Author Archive

Nats attack workers’ right to protest

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:59 am, July 1st, 2009 - 55 comments

I am outraged to learn that the Department of Labour told its employees they were not allowed attend the pay equity rally at Parliament yesterday. A leaked email from the department to its staff said: “Attendance at such a demonstration may well be perceived as crossing the line by criticising a decision of the Government. […]

Justifying the unjustifiable

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:03 pm, June 30th, 2009 - 20 comments

Spending time with DC neo-cons must be going to Farrar’s head. I thought better of him than supporting the Honduran military’s overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya. Farrar offers a legalistic justification for the military/rightwing coup (yes, it is actually the right behind the coup with the support of the military, read up): Zelaya has been elected to a four […]

A rolling maul or treading water?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:58 am, June 30th, 2009 - 33 comments

In the face of widespread criticism that his government is asleep at the wheel, John Key has boldly relaunched some tired old spin. See, we’re meant to believe the reason why our government, alone amongst the developed countries, has done bugger-all to save and create jobs is that, rather than a ‘big-bang’, Key has adopted […]

Bugger the polls

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:13 am, June 29th, 2009 - 34 comments

With every new cock-up or dereliction of duty from this Key government, righties point to the Roy Morgan polls and say ‘seems the voters don’t care’. It’s true that National is still polling around 50% in the Roy Morgan and parties’ internal polls. Yet the old hands in the Left aren’t too worried. Short of […]

Labour’s labours lost

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:26 am, June 26th, 2009 - 69 comments

I remember just over a year ago, Helen Clark announcing that the number of people on the unemployment benefit had fallen below 18,000 for the first time in 30 years. The roomful of Labour supporters erupted into applause. Contrary to the crap you hear from righties, Labour top priority is making sure everyone who wants one […]

So, what are you going to do?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:22 pm, June 25th, 2009 - 8 comments

Over at the Labour MPs’ blog, Red Alert, Brendon Burns has written a piece criticising Agriculture Minister David Carter on the welfare of pigs in sow crates. But while it’s good to see Labour, or at least a Labour MP, finally take a stand on the sow crate issue (God knows the Tories won’t), I […]

Don’t just stand there

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:30 pm, June 25th, 2009 - 20 comments

John Key’s government has reacted to the thousands of job losses occurring each week in this country in much the same way a possum crossing a road reacts to headlights. Since over-promising and under-delivering with the Jobs Summit, they’ve been exposed as completely out of ideas. The dole queue is growing by 1100 each week, […]

Sell-outs

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:26 pm, June 24th, 2009 - 61 comments

Tariana Turia has put out a press release today having a bit of a cry that Labour MPs have been calling ‘sell-out’ when she and Pita Sharples speak in Parliament. Clearly it’s hit a nerve. Well, Tariana, if you don’t like to be labeled a sell-out, simple solution: don’t be a member of a government […]

The truth will out

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:11 am, June 24th, 2009 - 28 comments

Key’s excuse for not telling Parliament why he lost confidence in Richard Worth is that it isn’t in the public interest to say. So let’s think about this â€˜public interest’ excuse. â€˜Public interest’ is very rarely used; Trevor Mallard said he can think of two other times it has been invoked during his time in […]

Hiding to nothing

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 3:06 pm, June 23rd, 2009 - 25 comments

Did anyone else detect a whiff of desperation in Family Fist’s PR offensive today championing the case of a man who lost control and repeatedly shoved his son to the ground because he refused to play in a rugby game? I mean, is this really the best they’ve got? A grown man who’s lost his […]

Headline fail

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:33 pm, June 23rd, 2009 - 39 comments

This is a classic. Media are reporting that National MP Nick Smith has had an assault complaint lodged against him by a Nelson man. Right on cue, Farrar puts up a quick post to downplay the whole thing. His choice of headline? “Sounds like a beatup” That’s one epic headline fail 🙂 [For what it’s […]

The mask slips

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:44 pm, June 22nd, 2009 - 102 comments

The child beating lobby launched its “Vote No” campaign site today. They’ve worked hard in this campaign to present themselves as regular Kiwis standing up for common sense values, so I find it interesting they’ve chosen to decorate the front page of their campaign with this racist, sexist cartoon: The cartoon is clearly designed to […]

It’s got to be the woman’s fault

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:00 am, June 22nd, 2009 - 33 comments

Now, some might want to look further into David Garrett’s misdemeanours. Some might ask how many strikes does this guy get?: Drunkenly equating homosexuals with paedophiles on Eye to Eye. On criticism double-bunking will lead to an increase in assault and male-on-male rape, said: ‘The fact is if you don’t want to be assaulted or […]

Lessons unlearnt

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:04 am, June 22nd, 2009 - 12 comments

Matt McCarten, who has managed more than a few election campaigns, does a good post facto analysis of where National went wrong in Mt Albert: Despite what the Nats said after the by-election, their internal polls (and Labour’s) at the start of the campaign showed they had a chance of winning. At the very least, […]

Roger Douglas on Key and English

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:54 am, June 21st, 2009 - 19 comments

Commenting on Key’s policy to force the Guardians of the Super Fund to invest 40% of funds in New Zealand, ACT’s Roger Douglas notices a pattern we’ve posted on here at The Standard before: “This only enforces the emerging trend we have seen between Mr Key and Mr English. Mr Key announces a stupid idea […]

