Archive for 2020
Judith Collins, Nicky Hager and Dirty Politics
Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, September 29th, 2020 - 55 comments
Judith Collins has said about Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager that he “still needs to meet his maker.” What did she mean by this? And why does she harbour such dark thoughts about Hager?
What forming a Labour/Green government might look like
Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, September 29th, 2020 - 44 comments
Shaw said that what he is hearing from people is they want Labour to have to talk to someone while in govt and not be able to make decisions by itself.
The question then becomes, how much does the left want Labour to be encouraged greenward and leftward?
Open mike 29/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 29th, 2020 - 91 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 …
Daily review 28/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 28th, 2020 - 114 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Mood of the Boardroom: National is toast
Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, September 28th, 2020 - 45 comments
The NZ Herald Mood of the Boardroom finance election debate should be for National what it is like attending a Living Wage campaign meeting for Labour. They should be at home and the participants should be solidly behind them. But not this year.
Snow storm shout out to the undeserving poor
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, September 28th, 2020 - 84 comments
Why does Labour still not have a plan for unwell and disabled people living in poverty?
What Have Labour Done For The Poor, Exactly?
Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, September 28th, 2020 - 30 comments
There’s been plenty of criticism about Labour’s policies not being effective enough to alleviate poverty. Time for a bit of perspective.
No Right Turn: The coming US shitshow
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 28th, 2020 - 44 comments
President Trump once again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the US election.
Open mike 28/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 28th, 2020 - 229 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 …
Latest Newshub/Reid Research poll – Labour cruising, National floundering
Written By: - Date published: 6:28 pm, September 27th, 2020 - 137 comments
Labour can still rule alone and the Greens are looking safer.
Open mike 27/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 27th, 2020 - 109 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 …
National’s alternative budget doesn’t add up
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, September 26th, 2020 - 23 comments
If ever you needed a symbol of National’s current plight it is the handling of the release of its alternative budget. It has been a complete and utter shambles. A clusterf&*k of epic proportions. Because if there is one part of National’s reputation that needs to be defended at all costs it is the perception that they are competent financial managers and making multiple billion dollar mistakes in your alternative budget at election time is the one thing over all else that will hurt that part of your reputation.
Open mike 26/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 26th, 2020 - 86 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 …
Daily review 25/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 25th, 2020 - 26 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
So much for the climate change consensus
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, September 25th, 2020 - 39 comments
Ten months ago National supported the Zero Carbon Bill and called for a consensus between the major political parties on the overall framework through which climate change issues are addressed. This week National trashed all of that to try and shore up its sagging support.
Open mike 25/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 25th, 2020 - 127 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 …
Daily review 24/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 24th, 2020 - 68 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Vote Labour To Support Your Job
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, September 24th, 2020 - 100 comments
This is a backpocket election – and that’s where most of Labour’s effort is going as it rightly should.
National’s many and varied Covid border policies
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, September 24th, 2020 - 12 comments
On Tuesday National announced the fifth variation of its Covid border policy this year.
The Greens on urban farming
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 24th, 2020 - 25 comments
This is exactly the kind of approach the Green Party would like to encourage – it’s strategic, it’s intergenerational and it recognises the interconnectedness of our people, the environment and local communities.
Open mike 24/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 24th, 2020 - 178 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 …
Daily review 23/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 23rd, 2020 - 12 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Last night’s leader debate
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, September 23rd, 2020 - 129 comments
The leaders of our both main parties committed to neoliberalism is another kind of brutality that we seem reluctant to address.
Open mike 23/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 23rd, 2020 - 131 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 …
Colmar Brunton poll: Labour still way ahead
Written By: - Date published: 6:04 pm, September 22nd, 2020 - 90 comments
Judith will not enjoy this poll result.
Daily review 22/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 22nd, 2020 - 21 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
How low can National go?
