On Navel Gazing and Looking Out.
Written By:
Date published: 2:38 pm, October 6th, 2014 - 63 comments
As the NZ Labour Party stands on the cusp of some soul searching, it might want to note that there are alternatives to pointless navel gazing.
Auckland power outages
Written By:
Date published: 1:46 pm, October 6th, 2014 - 22 comments
Well the power just went out at work at 1315. Looks like the Auckland is getting the rolling outages as they repair the Penrose systems. The main TS server in Grey Lynn appears to be unaffected at present, as does the subsidiary one that doesn’t have a UPS. I may (like many others) will be […]
Polity: National’s new ministry: Key fires himself!
Written By:
Date published: 12:53 pm, October 6th, 2014 - 36 comments
Key has basically fired himself from most of his Security and Intelligence responsibilities. This is a big change.
The long reach of “5 Eyes”: re-post
Written By:
Date published: 11:52 am, October 6th, 2014 - 15 comments
With Chris Finlayson just announced as minister in charge of GCSB & SIS, I thought it appropriate to re-post something I published on The Standard back in July 2013: links 5 Eyes’ attorney generals, cyber-security, Dotcom, etc.
Mediawatch on the media orgy
Written By:
Date published: 10:51 am, October 6th, 2014 - 12 comments
RNZ’s Mediawatch is a bright spot in the media wilderness! This weekend’s episode examined the media’s orgy of hyperbole and spin on the Labour leadership contest. Well worth a listen.
Starving the universities
Written By:
Date published: 8:02 am, October 6th, 2014 - 52 comments
NZ’s universities are falling down the world rankings. This should come as no surprise, because National have systematically cut funding to the tertiary sector. How stupid do you have to be to deliberately run down our universities?
Open mike 06/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 6:50 am, October 6th, 2014 - 90 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
A Little Goes A Long Way
Written By:
Date published: 2:22 pm, October 5th, 2014 - 241 comments
Finally confirmed as a Labour List MP, Andrew Little is mulling over a tilt at the leadership. This is good news for the party. Cunliffe is a busted flush and Robertson is too bland to win voters back. Labour needs a circuit breaker. A Little may go a long way.
Boots Theory: Numbers are meaningless when families are living in cars
Written By:
Date published: 10:59 am, October 5th, 2014 - 137 comments
There’s something obscene about the way the economic story gets framed: the figures on a page, the points on an index, the number of dollars someone can swap for a number of different-coloured dollars, when people are suffering.
Taxpayers support Mr “Small Government”
Written By:
Date published: 9:15 am, October 5th, 2014 - 48 comments
If ACT were made up for a show like “The Thick of It”, or “Veep”, they would be dismissed as too ridiculous and extreme for the audience to swallow…
Open mike 05/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 7:35 am, October 5th, 2014 - 177 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Answering climate change myths
Written By:
Date published: 6:08 pm, October 4th, 2014 - 10 comments
I ran across this youtube video “Thirteen misconceptions about global warming” handling the basic myths used by our climate change dummies. Perhaps they should watch it before I and others have to waste too much of our time rubbishing their inane ideas.
National lose majority
Written By:
Date published: 2:18 pm, October 4th, 2014 - 216 comments
The final results are out – National lose a seat (and their majority), Greens gain a seat, Andrew Little is safe.
Unaffordable housing & the culture of greed
Written By:
Date published: 11:17 am, October 4th, 2014 - 47 comments
Rental housing remains unaffordable for many. The problem is the greed of investors & speculators, supported by a culture in which housing investment is seen as a way to individual prosperity.
Final election results due out today
Written By:
Date published: 8:52 am, October 4th, 2014 - 109 comments
The final election results are expected to be announced today and I would not be surprised if there is a change in the makeup of Parliament.
Feed the kids
Written By:
Date published: 8:45 am, October 4th, 2014 - 16 comments
Hone Harawira said “farewell” to Parliament yesterday, in a well attended event. He left behind him a challenge…
Open mike 04/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 7:00 am, October 4th, 2014 - 173 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
Weekend social 03/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 2:12 pm, October 3rd, 2014 - 18 comments
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?
David Farrar gets it wrong on abortion law in NZ
Written By:
Date published: 2:00 pm, October 3rd, 2014 - 43 comments
David Farrar is wrong. We don’t have abortion on request in New Zealand. Not literally, and not “effectively.”
A paean about Grant Robertson
Written By:
Date published: 12:40 pm, October 3rd, 2014 - 385 comments
Like many on the left, I was disillusioned with the election result. It felt pretty hopeless on election night that John Key could romp home to victory on the back of dirty politics. But there is hope. Here are my ten key reasons why I am voting for and supporting Grant Robertson to be our next Prime Minister.
First they sold Auckland, then the rest of NZ…?
Written By:
Date published: 10:00 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 28 comments
A quiet shift in a dodgy Key govt-SkyCity deal: TVNZ land, sold to SkyCity for its convention centre, is to be used for a new hotel. Plus: non-mandated deal between Auckland Transport Authority & a US corporate – intense surveillance of Aucklanders’ diverse activities.
How very Orwellian
Written By:
Date published: 9:30 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 38 comments
A request for a civilised leadership campaign by Labour President Moira Coatsworth has been described as “Orwellian” by Phil Quin. This is a remarkable choice of words to use.
Dirty attacks on academic
Written By:
Date published: 8:59 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 10 comments
Another dirty hit, this time on an Otago academic. It features most of the regular cast of Dirty Politics, and stars Jordan Williams of the “Taxpayers’ Union” (aka a front for right-wing spin and political attacks).
Open mike 03/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 6:45 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 156 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
New Zealand’s brighter future
Written By:
Date published: 4:00 pm, October 2nd, 2014 - 139 comments
The early election has meant that National has avoided the bad news of the collapse in international milk prices during the campaign period. And the Reserve Bank has finally taken action to drive down the value of New Zealand’s currency. It may be that the brighter future promised by National is not going to be so bright.
Cameron follows Key – channels Eminem
Written By:
Date published: 3:10 pm, October 2nd, 2014 - 7 comments
It’s the conference season in Britain. According to the Guardian, audio specialist Cassetteboy has rearranged cuts from David Cameron’s Conservative conference speeches to Eminem’s 2002 track Lose Yourself. Cameron can be heard rhyming “I’m hardcore and I know the score” with “I am disgusted by the poor” followed by “I’ve made sure we’re ready for class war.”
Cosgrove, the whining MP
Written By:
Date published: 8:56 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 123 comments
Clayton Cosgrove has been acting like a real old fossil this morning about Karen Price’s tweeting. It sounds like his wife must live in purdah. But many modern men live with women who actually have their own mind and use it. Apparently he also thinks bloggers are all like the sockpuppet Cameron Slater as well.. Whining fool. I have news for him. We’re independent too…
The politics of poverty
Written By:
Date published: 8:34 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 86 comments
Every election Key is confronted with the issue of poverty. His response is always pure politics with no effective action, and this election has been no different. We will be here again in 2017.
Labour announces leadership election details
Written By:
Date published: 7:53 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 154 comments
Labour has announced details of the leadership contest including timing, closing of nominations, and the dates of hustings meetings.
Open mike 02/10/2014
Written By:
Date published: 6:35 am, October 2nd, 2014 - 182 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …
The Standard’s last two months
Written By:
Date published: 8:46 pm, October 1st, 2014 - 19 comments
I’ve just been digging through the statistics for the last couple of months here at The Standard on Google analytics looking back over the last 7 years. We did pretty well for a crew who are all volunteers doing this in our spare time, a server budget now less than $300 per month and where all of us have a pile of other work to do.
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