Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, August 2nd, 2018 - 62 comments
In 2010 the ACT Party with the help of National managed to pass a piece of legislation that damaged student democracy, and blatantly ignored public opinion. Voluntary Student Membership or VSM sounds like a horrendous STI, and its impact has been to screw student democracy. Prior to 2010 students had a choice as to whether […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, January 14th, 2016 - 76 comments
What would have happened if in 1984 David Lange had exerted control and appointed a centrist rather than right wing Labour cabinet?
Written By: - Date published: 6:08 am, May 17th, 2015 - 64 comments
Back in March 1988 David Lange had a clear idea about what lay ahead for New Zealanders as the long-term consequences of Roger Douglas’ psychopathic worshipping of the metaphysical Invisible Hand gradually materialised.
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, March 14th, 2015 - 70 comments
Self styled Labour activist Phil Quin has chosen to criticise the party’s commitment to democracy despite the clearly democratic structure the party has. And to repeat criticisms of Labour pre election despite the strong evidence of change that has occurred since. Yet the media go to Phil for comment on what is happening within the Labour Party even though I get the feeling he would prefer that Roger Douglas was still involved, despite the wishes of pretty well everyone else
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, April 19th, 2014 - 230 comments
Kiwi in America over at Kiwiblog has offered some no doubt heart felt advice to Labour on what it should be doing. But the advice appears to be based on a misunderstanding of the Party’s history and a wish that the Party becomes more like ACT. Why do right wingers think they can tell Labour what to do and is their advice sound?
Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, March 15th, 2011 - 93 comments
3-time election loser Don Brash spoke at the ACT conference on the weekend. It was an attempt to revive the Owera days with an anti-Maori speech. When he made a ‘they don’t know how lucky they are’ reference to how Australians used to “shoot the natives”, a ACT member yelled “bring that back” and the audience laughed.
Written By: - Date published: 7:21 pm, July 21st, 2010 - 40 comments
Remember the billboards comparing Helen Clark to a series of dictators in 2008? Funny thing is she’d never had anything to do with a dictator. But at least one MP who will be voting for John Key’s attacks on workers did.
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 pm, July 19th, 2010 - 105 comments
Over at Kiwipolitico Pablo has a good post tracing the ancestry of Key’s attack on unions to Pinochet.
Not that we should be surprised of course:
National and Act have both been influenced by that regime in the past. Especially when it comes to dealing to workers.
Written By: - Date published: 3:03 pm, March 27th, 2010 - 78 comments
It’s getting nasty in the ACT party. Rodney Hide can’t last as leader. Heather Roy, Roger Douglas, and John Boscawen each have factions backing them to replace him. Disintegration is a real possibility. The consequence of ACT’s straying from it’s economically and socially liberal roots under Douglas and Prebble to reactionism under the nihilist Hide. If a collapse does take place, Key may have to call an early election.
Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, March 24th, 2010 - 66 comments
Andrew Campbell reports that Roger Douglas and the ACT party want to change the law so that student associations will be unable to provide the important services and representation that they currently offer by making their membership voluntary. This will put the clubs and services that many universities offer at risk.
Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, March 20th, 2010 - 30 comments
With one eye firmly on the polls and an awareness that cutting wages by stealth is one thing but actually lowering wages is another, National has decided to oppose Roger Douglas’s youth minimum wage reduction bill. That hasn’t stopped the right activists from promoting it though, so I thought it would be worthwhile having a wee post summarising the arguments on both sides
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, February 24th, 2010 - 58 comments
The faulty logic behind Roger Douglas’ bill to cut the wages of young workers could just as easily be applied to any number of groups hit hard by the recession – Maori, students, men, dropouts, singles, people in Northland. What if we were to change a couple of key words in his bill?
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, February 17th, 2010 - 11 comments
I’ve been looking for feedback on Simon Power’s electoral finance reform package but I can’t find anything from Labour. After the hell that rained down on them over the EFA (much of it richly deserved) I can only assume that Labour thinks National’s got it about right.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 pm, February 16th, 2010 - 20 comments
Bill English claimed in the House today that the economy only grew by 0.9% a year in Labour’s last three years in power. Unfortunately for him the problem was his maths, not Labour’s economic policy. English can’t get simple percentages right, can we trust him with the nation’s finances?
Written By: - Date published: 4:29 pm, February 11th, 2010 - 38 comments
Over the last month or so National’s pollster David Farrar has been running a series of posts desperately trying to pin the spike in youth unemployment under National to Labour’s decision to abolish youth rates. I’d been wondering why the obsession with youth rates until I saw this exchange between Roger Douglas and Kate Wilkinson […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, August 4th, 2009 - 48 comments
One of these things is not like the other One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one is not like the other Can you tell me before I finish the game?
Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, August 1st, 2009 - 161 comments
NZPA reports: Taxpayers are contributing nearly $1000 a week to allow deputy prime minister Bill English to live in his own million-dollar Wellington home. According to the title, the Karori home was bought by Mr English and his wife, Mary, for $800,000 in 2003. However, in March this year the title was transferred to Mrs […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 28th, 2009 - 14 comments
Sir Roger Douglas has a go at my post that looks at the GDP per person gap between Australia and New Zealand and concludes that, since it doubled during the neoliberal revolution of the late 80s/early 90s, implementing more neoliberal policies is unlikely to close that gap. His first complaint is that my numbers and his […]
Written By: - 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 […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:42 pm, May 14th, 2009 - 20 comments
This, I swear, is a complete and unedited press release from Roger Douglas. A Recipe To Grow The Economic Cake -Hon Sir Roger Douglas Thursday, May 14 2009 Yield: An equitable serving for all Ingredients 2½ cup Productivity 1½ cup Fiscal Responsibility 1 cup Sound Infrastructure Investment 6 eggs Full of Savings 3/4 cup Free […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, March 25th, 2009 - 15 comments
Roger Douglas in a press release today: National’s goal of a top personal, company and trustee tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar is laudable – but it must remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch, ACT New Zealand Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today. “It is pointless setting […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, February 17th, 2009 - 21 comments
“We are all socialists now”, or so says the cover of the latest Newsweek. And to be fair, you’ve got to start wondering when the United States is in the process of nationalising the means of exchange and a Tory Prime Minister of New Zealand is looking at effectively buying out a chunk of one […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, May 27th, 2008 - 78 comments
A source present at the University of Victoria debating society event last night tells us that Heather Roy referred to herself frequently (but we’re told lightheartedly) as the Minister of Education in a National/ACT government before handing out these scholarships vouchers… you’ll notice it’s even signed by Roger Douglas <shiver>.
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