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, September 22nd, 2020 - 43 comments
With news of a second mistake in National’s draft budget its campaign is in trouble and support for other right wing parties appears to be surging. Update: Stuff is reporting a further $3.9 billion dollar mistake …
Open mike 22/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 22nd, 2020 - 87 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 …
Daily review 21/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 21st, 2020 - 33 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Open mike 21/09/2020
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 21st, 2020 - 219 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 …
Paora Goldsmith is National’s $4 billion dollar man
Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, September 20th, 2020 - 116 comments
Paul Goldsmith has blighted National’s campaign launch by making a $4 billion dollar mistake in National’s budget costings.
- Parihaka: Remembering A Legacy Of Peaceful Resistance
This small papakāinga, now a powerful symbol of passive resistance, was the site of Aotearoa's first recorded non-violent stand against colonial violence and land confiscation. ...1 week ago - Cook Islands Leader Insists New Passports Won’t Affect Ties With New Zealand
The Cook Islands leader says new passport proposal will not impact ties with Aotearoa, but a New Zealand Foreign Affairs spokesperson says it "would have implications". ...1 week ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill Is Advanced Without Us And In Spite Of Us
“The Bill is an attack on our rangatiratanga and the move to bring it forward is yet another tactic to distract us from the real issues facing New Zealanders. This Bill is being advanced without us and in spite of us. ...1 week ago
- Unemployment Rising Shows The Need For A Plan
Wages are also reflecting the softer labour market, with 37% of all workers seeing no pay rise, and 50% of workers seeing an annual pay rise less than the 3.8% increase in household costs reported yesterday. With the minimum wage rising by less than ...1 week ago
- The longest commute, day three: Joel has made it to Christchurch
Joel MacManus attempts to travel from the bottom to the top of the country without a car or plane. Today: can he finally leave Te Waipounamu? The mission: Get from Stewart Island to Cape Reinga as fast as possible using only public transport. Wherever I can, I’ll travel by train. ...1 week ago - ‘No idea I was in the presence of genius’: Sonya Wilson on her life in books
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Sonya Wilson, author and founder and executive director of Kiwi Christmas Books, which gifts books to families in need every Christmas. The book I wish I’d written I ...1 week ago
- The great Spinoff pet review of RNZ Concert’s Guy Fawkes programme
Pets of The Spinoff tuned in to RNZ Concert last night to catch its special programme for animals. Here’s what they thought. We deeply and unreservedly apologise for not having photos of all the pets. Molly (cat) Molly mostly just wanted her second dinner. She did go scratch on ...1 week ago
- Unemployment Rate At 4.8 Percent
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey, was 4.8 percent in the September 2024 quarter, compared with 4.6 percent in the previous quarter. ...1 week ago
- IRD Have Lied To New Zealanders, Heads Must Roll
...1 week ago
- My Greatest Trip: My awkward high-school exchange to Germany
Hera Lindsay Bird on her Bildungsroman. I would never have gone to Germany if it wasn’t for the bee sting. At primary school, I belonged to an evil quartet of girls. It feels imprecise to call them friends. They were more like coworkers, in the great open-plan office of primary ...1 week ago
- New Zealanders in London are engaging in competitive ‘overtourism’. Can we redeem the classic OE...
