Aussie Invasion – a video with an agenda
We’re used to hearing opposition parties talk about people rushing to Australia. But let’s remember we’re attractive to Australia too – where could […]
Causes and effects
A series of graphs from the Social Report. First off, the unemployment rate When the unemployment goes up or down, the practical effect […]
Peters stands down
Peters has stood down. Clark has taken over his portfolios. It’s good that Peters appears to have accepted that this is a necessity […]
Guest Post: Herald like a blow-hard blogger on Tan
After a fair summary of the facts as they stand, the Herald enters the realm of the right-wing blogger, always ready to paint […]
Right to strike
Hundreds of Australian journalists walked off the job yesterday in protest at Fairfax’s 550 planned job cuts. Here in NZ journos employed by […]
Franks: “grumpy Christians and whining gays”
Here’s National’s Wellington Central candidate Stephen Franks giving his view on Civil Unions. I’m not even really sure what to say about it. […]
The Standard Week: August 22-29
It’s all been on this week. Maurice Williamson promising $50 tolls and more before being forced to retract, a poll showing more Kiwis […]
Connell departs and praises PM
Who would have expected to read this from Brian Connell upon his departure from Parliament? In a backhander against his own party, he […]
Nats, Farrar fail again in attempt to muzzle Kiwis
For the third time, National’s attempt to get a legal decision to block the EPMU and its sister unions from participating in the […]
But why?
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on Peters because its not the kind of issue that affects Kiwis lives (its […]
Clark cuts the thread
Winston Peters’ stories around the Owen Glenn donation to his legal fund are dangerously convoluted and have stretched everyone’s credulity but without real […]
Social Report shows Kiwis better off
MSD released its Social Report today, an annual publication that collates a wide variety of standard of living measures, and produces this awesome graph. […]
Herald poll shows Nats’ lead collapsing
Today’s Herald-Digi poll is the first to be released that was taken after the secret agenda tape scandal had fully emerged and had some […]
Workers demand decent work rights policies
6000 workers turned out in Manukau yesterday for the EPMU’s Wages Drive rally. With 25 events nation-wide over this month, which have attracted […]
Interviewing 101
Exam question 65 If you were a highly-paid media interviewer and John Key said to you that he was absolutely certain that Helen […]
The more things change…
70 years ago (more or less) and The Standard was correctly predicting a Labour victory as the ‘Nationalists’ ramped up a hollow election […]
Cullen on Nat apologies
Say what you will about his politics, you can’t beat Cullen for wit. Here he is on the similarities between Labour and National following Williamson’s enthusiastic […]
What will National do on student allowances?
Spotted in the Waikato Times: Cambridge High School students did their best to get a policy out of him, but National leader John […]
Whom to believe? (2)
Owen Glenn’s letter to the Privileges Committee contradicts Winston Peters’ previous statements to the media, the Privileges Committee, and, presumably, the PM. Glenn says […]
Drinking Liberally Auckland: Reminder.
A reminder – Drinking Liberally is on in Auckland tonight with Laila Harre as the speaker. These are always fun to listen to […]
Greens win better ETS
The Greens have won some very good improvements to the ETS in exchange for their support. The most important is $1 billion over […]
Cartoon: Paying the toll
What else did Williamson say?
I notice that, while the Nats have attempted to play down Maurice Williamson’s promise of $50 a week in tolls, they haven’t retracted […]
Metaphor
So, I was walking along in Kelburn yesterday, and I saw Stephen Franks’ faded yellow mini. He was driving along in the centre of […]
Greens back emissions trading scheme
The Greens have decided to back the government’s emissions trading scheme saying in a press release that it’s a start but there’s more […]
Nearly half of voters think Nats have secret agenda
Here’s TV3’s coverage from last night. They’ve just completed a poll in which 45.7% of those surveyed think National has a secret agenda.
Kiwis waking up to Nats’ secret agenda
According to the TV3 poll last night, 46% of voters believe National has a secret agenda. And why wouldn’t they? We’ve had Bill English […]
Sales pitch
He just doesn’t give up does he? Maurice Williamson was spotted this morning still trying to sell his toll booth idea to Auckland […]
Williamson goes to ground
From RNZ’s Checkpoint I hear they’ve been after Maurice Williamson all day to clarify what he said on Agenda yesterday (as discussed below). […]
Why I love The Daily Show
They’ve just erected this billboard in Minneapolis-Saint Paul to welcome delegates to the Republican National Convention.
Whom to believe?
On Agenda on Sunday, National’s Transport spokesperson, Maurice Williamson, said National would impose tolls on major new road projects – Transmission Gully, Waterview […]
Nat: our ‘diversity’ is just a gimmick
Unless a party has a systematic bias towards one sector of the population, it would be normal to expect that their candidates would […]
Beastly
[I do love the idea that someone would go to the zoo merely to hurl insults at the apes]
Adapting to the end of cheap oil
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows […]
TV3: Labour clawing back National’s lead in latest poll
According to TV3 “Labour is on the move. The latest 3 News poll shows that less than three months out from the election, […]
On grounds of race or trust?
Regular Standard readers will know I like to keep an eye out on what’s happening in the States (where the arte of politic$s […]