Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, July 30th, 2008 - 59 comments
Brian Rudman’s piece in today’s Herald is so far the most sensible comment on the Spencer Trust affair. He points out that funding of elections in New Zealand has for far too long been vulnerable to the cheque-books of the rich. While some may be philanthropists like Glenn, or occasional players like Jones, others such …
Written By: - Date published: 5:32 pm, July 20th, 2008 - 53 comments
Rod Oram can nearly always be relied upon for insightful analysis that takes debate a step further. In the SSTimes today he asks: “are we being realistic about the current state of the nation? Each person will have his or her own view. But if, as individuals and a society, we’re gloomier than the facts …
Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, July 18th, 2008 - 7 comments
Good piece in the Herald yesterday (and the Dom Post the day before) from PSA national sec Richard Wagstaff critiquing ANZ National chief economist Cameron Bagrie’s woeful report on public sector ‘waste’. Wagstaff takes aim at the underlying assumptions of the report about ‘productive’ versus ‘non-productive’ public sector spending, then proceeds to rip through some …
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, July 15th, 2008 - 41 comments
Jordan Carter posted a month or so back (a little controversially) on how much easier life might be for some on the left if they didn’t believe it was necessary to give due moral regard to others – selfishness certainly seems simpler. New research suggests that Jordan may well be right. The study has concluded …
Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, July 15th, 2008 - 37 comments
A reader just alerted us to the fact that Tearaway’s latest issue features a piece on election ’08. Gotta love the question about what each leader would do with a billion dollars. Damn, where are C/T when you need ‘em…? (Click the image for a larger version)
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, June 28th, 2008 - 23 comments
On the odd occasion I have time to read outside of the confines of The Standard and its ever increasing brawl of entertaining comments. I noticed we don’t have a external reading list, and it is within the range of my writing skills, so here are my oddities for the slow weekends…. From quote of …
Written By: - Date published: 5:03 pm, June 25th, 2008 - 18 comments
An interesting article in the Washington Post poses the question: “You thought our presidential candidates were nice guys, regular guys, guys with whom you’d like to sit down and have a beer? Guess what, lots of people are now telling me: They aren’t. But why on Earth should anyone expect them to be? In its …
Written By: - Date published: 4:46 pm, June 17th, 2008 - 20 comments
From Time magazine: Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we’re no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe free; we’re huddled masses yearning to free up space on …
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 15 comments
Worth a read: Remember when George Bush’s administration promised the world that the invasion of Iraq would be over in a few weeks? We were assured that the Iraqis would throw flowers at their liberators, the war would make a tidy profit and petrol prices would plummet. Next time you fill up your car think …
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, June 13th, 2008 - 115 comments
Trotter is on the money today: …[A]ll of you young, confident women of the 21st century urgently need to pause and reflect upon what is happening especially all you young, confident women thinking of voting for the National Party. Why? Because behind National, hidden by all those glossy placards depicting the handsome John Key, marches …
Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, June 13th, 2008 - 19 comments
The Guardian has extracts from a new book by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future, in which they explain “how the reckless speculation of a super-rich elite has left us all the poorer”. They promised economic stability, order and prosperity. But instead the …
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, June 13th, 2008 - 2 comments
Last month Mike Hucknall, lead singer of Simply Red, asserted that ‘ginger jibes’ were a form of racism. Opinion was divided. As you ponder that one, spare a thought for Tanzanian albinos. The New York Times reports that in the past year at least 19 albinos there have been killed and mutilated – victims of what Tanzanian …
Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, June 6th, 2008 - 7 comments
Here’s an interesting piece from Otago University student magazine, Critic - “Who is the Listener listening to”: Substance does not always equate to sales. [Editor] Stirling admits that during the 2005 election, their eight ‘political covers’ bombed. Yet there are perennial features that seem bigger sellers than others, and one of the Listener’s eternal stalwarts is …
Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, June 5th, 2008 - 18 comments
Garth George surprised me today, and a welcome surprise it was. Here’s an extract from his article – I decided that in this week’s column I would have a bit of fun at the Greens’ expense in the wake of their annual meeting. But since the spartan media coverage given to that conference was insufficient …
Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, May 29th, 2008 - 57 comments
I noticed an interesting comment from Ferdinand in our Kiwisaver thread yesterday: I signed up to Kiwisaver based on the 4% employer contribution being rolled out. If National cap that at 1% then I’m out of pocket by about $75,000 in contributions alone. That got me thinking about that meaningless phrase John Key used to …
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 27th, 2008 - Comments Off