Pressure to visit as many European destinations as possible is causing harm to local communities and the climate. Is there an alternative? If any feature of London showcases its scale of possibilities to a new arrival from Aotearoa, it’s the city’s six airports. Six. Each with their own trainline, Pret ...1 week ago
- A tribute in Akaroa to Owen Marshall of Timaru
I first met Owen Marshall the way you should always meet a writer: on the page, in a story in Landfall in 1982. I was teaching English in Palmerston North, at a time when ‘English’ for decades had meant just that: English stories told by English and a smattering of ...1 week ago - Conflicts over conflicts: Why perception in politics matters
Tensions over tobacco regulations hit boiling point in parliament yesterday, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...1 week ago
- The longest commute, day three: Joel is crawling to Christchurch
Joel MacManus attempts to travel from the bottom to the top of the country without a car or plane. Today: can he finally leave Te Waipounamu? The mission: Get from Stewart Island to Cape Reinga as fast as possible using only public transport. Wherever I can, I’ll travel by train. ...1 week ago
- The police pullback on mental health callouts, explained
Police have begun gradually reducing their response to mental health callouts, with health staff expected to step up. Here’s what you need to know. The changes to police’s mental health response, led by NZ Police, the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora, were revealed at the beginning of 2024, ...1 week ago
- Live: US election 2024, the final countdown
With election day but hours away, the candidates are completing their final campaign lap and pundits are desperately seeking other ways to say ‘on a knife edge’. Keep up to date with the latest here. It’s squeaky bum time in the land of the free, with the clock ticking inexorably ...1 week ago
- IRD Data Leaking Killed By 9,000-strong Taxpayers’ Union Campaign
Commissioner Mersi needs to stop burying his head in the sand, and explain to Kiwis how his department are going to clean up the mess of the data they’ve already leaked: Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross said. ...1 week ago
- I survived a night camping with my dog
Alex Casey takes her rescue dog Maggie on a dog-friendly camping adventure and lives to tell the tale. Part of my bargaining in us adopting a dog this year was that I swore not to become one of those barmy people who takes their dog with them on holiday and ...1 week ago
- Govt Science Cuts Take NZ Even Further Backward
The Government talks about the need to tackle our poor productivity performance, and the need for a longer-term plan to arrest our decline, but their actions continue to take us in the opposite direction ...1 week ago
- ‘I didn’t get the HRC job’: Stephen Rainbow’s human rights commission appointment just got w...
New messages released under the OIA show Rainbow acknowledged he ‘didn’t get the HRC job’ – then suddenly he did. Madeleine Chapman reports. “I didn’t get the HRC role but still very keen to help out,” wrote Stephen Rainbow to Act Party chief of staff Andrew Ketels in a text ...1 week ago
- Home Education: On the road with the Rasmussens
Home Education follows the everyday lives of six families in Aotearoa educating their children at home. Today, education in a house bus with the Rasmussens. The new docuseries Home Education is filmed across Aotearoa, in and around the homes of six families who have taken schooling outside the ...1 week ago
- Nobody panic, but we’re in the midst of a global chocolate crisis
Price hikes, disappearing products and sourcing struggles – could this be the new normal for the chocolate industry? Last week, Whittaker’s announced its chocolate was changing. Its cacao will no longer be sourced exclusively from Ghana, with the global cocoa shortage forcing the company to get the key ingredient from “several” ...1 week ago
- On the road with the Rasmussens | Home Education | The Spinoff
“We thrive on proving people wrong.” | Watch the full series: http://thespinoff.co.nz/videos/home-education 🚌 The Rasmussens have travelled the country in a house bus for over a decade. Bridie is the ‘road-schooling’ mum to seven kids, all at different stages. She says the family runs into judgement all the time, but ...1 week ago
- Appalling Attack On Public Service Official By Minister Crosses The Line
"Publicly attacking a public servant for giving advice that you disagree with is unacceptable within our democratic system," said Kerry Davies, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi. ...1 week ago
- Every travel disaster I can think of – and how travel insurance would help
While you might be reluctant to buy travel insurance, you’ll be glad to have it when things go wrong. As a natural catastrophiser, I spend a lot of time thinking about things that could go wrong – even on holiday. Perhaps I’ll be caught up in a life-threatening multi-car pileup ...1 week ago
- My Greatest Trip: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos
A white woman’s account of backpacking through southeast Asia? Groundbreaking. In a post-social media world, I find it impossible to regale you with my trip through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos without first doing some throat-clearing. “Doing” southeast Asia “on a shoestring” has become such a traveller’s cliche – so ...1 week ago
- The cost of being: A uni tutor who spends on vapes, samosas and the odd night out
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 21-year-old flatting in Wellington explains how she gets by. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Wahine. Age: 21. Ethnicity: Māori. Role: Tutor at Victoria University. Salary/income/assets: ...1 week ago
- Todd McClay, trade, and the spectre of Trump
The PM says he’ll work with whoever wins the White House, but the trade minister has previously expressed concern over higher tariffs, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund for The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...1 week ago
- The longest commute, day two: Joel says a sad goodbye to Invercargill
Joel MacManus attempts to travel from the bottom to the top of the country without a car or plane. Today: Invercargill to Dunedin and beyond. The mission: Get from Stewart Island to Cape Reinga as fast as possible using only public transport. Wherever I can, I’ll travel by train. In ...1 week ago
- When will we know the US presidential election results in New Zealand?