Pulling up the ladder behind her

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:00 pm, June 19th, 2009 - 115 comments

Paula Bennett’s image as a Westie solo mum who’s been on the DPB has been an important part of National’s centrist branding. By putting her in charge of the Ministry of Social Development, despite any relevant experience or discernable talent, National gave a clear signal that in their government image would trump substance. Fair enough […]

The scandal that wasn’t there and the one that was

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:58 am, June 19th, 2009 - 15 comments

The Herald really really wants to uncover an expenses scandal like in the UK. Think of the fun they could have. But they’re not finding anything for two reasons: 1) our expenses system is much tighter than the UK’s 2) MPs in the UK are paid £67,000, not much by London standards, while the $131,000 […]

On referenda and democracy

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:45 pm, June 18th, 2009 - 64 comments

I have to disagree with the guest post below, which argues that because citizens’ initiated referenda tend to be brought by groups peddling an interest (so what?) and often deal with complex issues we should just put them in the too hard basket and leave it to the politicians to sort it out. Somehow, that’s […]

Baldock gets a smacking

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:00 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 97 comments

The folks at The Yes Vote point to a hilarious exchange this morning between Sean Plunket and Larry Baldock on Morning Report. Challenged repeatedly to come up with one single example of a parent who has been criminalised for smacking a child, Baldock fudged, then fudged some more, and then rounded it off with some […]

Key chickens out

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 3:22 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 26 comments

What the hell’s going on with John Key’s leadership lately? He’s just chickened out of answering the traditional question from the Leader of the Opposition. He transferred his Prime Minister’s question down to the the Minister of Finance, making the whole thing rather absurd: Hon PHIL GOFF to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand […]

Trust me, I’m the Prime Minister

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:30 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 30 comments

Some thoughts on Key’s continuing refusal to tell us why he fired Worth. First, it’s tautological to say that a Prime Minister fired a minister because he lost confidence in him. The statement provides no new information. Second, it is completely irrelevant that Worth is no longer an MP. The questions are about Key’s decisions […]

Priorities

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:28 am, June 17th, 2009 - 27 comments

Noticed this comment in the Dom this morning [offline] about National’s decision to slash funding for night classes in the Budget: Finance Minister Bill English said the Government would continue to fund some adult and community education programmes, but had higher priorities in the current recession. Um, would that be giving $35 million to private […]

Tiring of it?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 6:50 am, June 17th, 2009 - 52 comments

Duncan Garner said something interesting during the Mt Albert by-election special: “I’ll tell you why John Key came back from overseas… He came back to get the t-shirt that says ‘I’ve been Prime Minister’. It marries up with what failed National Party candidate Paul Henry said yesterday: “I have a slight nagging fear in the […]

Has John Key misled Parliament?

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 16th, 2009 - 49 comments

On the day Richard Worth was forced to resign as a Minister, Key explicitly told Parliament the criminal investigation into Worth was the reason why he couldn’t say what had caused him to lose confidence. Hon Phil Goff: Why did the Prime Minister attempt to keep the reasons for the resignation secret this morning? Hon […]

Child beating lobby finished

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:30 am, June 16th, 2009 - 54 comments

Here’s a tip for the child beaters at Family Fist – if you’re going to whip up a storm of fear and misinformation about a piece of legislation you don’t like, don’t peg your hopes on waiting two years for a referendum to get your revenge. That’s just enough time for your entire dishonest campaign […]

Hooton’s bizarro world strikes again

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 4:16 pm, June 15th, 2009 - 52 comments

I think it’s fair to say that David Shearer’s thumping victory in Mt Albert has been widely viewed as securing Phil Goff’s leadership over the Labour Party. Any sane observer will recognise that Goff’s position has been strengthened by the victory, that the party has gained a huge boost in confidence and that Shearer will […]

Ralston vs Ralston

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:16 pm, June 14th, 2009 - 16 comments

Two of New Zealand’s top political commentators (it pains me to write that) have gone head to head over the Mt Albert result: April Bill Ralston: Some who voted Labour might now feel that National has not turned out to be as bad as they expected and either withhold their vote or actively support the […]

Mt Albert results – Shearer in a landslide

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:57 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 66 comments

David Shearer has won a bigger share of the vote in Mt Albert than even the great Helen Clark did just 7 months ago. That’s a great win for him and a huge victory for Labour over National. It shows, incontrovertibly, that the salad days are over for this Key government. It’s all downhill from […]

Questionable

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:28 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 20 comments

I was shocked, shocked, when I pulled up Kiwiblog just now and there wasn’t a long post of quotes by political commentators on how St John had slain the evil Worth interspersed with ‘indeed’. Instead, there was a long post of quotes from the Herald on juries interspersed with ‘indeed’. I quickly discovered why. Worth’s resignation has not […]

A place in the sun

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:08 am, June 12th, 2009 - 14 comments

Another bad week is about to end for John Key with a mammoth defeat of his handpicked Mt Albert candidate. What’s that now, four disaster weeks in a row? And another one to come next week when the House resumes and he has to face all those unanswered questions about why he sacked Worth. Gee, […]

Poor Melissa, well, not so poor

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 5:38 am, June 12th, 2009 - 13 comments

She’s really trying her best. Even with only one news cycle to go, Melissa Lee is still out there, working hard to get herself into third place. From NZPA: Appearing in a candidate’s debate in front of members of the Unite union, Ms Lee was asked how she would survive on the minimum wage of […]