The ten most popular Standard posts of 2017

These are the posts that attracted the most attention in 2017 and gave a good indication of what news was of the most interest to progressives in Aotearoa.

But before I start the list I should acknowledge that Simon Louisson’s post why was John Key singled out by the Panama Papers was the second most read post in 2017.  This is quite a feat given that it was published in 2016 and shows the benefit of quality analysis.

Tenth was Weka’s post on the disgusting treatment that Savemart meted out to its unionised workers who were being made redundant after there was adverse comment on Radio New Zealand about their work conditions and treatment. Weka concluded:

Not much else to say apart from I hope the law, government, public and social media go hard on this and that Save Mart learn how to both follow employment law and treat their workers as valued human beings. And rock star economy, my arse. This is what happens when the government endorses bad behaviour from the people with power in society.

Ninth was my post which simply put up a Foxy tweet where Helen Clark eviscerated occasional Standard reader Matthew Hooton with a simple tweet. All I said was “[t]oo good to waste …”

For posterity here is the tweet.

Helen Clark fried Matthew Hooton like bacon. 🥓🥓🥓🔥#ChangeTheGovt #RelentlesslyPositive #Jacinda4PM pic.twitter.com/jiHRcmciKi

— Level One Foxy (@FoxyLustyGrover) August 1, 2017

Eighth was a Notices and Features post on the September 12, 2017 Newshub poll. After a couple of really good TVOne polls, one which had Labour ahead of National progressives were all hoping that “dramatic and devastating” meant National would be on the skids. Regrettably it had National on 47%, Labour on 37% and the Greens just under 5% which could have meant that National could rule on its own and the Greens would be gone.

Seventh was a recycle of some very funny tweets from the very funny fake GCSB Intercepts twitter account, at least I presume it is a fake. If you do not already follow this account I suggest you do so. Right away.

The GCSB had claimed to have intercepted some of the 450 texts sent by Bill English to former Electorate Office worker Glenys Dickson. The post only attracted 21 comments but a great deal of attention in Facebookland.

Sixth was the election night post. What a night that was, it seemed that the left had not done enough to change the Government. How wrong we were!

Fifth was a guest post by Michelle titled Do you want to keep me in poverty and detailed her personal experience of relying on a benefit. The post was heartfelt and something that should be compulsory reading for all of National’s MPs. She finished by saying this:

Let’s help each other up rather then judge harshly. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Some peoples walks have been harder, bumpier and longer. – not because they were being useless, or unmotivated, or not getting themselves out there – but because we all have a different journey and sometimes our paths are already mapped out.

Fourth was Weka’s post in support of Green MP Golriz Ghahraman who was attacked without cause by the right and parts of the media in November. It was some of Weka’s best writing full of justified anger at the treatment Golriz was receiving. It was a clear sign that dirty politics is still alive and kicking.

From the beginning of the post:

I generally like being a New Zealander, but fuck we’re an embarrassment sometimes. In the last 24 hours a national debate has broken out about whether war criminals on trial should have legal representation. Micky has covered the basics of the beat up story here. Yes, NZ is still wondering about how fairness and legality works.

Except that’s not what’s really going on. Oh look, Whale Oil, Kiwiblog and parts of the MSM all doing hatchet jobs on a Green MP’s career. Wonder how that happened. I guess it’s time for the Greens to be on the receiving end of Dirty Politics, although what’s really strange is that none of this is news.

Third was my post on the return of Kim Dotcom and the Internet Party and the NZ journalist seeking asylum in Russia. It was published at a very quiet time of year but had a number of interesting aspects to it, including Dotcom’s claim there was 2 terabytes of data that had been hacked from a Government server which would be released during election year and would show why John Key had resigned.

Second was a cross post of an article by Catriona MacLennan which suggested that MSD would treat family loans given to feed kids as income which would potentially disqualify people from receiving a benefit. She concluded that the interpretation was ludicrous. If it has not been dealt to already this is an issue that Minister Carmel Sepuloni should deal with as soon as possible.

And the most read article of 2017 was … drumroll …

My post on the knighting of Sir John Key and the reasons, none of them good, why he had been made a knight. The effort was a joint effort with others in the back end contributing ideas and reasons. The post also had possibly the comment of the year. In response to Wayne Mapp’s claim the post was petty One Anonymous Bloke said this:

Key has always been an incredibly divisive figure. He brought international shame and ridicule upon us in his Hard Talk interview, for me though the final straw was the discovery of the ratfucking gang that he ran out of his office.

It takes a special kind of person to worship at the Temple of Market while families go without basic necessities like food and shelter, but most of the time you can put it down to stupidity and incompetence, the Just World fallacy, and so forth. Not so with Key. Dirty Politics confirmed his calculated malevolence.

Honour him all you like. At the end of the day he’s “up” there with Mr. Peter Talley.

Have a great 2018. To all progressives don’t forget that if you want to create a better, more sustainable, more just and more equitable world then you have to remain active to whichever red or green hue of activity you call home.