And everything else you need to know about timings, where and what to watch in our user’s guide to the Trump v Harris big day(s). One ancient candidate ejected after a catastrophic debate performance, another shot in the head in a horrific, failed assassination attempt. Racism, misogyny, plausible claims of ...1 week ago
- Is it possible to travel without damaging the climate? Yes
Trains, bikes and sailboats already exist, and choosing to travel more slowly can be a pleasure, too. “I’ve seen more on my bike that I would have seen in my whole lifetime, if I’d been flying,” says Robbie Webb. He’s calling me from Ghent, where he’s staying with friends, nearly ...1 week ago
- New Zealand Loyal Political Party Is Under New Management
The AGM will allow its members, for the very first time, to democratically elect a Board to take the New Zealand Loyal Political Party through to the 2026 General Election. ...2 weeks ago
- OIA Documents Reveal Minister Is Considering Changing Long-term Child Poverty Reduction Targets (CPA...
CPAG Chairperson Sally Ward also encourages the New Zealand public to call on all politicians in parliament to hold each other to account on this issue of national significance. ...2 weeks ago
- Equity, Not Just Fairness, Required For Survivors Of Abuse In State Care
Cooper Legal’s Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper says that while the Government might say that paying Lake Alice survivors’ legal fees is the fair thing to do, the State is still not treating all survivors equitably. ...2 weeks ago
- Photo essay: MMT fans turn Penrose red ahead of Tonga’s thrilling win
On Saturday afternoon the roads heading to Go Media Stadium in Penrose were lined in red. Jin Fellet was there, to document Mate Ma’a Tonga (MMT) fans on their way to witness a historic win. Both Kiwis and MMT fans weren’t disappointed, with the game providing a rollercoaster of emotions ...2 weeks ago
- CAPHRA Warns Against Rushed Vaping Legislation In New Zealand
"We urge New Zealand MPs to pause and reconsider," Loucas added. "Rushing this bill through Parliament before proper scrutiny risks undermining years of progress in reducing smoking rates." ...2 weeks ago
- REVEALED: Ministry For The Environment Blows More Than $2 Million On Internal ‘Events’
“With the money they decided to fork out on events, they could have instead planted more than 2000 hectares of trees. At least that would have been an attempt to do their actual job of helping the environment rather than playing around in workshops, ...2 weeks ago
- New to streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you like homegrown murder mysteries: A Remarkable Place to Die (TVNZ+, November 3) In the new local murder mystery miniseries a Remarkable Place to Die, shrewd detective ...2 weeks ago
- CID & Members’ Call For Action Against UNRWA Ban In Israel And Occupied Palestinian Territorie...
We urge you to stand against the decision of the Israeli Knesset to ban UNWRA given that decision will mean an increase in the deaths of Palestinians already in the grip of extreme suffering. ...2 weeks ago
- Genetic Engineering Reforms Risk Making NZ An Outlier
Of particular concern is the fact that no economic assessment of the potential impacts of these regulatory changes has been conducted, and that it appears that no intention exists on the part of government to conduct such an assessment, says Brendan Hoare, ...2 weeks ago
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