Archive for 2020

National’s infrastructure bank

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:24 am, September 11th, 2020 - 21 comments

National’s proposed Infrastructure Bank is an accounting trick, with very high risks that the entire power of our political order for anyone affected by these monster projects will weaken citizens’ rights.

Open mike 11/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 11th, 2020 - 130 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 …

Checkpoint shroud-waving over Queensland politics?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:56 pm, September 10th, 2020 - 12 comments

Today’s Checkpoint descended into shroud-waving in the case of a New South Wales family not able to visit their dying father in Queensland because of the strict border closure. As our health officials note, “bereavement issues” are where most care is needed to prevent the virus spread.

Daily review 10/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 10th, 2020 - 24 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 …

Labour voters, if you could vote to keep the Greens in parliament would you?

Written By: weka - Date published: 9:13 am, September 10th, 2020 - 116 comments

Choices, choices.

Covid, the US President and the Evangelical churches

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:30 am, September 10th, 2020 - 123 comments

There has been disturbing local news that some members of a local evangelical church, influenced by American equivalents, refused to accept the threat posed by the virus. And in America a new book from Bob Woodward suggests strongly that Donald Trump knew how big a threat Covid would be but chose for political reasons to downplay the risk.

How has Conservation Fared Under This Government?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:00 am, September 10th, 2020 - 39 comments

I’m going to give this government just 5 out of 10 on the conservation front.

Open mike 10/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 10th, 2020 - 89 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 09/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 9th, 2020 - 11 comments

Labour announces tax policies

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:55 pm, September 9th, 2020 - 98 comments

Labour and the Greens have both recently announced taxation policies. Meanwhile there is no sign of any fiscal policy or alternative budget from National.

Open mike 09/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 9th, 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 08/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 8th, 2020 - 6 comments

What did Brownlee know about Southern Response’s misleading and deceptive conduct?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:37 pm, September 8th, 2020 - 27 comments

The Court of Appeal has ruled that Southern Response has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and has potentially short changed thousands of Cantabrians hundreds of millions of dollars.

Will NZ First make it back into Parliament?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:07 am, September 8th, 2020 - 43 comments

One of the most interesting questions about the current election campaign is will New Zealand First make it back into Parliament after the election, with polling and a slew of not dissimilar parties on the right suggesting that Winston’s time may be up.

Open mike 08/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 8th, 2020 - 155 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 07/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 7th, 2020 - 5 comments

Landlord lobby group hopes National Government will ditch warm flat requirement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:49 am, September 7th, 2020 - 56 comments

The NZ Property Investors Federation has proposed to its members they should hold off on making flats warmer and drier just in case there is a change of government.

Open mike 07/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 7th, 2020 - 123 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 …

Assange’s torture and the death of journalism

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 9:28 pm, September 6th, 2020 - 60 comments

On the eve of Assange’s extradition hearing in London, award-winning freelancer Jonathan Cook has written a scathing indictment of corporate journalism’s collusion in ignoring his official torture. I posted an example of that here last year, where Richard Harman denied Assange was a journalist at a panel convened at Parliament by the British High Commissioner.

Covid – New Zealand has similar levels of freedom to Sweden

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:41 pm, September 6th, 2020 - 83 comments

Simon Thornley is claiming that New Zealand’s covid response is a failure and we should be more like Sweden. But it appears that in more recent times Sweden has toughened its stringency tests so that they are similar to New Zealand’s.

Open mike 06/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 6th, 2020 - 85 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 …

Labour’s two tier welfare plans

Written By: weka - Date published: 11:17 am, September 5th, 2020 - 74 comments

As the covid crisis deepens Labour appear to be committed to entrenching the underclass and giving a helping hand to the middle class.

Will our cities revive?

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:00 am, September 5th, 2020 - 43 comments

Our cities are the nation’s lungs; they recycle and accelerate external goods and transform them internally into faster circulation. Auckland and Christchurch have had tens of billions invested in them over successive local and central governments, but has this improved our strength or wealth as a country at all?

Open mike 05/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, September 5th, 2020 - 63 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 04/09/2020

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, September 4th, 2020 - 21 comments

“Reds under the Bed”.

Written By: KJT - Date published: 8:40 am, September 4th, 2020 - 78 comments

Everyone has recently had an education on “Socialism” working in practice.

And a graphic illustration of the shortcomings, of under regulated “Free market” Capitalism, Globalism, tax cuts for the rich, and the mania for monetising everything in sight, and “running it like a business”.

Will Jacinda Ardern meet her promise to transform?

Written By: Simon Louisson - Date published: 6:53 am, September 4th, 2020 - 62 comments

Neoliberalism has run its course and displayed its profound inability to address inequality issues. It makes the poor get ever poorer while the affluent top 10% ticks of society get bloated and increasingly insufferable on untaxed capital gains. In 2017 Jacinda Ardern set a goal of bringing all children out of poverty within six years. So how is that going? And what are the next steps?