As the price of our petrol continues to climb, having recently crossed the $2 a litre barrier, spare a thought for some US petrol retailers who have a whole other set of problems to contend with. As the Washington Times reports: Like a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs, Cathy Osborne worries that she’ll go out of …
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, May 21st, 2008 - 72 comments
Economist Greg Clydesdale has released a report in which he says Pacific Islanders are a drain on the New Zealand economy (exhibiting “significant and enduring under-achievement” and “that can contribute little to economic growth” in his words). I accept Clydesdale’s cry that he is not a racist. No, he is just a fool who is …
Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, May 20th, 2008 - 7 comments
Oscar Pistorius now the chance to become the first amputee to compete on the track at the Olympics. The 21-year-old who runs on artificial carbon fibre legs has been cleared to compete at the Beijing Olympics if he can make the qualifying time (he needs to take about a second off his personal best). Initially Oscar was barred from …
Written By: - Date published: 4:07 pm, May 1st, 2008 - 5 comments
Anyone remember the Pinto? Arguably not Ford’s finest hour. When in 1968 it became apparent that the Pinto’s defective fuel tank could result in the car catching fire when hit from behind, Ford executives reached for their calculators. Some quick sums (from a leaked memo) showed that the costs of fixing the Pinto were around …
Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, April 23rd, 2008 - 28 comments
In 1974, economist Richard Easterlin, published a study in which he argued that economic growth didn’t necessarily lead to more satisfaction. In poor countries, gaining the necesseties of life raised happiness but beyond those gains there was no increase. This became known as the Easterlin paradox. Just last week, two young economists presented what they …
Written By: - Date published: 9:33 am, April 23rd, 2008 - 2 comments
The NY Times reports on the symbiotic relationship between media “military analysts” and the Bush administration. Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from …
Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, April 9th, 2008 - 23 comments
Polly Toynbee of The Guardian writes: “Beware the lesson of the Tory wolf in liberal clothing: Sweden’s great social democracy has been transformed for the worse – and Britain risks importing the nightmare”. At the previous election [the moderates] had crashed at just 15%, so Reinfeldt, an appealing and eloquent 41-year-old, had a free hand …
Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, April 8th, 2008 - 13 comments
A reader wrote to us to say that they’d recently seen Finlay MacDonald speak at Otago University as part of the Distinguished Communicator Lecture Series for the Centre of Science Communication. The talk is now online: The Audacity of Hype: John Key and the new National Socialism. In case you hadn’t picked up on this …
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, March 18th, 2008 - 16 comments
Meet Guest post. Guest post is 32 years old, he likes long walks on the beach and lively political debate. He is our new vehicle for experts on interesting and relevant topics to contribute posts to The Standard. Our first guest is Simon Tegg, who has done research on peak oil. It says something about …
Written By: - Date published: 12:28 pm, March 17th, 2008 - 7 comments
Rob Stock apparently holds several awards for personal finance reporting but looks unlikely to win another based on his rehash of National Party lines in the SST this weekend. I can understand the desire to get these pesky articles to the publisher when the sun’s shining and there are better things to be doing outside …
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 pm, March 15th, 2008 - 16 comments
Do you buy Fairtrade products? Or do you think of it as just another marketing ploy? This recent article “Teach us how to fish – do not just give us the fish” from the Guardian puts a personal perspective on consumer purchasing power. Three producers talk about how their lives and those of their communities …
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, February 25th, 2008 - 36 comments
From Colin’s blog: It’s time for National to put its mouth where its money is. After a week of climbing into Labour boots and all over the Owen Glenn saga, one thing has become abundantly clear: the Nats have lost any defence of their right to keep their own campaign donations secret. It is the …
Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, February 14th, 2008 - 64 comments
Michael Shermer of the LA Times asks: “Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000?” Somewhat surprisingly you might think, it turns out that most people chose the first option. They’d rather earn twice as much as others …
Written By: - Date published: 4:31 pm, February 13th, 2008 - 1 comment
Jenny Russel of the Guardian writes, “As the middle classes feel the pain of comparison with the super-rich, we lose all enthusiasm for the common good”. The rise of the super-rich, and their capacity to outbid others in the competition for houses, schools, space and possessions, has produced a new definition of success. It is …
Written By: - Date published: 4:23 pm, February 11th, 2008 - 53 comments
A report out today from the Salvation Army acts as a reminder that despite a suite of policies designed to improve the lives of those most in need there’s still work to be done. Major Campbell Roberts says: “As a country we have invested hugely in core social spending, from $23b 10 years ago to …
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, February 2nd, 2008 - 2 comments
What does President Bush’s favourite painting say about him? The Guardian trys to find out. Bush claims that the artwork, which hangs in his office, is a “beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us.” It turns out that the painting was first …
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