Author Archive

Green Party announces [former Standard contributor] as candidate for Ōhāriu

Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, February 10th, 2023 - 15 comments

“This election is a pivotal one. We have a choice between maintaining the status quo or building a bright green future for everyone in our community; between divisiveness or solidarity; between quibbling over the definition of “crisis” or taking real action to address the cost of living, housing, climate change and environmental exploitation.”

There is no surplus

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 14th, 2016 - 125 comments

In Year Eight of this National government, the idea of a budget surplus is a joke. They’ve promised it for nearly a decade. They’ve fiddled the books. The truth is, there is no surplus.

Don’t despair

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, October 7th, 2016 - 134 comments

It’s year 8 of a National/ACT government and things are looking pretty bleak. And it’s really, really easy to spin down into a spiral of bleakness and anxiety. But we can make it through.

Even more local body elections advice

Written By: - Date published: 6:09 pm, September 26th, 2016 - 13 comments

Since first posting Who should you vote for? a week ago I’ve been directed to even more endorsement lists and voting guides for local body candidates up and down the country. So if you still don’t know who to vote for, check them out.

Who should you vote for?

Written By: - Date published: 6:39 pm, September 20th, 2016 - 39 comments

All the local body election endorsements you could possibly want.

The Kermadecs and racist environmentalism

Written By: - Date published: 6:14 pm, September 18th, 2016 - 154 comments

This week has been a revelation in how willing Pākehā are to throw Māori under the bus for the sake of environmentalism.

The other war of the polls

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 16th, 2016 - 28 comments

The Dominion Post has received not one, but two polls on the Wellington mayoralty. So who’s coming out on top?

Beware, creepy men of the right: Rawshark returns (briefly)

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, September 14th, 2016 - 82 comments

An old handle flickered back into life briefly this afternoon: In 2014 I dumped: https://t.co/UhZSYEYyar — Whaledump2 (@whaledump2) September 14, 2016 Rawshark – presuming the account is still held and operated by the hacker who exposed the dodgy shenanigans between the WhaleOil blog, corporate lobbyists and senior National Party politicians – started with a screenshot from […]

Lefty book reviews: Don’t Buy It

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, August 7th, 2016 - 98 comments

Cross-posted from Boots Theory. Where to start with Anat Shenker-Osorio’s Don’t Buy It: The Trouble With Talking Nonsense About The Economy? This review seems redundant, because literally every person I’ve encountered in the past year has been subjected to my near-evangelist recommendation of it. I don’t know every lefty in New Zealand (despite what Matthew […]

Labour’s reshuffle announced today

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 30th, 2015 - 250 comments

Who will be the big winners from Andrew Little’s caucus reshuffle – and who will be the big players taking Labour into the 2017 election?

UPDATED: With new rankings/portfolios and media release.

Boots Theory: Flag referendum 1

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, November 24th, 2015 - 35 comments

What to do with these ballot papers that just arrived in the mail?

When survivors speak out

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 12th, 2015 - 45 comments

Previously posted at Boots Theory. Content note: discussion of sexual violence and the experience of survivors. Yesterday I did a round-up of the women’s voices on Twitter talking about recent events in Parliament, where women MPs from the Opposition, many of them survivors of sexual violence, were thrown out of the House for taking exception […]

Labour, identity, class and winning

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 9th, 2015 - 54 comments

The question of identity politics and Labour’s direction just never go away. But maybe we’re just thinking about it all wrong.

Not the “end to zero hour contracts” you were looking for

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 12th, 2015 - 30 comments

Who would have suspected that Michael Woodhouse would be completely ineffectual in cracking down on zero-hour contracts?

Labour’s principles redux

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, July 11th, 2015 - 40 comments

It turns out Labour does have a good set of principles – why don’t we know more about them?

“Labour values” are more than a talking point

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, July 10th, 2015 - 164 comments

What does it actually mean when we say “my values are Labour’s values”?

Older white men paid double young ethnic women

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 28th, 2015 - 166 comments

That’s not my headline. That’s Stuff’s business section’s headline.

Damn right I’m angry

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, June 27th, 2015 - 77 comments

The term “tone argument” refers to the regular pleas directed at feminists, anti-racism activists, etc to stop being so aggressive and ask nicely for fundamental human rights and dignity instead of shouting so much. It’s a derailment, a troll move, a way to undermine and ignore the actual arguments being made.

Sacrificing mental health to dragons

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 26th, 2015 - 44 comments

The Labour Party has had a sneak peek at the process our government is using to pick “providers” for its mercenary social impact bonds scheme, and it’s like something off television.

Our assumptions about work and workers

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, June 23rd, 2015 - 51 comments

Beyond discrimination against women, there’s a broader set of assumptions we make about work and workers, and it’s hurting us – workers, society, and business.

Sexism, babies, and our assumptions about work

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, June 22nd, 2015 - 42 comments

It’s 2015, and we’re constantly told that sexism is over, feminism has had its day – so why can’t this woman find a job?

Peter Talley on health and safety law: unions are evil, workers’ lives cheap

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, June 15th, 2015 - 116 comments

Whenever unionists talk about the bad employers who put profit over people’s lives, the right wave it away as fear-mongering. Well, here it is straight from the horse’s mouth.

Costly government

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 14th, 2015 - 43 comments

This is the true irony of National governments. Their entire platform is one of “fiscal responsibility” and “good economic management” yet time and time again they spend money the way I did when I was a teenager: false economies and short-term wish fulfilment.

Heartless government

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 13th, 2015 - 123 comments

A few stories of recent weeks which show exactly what kind of government we have.

The surplus lie

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, May 14th, 2015 - 68 comments

One of the biggest political deceptions in our lifetime? Or just an honest mistake by our noble Finance Minister?

A glitch in the Matrix

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, May 6th, 2015 - 30 comments

Two politicians with very similar names and practically identical, terrible excuses for their lies. But does it mean the honeymoon’s over for John Key?

Support Wellington Rape Crisis this week

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, May 4th, 2015 - Comments Off on Support Wellington Rape Crisis this week

This week is Wellington Rape Crisis’ annual appeal.

Spot the difference: Nats on capital punishment

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 29th, 2015 - 7 comments

One of these principled statements is not like the other.

Blogging at The Standard since Election 2014

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, April 23rd, 2015 - 10 comments

A brief numbers-y overview of what your honoured authors have gotten up to since September.

The decontextualisation of ANZAC Day

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 21st, 2015 - 69 comments

Everyone else is giving their reckons on the treatment of ANZAC Day this year, as we commemorate the centenary of the first year of World War I. So here are mine.

Michael Woodhouse: a fool or a liar?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, April 14th, 2015 - 88 comments

When the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety doesn’t know the first thing about his portfolio, there’s only one option left: he’s lying.

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