Author Archive
Good money after bad into the bottomless pit of charter schools
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, January 29th, 2016 - 73 comments
Yesterday the Nats confirmed the closing of a failed Northland charter school. Turns out we’ll be paying an extra $400,000 for the first quarter of this year, even though the school will not open. Brilliant.
National – trying to provoke TPP violence?
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, January 29th, 2016 - 165 comments
The police are “visiting” TPP activists – Key is cynically trying to blow the “law and order” dog whistle. But would he really go so far as to try and provoke open violence for political gain?
Anyone seen the rockstar economy lately?
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, January 28th, 2016 - 56 comments
Record debt, a higher than expected deficit and a credit rating downgrade on our economic outlook. All thanks to National’s genius economic management!
Little on TPP: “I don’t support it, we don’t support it”
Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, January 28th, 2016 - 352 comments
The news that the TPP is likely to cost 5 to 6,000 jobs in NZ seems to have been the last straw.
Voluntary euthanasia
Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, January 27th, 2016 - 190 comments
Voluntary euthanasia is very much in the news. We have until Feb 1st to make submissions on the Bill currently before Parliament. It’s a very emotive debate, but I think the case for euthanasia choice is clear.
TPPA ‘National Interest Analysis’ – get both sides
Written By: - Date published: 1:27 pm, January 26th, 2016 - 86 comments
The Government has released a TPPA ‘National Interest Analysis’. It should be read along with TPP Legal’s extensive analysis of the costs and risks.
Trump and post reality-based politics
Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, January 25th, 2016 - 20 comments
Trump has stated that he could shoot someone in public and still not lose any voters. He might not even be be wrong. We seem to be moving beyond an old fashioned “reality-based” politics of consequences and accountability.
Key deserved boos for his TPP lies at Ratana
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, January 25th, 2016 - 114 comments
Key’s “strident” defence of the TPP was booed at Ratana yesterday. With good reason, because his glib assurance that “Not a single part of TPP cuts across the Treaty of Waitangi” is yet another Key lie.
NZ participating in climate fraud
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, January 23rd, 2016 - 52 comments
An article that appeared on December 26th in the Dom Post is much too important to be left languishing in the Christmas news vacuum. “We [NZ] have been the biggest abuser of fraudulent carbon credits. Someone should be answerable as an accessory to the fraud.”
Another housing policy screwup?
Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, January 22nd, 2016 - 38 comments
Bennet’s proposal to incentivise / coerce state housing applicants to leave Auckland for housing elsewhere seems to have hit a snag…
Tertiary fee drop – excellent proposal from Labour
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, January 22nd, 2016 - 139 comments
Education is a public good, but tertiary education in NZ has been undermined by high student fees and debt. So it’s very encouraging to see a proposal from Labour for reducing fees (and not ruling out free education!).
2015 hottest year. By. Far.
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, January 21st, 2016 - 232 comments
Another attempt to minimise the significance of poverty
Written By: - Date published: 7:06 am, January 21st, 2016 - 165 comments
A piece yesterday foreshadows a report on poverty from right-wing lobby group “The New Zealand Initiative”. It’s (surprise!) another attempt to minimise the significance of poverty in NZ – and it’s another big distraction…
Sanders vs Trump
Written By: - Date published: 1:21 pm, January 20th, 2016 - 132 comments
Sanders is increasing his lead over Clinton in early states. Trump has just been endorsed by Palin. A Sanders vs Trump face off doesn’t seem as unlikely as it used to.
62 vs 3.6 Billion
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, January 19th, 2016 - 155 comments
Ever widening inequality generates ever more astonishing statistics – suck up economics in action. The super-rich are laughing all the way to the bank.
Skill shortages and reaping what you sow
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 18th, 2016 - 114 comments
Data released to the Sunday Star-Times shows a huge decline in numbers of tertiary students, including declines in many key skills and fields. Various explanations are offered, only one of them makes sense…
Not all research is created equal
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, January 17th, 2016 - 193 comments
A recent “research” report on alcohol, funded by brewing company Lion, has been in the news lately. Sadly, not everything that purports to be research is honest research.
What to do about poverty (and a suggestion to the media)
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, January 16th, 2016 - 43 comments
An excellent piece on poverty by Lizzie Marvelly in The Herald this morning poses a question to which we already know the answer. (Plus some bonus rambling on the media.)
How to improve pay gender equality
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, January 15th, 2016 - 17 comments
It’s been a hardy annual finding of late – the pay gap between males and females is getting steadily worse. History suggests that Labour governments have some answers…
TPP circus rolls on
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, January 14th, 2016 - 203 comments
The new year begins much as the old one ended, with secrets, evasions and dissent over the TPP and what it means for NZ.
Summer break
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, December 19th, 2015 - 46 comments
Standardista authors are on summer break! There will be an Open Mike each day, but little or no other posting (unless an author feels particularly inspired). Here’s some summer reading suggestions – by all means add your own…
Key is blaming child poverty on – wait for it – – drugs!
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, December 16th, 2015 - 206 comments
John Key has tried to deflect from his government’s appalling record on child poverty with some throw-away nonsense about drugs. There are just three teeny tiny problems with that line…
Obesity is a structural problem
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, December 16th, 2015 - 59 comments
Structural problems need structural solutions. Progress on this major public health issue has been set back by a decade because we elected a useless National government.
Child poverty – it’s not choice
Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, December 15th, 2015 - 172 comments
Rhetoric and reality: Nats on climate change
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, December 15th, 2015 - 55 comments
The Nats want to wallow in the feel-good rhetoric of COP21 action to address climate change. But it’s clear that they don’t intend to take the “ambitious action” they are heralding.
COP21 – More than we expected, less that we needed
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, December 14th, 2015 - 108 comments
The dust is settling on COP21. After some initial optimism based on early reports, it’s clear that we didn’t get what we needed from Paris.
COP21 making history
Written By: - Date published: 12:52 am, December 13th, 2015 - 131 comments
Big news from COP21 in Paris, with a final draft of the agreement just released. It is sounding surprisingly good, 1.5 degree target, “fair, durable, balanced and legally-binding”.
Education mess
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, December 12th, 2015 - 14 comments
Details of a mess in tertiary education published yesterday. On top of the mess in charter schools. National aren’t very good at this.
CORTEX Trojan horse?
Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, December 11th, 2015 - 16 comments
The government plans to roll out a new “cyber security action plan”. Given their record of secrecy, lies, and misuse of surveillance, I think we the people would be naive to believe this will be anything less than another escalation of the surveillance of New Zealanders.
Le Pen, Trump, dark times
Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, December 10th, 2015 - 73 comments
As the world meets in Paris, in desperate need of sanity and unity, the tides of political madness seem to be rising everywhere.
Political interference in the OIA
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, December 9th, 2015 - 14 comments
Yesterday saw the release of the Obmudsman’s review of the operation of the OIA. I think it makes clear an unacceptable level of political interference in the process – albeit not at the level that was rampant in Dirty Politics.
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