It is that time of year again, time for reflection and pondering on what was most popular this year on the Standard and why. Following are links to the ten most popular posts of 2016 and in keeping with the feel of the time it is interesting which person attracted most attention. Six of the most popular posts highlighted John Key. Last year only three targeted Key.
It has been another big year for the Standard with 2,037 separate posts and over 500,000 page views. With no resources apart from the dedication and technical skills of Lynn Prentice and a small smattering of donations the Standard manages to do without any resources what its competitors do with significantly more.
But on with the list …
At number ten was Te Reo Putake’s twerking for daddy where he reflected on a photo opportunity for John Key that went slightly astray in these post ponytailgate days. The Herald tried to present the post as evidence of Key having a sense of humour, but missed the deep biting satire of the comment attached to the picture.
Number nine was Te Reo Putake’s post celebrating Labour’s decision to oppose the TPPA. The post was short but perfectly informative and was also the most commented on post the Standard has ever had.
Number eight was TRP’s post on how the Talleys had planned to tell its workers that taking Waitangi day off would be regarded as an illegal strike by them and they faced the sack. These stories were unfortunately far too common as the Talleys experimented with how far they could push the Union. TRP was clearly on a roll this year.
Seventh was Anthony Robins’ post suggesting that National may be seeking to antagonise a violent response at the rallies against the TPPA signing. Having the document signed at Sky City in Auckland seemed to be the worst place to have it and unnecessarily provocative.
Sixth was the late Helen Kelly’s post on the use of medicinal cannabis where she calmly sets out the bureaucratic crap she had to work through so that she could have access to a drug less dangerous than morphine which coincidentally can be readily prescribed by doctors. Being worried about a drug with rather modest adverse side effects being made available to people with terminal diseases is the height of stupidity and Helen clearly established how stupid it is. She will be missed.
Fifth was mickysavage’s post on how it was clear that John Key wanted to turn New Zealand into a haven for the world’s elite and a bolthole for the rich. The conclusion was that Key is a bit of a laugh, fine about socially liberal things as long as they do not go too far, a monarchist but he will propose a flag change to show that he is relaxed about the constitution, fun to have a beer with, will welcome selfies with drag queens and support the occasional greenwash policy. But his role in politics is to look after the 1%.
Fourth was Simon Louisson’s analysis of the Panama Papers and he asked the pertinent question, why was John Key singled out by the Panama Papers hacker for special mention and what role does the Cook Islands have in the money go round that is the international tax evasion industry?
Third was Anthony Robin’s post, updated after intelligent commentary, on Key’s decision to make New Zealand a tax haven by having a 0% tax rate for overseas trusts and by having limited ineffectual disclosure requirements. The post contained some helpful analysis by Deborah Russell and provided detailed information on how various Countries’ tax systems were being rorted by changes to New Zealand tax laws that Key had overseen.
Second was TRP’s deeply satirical post suggesting that Key was happy for the homeless to stay at his home in his spare bedroom and how someone could live in a tent on his tennis court given the complete lack of funding in the 2016 budget for the homeless crisis.
And first was … drum roll … after a third placing last year BLiP’s list of Key’s lies. It looks like there is no further need for this phenomenal work to be updated. Maybe Key resigned knowing that BLiP was preparing a further list and he could not face the embarrassment .
Happy new year to everyone.
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