relation to National’s dithering on the evacuation of Kiwis from Bangkok than I would have been. Yes, […]
A smoke-screen for the privatisation brigade
Now that didn’t take long. Well rehearsed from the 1990s, National has already started using the privileged position of government to conjure up […]
Godwinin’
More gold from Lyndon Hood: Blogger Still Maintains Clark Just Like Mugabe The power-sharing arrangement Helen Clark has permitted after the opposition National […]
Fiasco
John Key’s first test as Prime Minister in a crisis is turning into a bloody fiasco, with the leader of the opposition having […]
Garth McVicar
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar’s analysis of prisons today: “Under our present prison policy the inmates are basically running the prison” Why […]