Search Results

  1. Ardern was right to hold back on Russia

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:30 am, April 7th, 2018 -  88 comments
    Categories: Europe, International, Russia, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uk politics
    Tags:

    Remember two weeks ago when Jacinda Ardern’s handling of the Russian poisoning scandal was considered to be a major misstep?  Well with the benefit of hindsight it appears to have been a very balanced nuanced response to an incident that is not as clear cut as it was presented.

  2. Doofus of the week Easter 2018 edition

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 12:24 pm, April 1st, 2018 -  55 comments
    Categories: health
    Tags:

    This week the award goes to a Fairfax reporter for writing as fawning a review of a political career as you can imagine.

  3. Who cares about personal privacy? Not Facebook

    Written By:  tracey -  Date published: 1:30 pm, March 28th, 2018 -  42 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    Not the National Party and 3 of its most senior MPs.

  4. US Trade Tariffs against China

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 2:14 pm, March 23rd, 2018 -  66 comments
    Categories: capitalism, China, Donald Trump, trade, us politics
    Tags:

    Make no mistake: this is the single biggest anti-trade act the world has seen since the Iranian revolution’s nationalisation program from 1979.

  5. Tell the Health Committee: Make our cannabis law fair for those in pain

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:05 am, March 18th, 2018 -  10 comments
    Categories: disability, drugs, greens, health, human rights, Social issues
    Tags: , , ,

    “The Health Select Committee is about to consider the government’s changes to medicinal cannabis law. This is your chance to tell politicians they have not gone far enough.” 

    The Greens have a handy online submission form that you can send as is or add your own thoughts. Submissions close on Wednesday.

  6. Inevitably the crazy old morons remain

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 9:10 am, March 14th, 2018 -  164 comments
    Categories: Donald Trump, humour, International, Satire, us politics, winston peters
    Tags: , , , ,

    In his usual dignified way, Donald Trump announced that he was sacking Rex Tillerson, the American Secretary of State in a tweet. And so the round of musical chairs that marks the White House’s descent into even more incompetence continues. Meanwhile the farce of the Russian election proceeds in their background of state operated terrorism in the UK. But there is some light

  7. TPPA rally at parliament today

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:10 am, March 8th, 2018 -  10 comments
    Categories: capitalism, democracy under attack, Economy, Free Trade, trade
    Tags: , ,

    Protestors will gather outside Parliament at midday on Thursday 8 March to hear from a range of speakers in opposition to the TPPA signing ceremony in Chile

  8. We need more ministers like Steven Joyce

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 11:45 am, March 7th, 2018 -  123 comments
    Categories: labour, national, phil twyford, Steven Joyce
    Tags:

    Rare praise for Steven Joyce from someone on the left.

  9. Our Reserve Bank

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 8:30 am, February 28th, 2018 -  97 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    There is a case for the Reserve Bank to be eradicated, or at least major changes made to its structure.

  10. Arctic monkey wrenching

    Written By:  weka -  Date published: 6:15 am, February 28th, 2018 -  121 comments
    Categories: climate change, disaster, Environment, science
    Tags: , ,

    “This is more than just a temperature anomaly. It is an off-the-scale event. Why is the Arctic meltdown not headline news in every paper?” – George Monbiot

    If someone said hey, your house is going to burn down, we don’t know if it’s in the next hour or next week, what would you do?

  11. Damien Grant thinks National is stuffed

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:00 am, February 26th, 2018 -  44 comments
    Categories: Amy Adams, Judith Collins, national, Politics, same old national, Simon Bridges
    Tags:

    Damien Grant thinks that National is a relic and should fracture into libertarian and conservative parties.

  12. Doofus of the week – David Seymour

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 1:00 pm, February 24th, 2018 -  21 comments
    Categories: act, david seymour, doofus of the week, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags:

    Hot on the heels on the news that he is going to spend valuable time dancing with the stars David Seymour has engaged in a good old fashioned piece of fat shaming. From Anna Bracewell-Worrall at Stuff: ACT party politician David Seymour has openly fat-shamed politicians, saying journalists should use a wide-angle lense to figure […]

  13. National’s meh leadership contest

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 4:27 pm, February 22nd, 2018 -  76 comments
    Categories: journalism, Media, national, newspapers, same old national, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags: , ,

    National’s leadership contest is one week old.  The latest is a central edict that all candidates have to be nice to each other and a claim that candidates are not offering senior positions to MPs in exchange for their support.

  14. Poll Watch: Colmar Brunton Poll 2018-2-19

    Written By:  Matthew Whitehead -  Date published: 8:30 am, February 20th, 2018 -  47 comments
    Categories: greens, labour, national, nz first, polls
    Tags: , , , , , , ,

    In this second edition of Pollwatch, we note the impact of Jacinda Ardern at the height of her powers, track the likelyhood of current government support partners of clearing our high Party Vote threshold, and note the small likelyhood that English’s eventual successor will have of sneaking into the Beehive even if we held a snap election right now.

  15. US kids fight back: you are either with us or against us

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 12:57 pm, February 19th, 2018 -  44 comments
    Categories: International, us politics
    Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Four days after surviving a shooting massacre at her school, student Emma Gonzalez gave this stunning speech at an anti-gun rally in Florida. Other students are organising the National School Walkout and March for Our Lives.

