Open mike 23/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 23rd, 2024 - 127 comments

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Are Road User Charges for every vehicle actually fair?

Written By:
Date published: 8:01 am, January 22nd, 2024 - 99 comments

New Zealand is one of the most car-reliant and petroleum-reliant countries on earth. So how we are taxed to travel on land has huge equity implications.

Open mike 22/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 22nd, 2024 - 69 comments

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Which side are you on?

Written By:
Date published: 9:59 am, January 21st, 2024 - 191 comments

The Act Party is seeking to undermine te Tiriti o Waitangi and ferment racial hatred and division while nominally seeking unity. And National clearly has no idea what to do about the situation.

Open mike 21/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 21st, 2024 - 27 comments

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Labour and the Democrats

Written By:
Date published: 9:34 am, January 20th, 2024 - 64 comments

Both the US Democrats and NZ Labour need to take hard looks at themselves. Failure is not inevitable. But there is now only one English-speaking centre-left democracy left in the world: that is the state of where we are now. 

Open mike 20/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 20th, 2024 - 85 comments

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The best Electoral System that money can buy

Written By:
Date published: 10:33 am, January 19th, 2024 - 22 comments

The Independent Electoral Review Panel has recommended changes to the electoral system including the banning of any donations unless made by enrolled voters, a cap on the size of those donations and a requirement that third parties disclose all large donations that they receive.

Open mike 19/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 19th, 2024 - 111 comments

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Mood of the smokoroom – fearful

Written By:
Date published: 9:11 am, January 18th, 2024 - 53 comments

The Council of Trade Unions has completed its annual survey of workers and the mood is grim.

Open mike 18/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 18th, 2024 - 57 comments

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Why does National hate EVs?

Written By:
Date published: 2:17 pm, January 17th, 2024 - 71 comments

At a time when we need cool heads and leaders who understand the enormity of the problem that is climate change and the consequences of getting our response right we are getting this retrograde culture war from people who should know better.

We need a better class of right wing troll

Written By:
Date published: 9:58 am, January 17th, 2024 - 11 comments

Newbies, moderation, the purpose of the Standard, how things work here.

Open mike 17/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 17th, 2024 - 75 comments

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NZ First does not want National to have good relations with Kiingi Tuuheitia

Written By:
Date published: 1:32 pm, January 16th, 2024 - 13 comments

The day after Christopher Luxon made the pilgrimage to meet with Kiingi Tuuheitia and try and calm feelings ahead of the Weekend’s hui at Ngaruwahia to discuss the Government’s attacks on Te Tiriti and Te Reo Shane Jones went onto Morning Report and applied the blowtorch to Luxon’s attempt to keep matters calm.

Ghahraman goes

Written By:
Date published: 12:49 pm, January 16th, 2024 - 77 comments

Green MP Golriz Ghahrahman has resigned from Parliament. 

Open mike 16/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 16th, 2024 - 148 comments

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Open mike 15/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 15th, 2024 - 102 comments

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What If Trump Wins Again?

Written By:
Date published: 9:25 am, January 14th, 2024 - 65 comments

New Zealand has gained prosperity over 40 years within a free flow of trade under peacetime supported by minor attacks to shipping and planes, low international trade costs such as tariffs, and confidence that international trade disputes will be settled by law rather than by might is at risk: all of that required a United States President prepared to support that.

Open mike 14/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 14th, 2024 - 108 comments

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Not all Americans are Neocons

Written By:
Date published: 1:13 pm, January 13th, 2024 - 14 comments

But the ones that run US foreign policy are. Matthew Hooton in a typical smear wants to label Helen Clark as anti-American because she warned that involving us in attacking Houthis was a ”slippery slope.” She’s not and he’s wrong.

The Coming Oil Crisis

Written By:
Date published: 9:21 am, January 13th, 2024 - 21 comments

An expanding Middle East war that puts the Red Sea and Suez tanker route at risk is a major risk to us because it could hit the global price of oil.

Open mike 13/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 13th, 2024 - 141 comments

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Open mike 12/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 12th, 2024 - 118 comments

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Dirty Politics 2024?

Written By:
Date published: 12:50 pm, January 11th, 2024 - 89 comments

Some of the usual suspects… how would we know what is really going on?

Our Resistance

Written By:
Date published: 8:55 am, January 11th, 2024 - 7 comments

There are still groups of people in New Zealand who can and do organise to resist the damage of the right.

Open mike 11/01/2024

Written By:
Date published: 6:00 am, January 11th, 2024 - 74 comments

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Open mike 10/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 10th, 2024 - 174 comments

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Open mike 09/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 9th, 2024 - 68 comments

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Open mike 08/01/2024

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Date published: 6:00 am, January 8th, 2024 - 11 comments

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Genocide in Gaza

Written By:
Date published: 8:49 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 57 comments

South Africa has taken a case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. A group of prominent New Zealand lawyers have asked the New Zealand Government to join South Africa in support of their application. I think we should.