  16. Strong and decisive

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:54 am, February 18th, 2018 -  154 comments
    Categories: Amy Adams, Judith Collins, national, same old national, Simon Bridges, spin, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    Judith Collins has picked on the campaign term strong and decisive for behaviour better described as brutal and obdurate.

  17. Hey Stuart Nash Maui’s Dolphins are approaching extinction

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 2:16 pm, February 15th, 2018 -  74 comments
    Categories: Conservation, Environment, sustainability
    Tags: , ,

    Stuart Nash is considering cancelling the roll out of monitoring cameras on fishing boats. For the sake of Maui’s Dolphin I hope he changes his mind.

  18. National can win the next election

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 12:00 pm, February 5th, 2018 -  75 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    There is a simple strategy for National to follow which may gain them victory in the next General Election.

  19. Ideological issues more than leadership are Nat’s problem

    Written By:  Simon Louisson -  Date published: 8:19 am, February 4th, 2018 -  108 comments
    Categories: election 2017, MMP, national, Politics, same old national
    Tags:

    Changing National’s leadership will not help the conservatives regain power if they fail to address questions of why they lost the 2017 election. National may be the biggest single party but it is unlikely to stay that. And they have no remaining parliamentary partners.You can’t form a MMP government from that…

  20. National’s drug conscience

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:06 am, January 31st, 2018 -  35 comments
    Categories: greens, labour, national, Nikki Kaye, nz first, Politics, same old national, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags: , ,

    Helen Kelly championed the liberalisation of drug law to allow those suffering from significant ill health to have access to cannabis for medicinal purposes. National is still struggling with the concept despite it having overwhelming public support.

  21. Plastic Fantastic

    Written By:  Bill -  Date published: 9:33 am, January 26th, 2018 -  55 comments
    Categories: capitalism, disaster, Economy, economy, Environment, International, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags: , ,

    Billions of disease laden pieces of plastic killing reefs. No effective solution offered.

  22. Shock horror right wing think tank thinks NZ not very democratic

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 10:04 am, January 18th, 2018 -  74 comments
    Categories: accountability, australian politics, blogs, David Farrar, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, democratic participation, dpf, Globalisation, International, Politics, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, us politics
    Tags:

    National’s cheerleaders are pushing an international report which suggests that New Zealand’s democratic system is only slightly better than average in world terms.  But the organisation behind the report and the methodology used need some checking.

  23. Nuclear Options.

    Written By:  Bill -  Date published: 12:13 pm, January 17th, 2018 -  54 comments
    Categories: identity, liberalism, quality of life, Social issues
    Tags: , ,

    What could possibly be wrong in opting for a nuclear option?!

  24. Racist dog whistling

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 9:24 am, January 14th, 2018 -  64 comments
    Categories: Africa, australian politics, Donald Trump, International, us politics
    Tags: ,

    We may think that we now live in more enlightened times where the scourge of racism is finally being dealt to and is no longer considered acceptable but recent events in Australia and the United States suggests that this is not the case.

  25. The Standard’s most commented on posts of 2017

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 7:11 am, December 30th, 2017 -  27 comments
    Categories: the praiseworthy and the pitiful, The Standard
    Tags:

    The ten most commented on posts in the Standard for 2017.

  26. The joy of biking

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 10:52 am, December 28th, 2017 -  22 comments
    Categories: transport
    Tags: , ,

    As I prepare to fly out of NZ yet again for work, I’m contemplating how much my personal transport has changed over the years. These days I most ride a e-bike. Faster than a car for my commute because of the frigging Auckland traffic. Effective exercise without too much pain. And a lot of fun.

  27. Ain’t Gonna Play

    Written By:  advantage -  Date published: 8:00 am, December 26th, 2017 -  187 comments
    Categories: International, Media, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
    Tags: , ,

    New Zealand musician Lorde has announced that she will respect the boycott of Israel and not perform there.

  28. Broadcasting Standards Authority finds Mike Hosking’s election comments about the Māori Party inaccurate and misleading

    Written By:  notices and features -  Date published: 6:15 am, December 20th, 2017 -  56 comments
    Categories: broadcasting, democracy under attack, democratic participation, maori party, Media, tv
    Tags:

    “Further, his comments the following evening were confusing and insufficient to correct the inaccurate information for viewers.”

  29. People of the Year

    Written By:  Matthew Whitehead -  Date published: 3:00 pm, December 7th, 2017 -  136 comments
    Categories: feminism, news
    Tags: , , , , ,

    Time has named participants of the #MeToo campaign its people of the year. So why hasn’t the movement taken hold in New Zealand the way it has in the United States?

  30. Flynn cuts a deal while Trump scrambles

    Written By:  mickysavage -  Date published: 8:07 am, December 4th, 2017 -  147 comments
    Categories: Abuse of power, corruption, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, Donald Trump, spin, us politics, you couldn't make this shit up
    Tags:

    Donald Trump’s response to news of the arrest of Michael Flynn suggests that charges closer to the office of the President may be close.

  31. Phil Quin: our media’s goto dogwhistling Aussie

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 8:41 am, November 29th, 2017 -  93 comments
    Categories: David Farrar, Media, Politics
    Tags: ,

    It always disappoints me in NZ is who our local media consider are ‘left’ or ‘labour’ commentators. They are usually strange and weird relics of left behind who frame their commentary in terms of long past history. Phil Quin, a grizzled veteran misogynist of the 1990s Thordon Bubble who thrives on chaos and ill informed dog whistles, is one of them. It isn’t like he knows much about NZ politics. Updated.

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