Public Address - Hard News (Home)

Strange World | Mar 15, 2006 11:42

The newswires are full of the Israeli raid on the Palestinian prison in Jericho, and its inevitable aftermath. The operation involved the capture of imprisoned PLF figure Ahmed Sa'adat and others thought to be complicit in the assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. I know a little about Zeevi as a consequence of research for this Listener column from last year.

Zeevi's Moledet party was part of a governing Israeli coalition, despite his longtime support for the ethnic cleansing of the Occupied Territories and his extraordinary description of Arabs as "lice" and a "cancer". He also once declared that Israeli should lay claim to Jordan. The PLF claimed that his killing was in retaliation for the targeted assassination of PLF general secretary Abu Ali Mustafa in the same year. Sa'dat had been held in the prison on the order of the Palestinian Authority since 2002, in defiance of a decision by the Palestinian High Court that there was no legal basis for his imprisonment.

The PLF deserves as much revulsion as any other party to the conflict for its slaughter of innocents. But it seems a shame that two prison guards had to die in the name of a racist scumbag like Zeevi. And there's a certain irony in Sa'dat's snatching from prison at a time when the Israeli security forces insist on musing publicly about assassinating the Prime Minister of the elected Palestinian government. This new move hardly looks likely to woo Hamas into renouncing violence: quite the reverse on the evidence of the hours since the raid. And it seems unlikely that the Israelis will extend to Sa'dat the remarkable kindness recently conferred on the Israeli citizen who murdered his Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin. It's a strange world.

Elsewhere, Robo at NZBC looks at Francis Fukuyama's change of mind on neoconservativism: does that guy like to have his cake and eat, or what? But, like Rob, I did like this quote:

Going further, he says the movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

I've mused before on the parallels between today's conservative zealots and the Western revolutionary socialists of the 70s and early 80s. There's the same, determined preference for doctrine over reality (I think their fondness of accusing anyone to the left of Ghengis Khan of being a "Marxist" is a kind of projection), the same blind loyalty to foreign power. They may now be entering the "splitters!" phase.

I've been enjoying Lefties, Sheila Jeffreys' three-part doco for the BBC, which looks back affectionately and with bemusement at the British radical left movement of the 70s and 80s. Those involved largely were, and apparently remain, good folk, but there are many what were they thinking? moments, especially in the 'Angry Wimmin' episode. The Beeb has a useful homepage for the series, with clips from each episode and interviews with the director. It's much too interesting to be considered for broadcast here, but there are torrents about for two of the three episodes.

I'll never forget one of my flatmates (well, squatmates) in London bringing back home one of those people who used to sell socialist newspapers outside the Tube station in the mid-80s. I'd never met such a prick. He addressed himself almost entirely to me (I'm always up for an argument about ideas) ignoring both his doormat of a girlfriend and Sally, my flatmate. I bailed up Sally about it after they'd left, but she insisted he was alright, really. No, he wasn't. If he was typical of his comrades, I could understand why the radical feminists wanted their own thing. The capacity of radicals for being brutes amongst their own is quite remarkable.

Meanwhile, Christopher Allbritton sorts out one of the neo-Leninists, a New York Post columnist (and winger celeb) Ralph Peters, who recently filed a report from Iraq full of doozies like: "The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree." Yes, comrade, and the Five Year Plan is coming along nicely ...

Less fanciful - and more disturbing - accounts of events in Iraq can be obtained via Today in Iraq. The Guardian has a story revealing that the British government knew very early on that things were going pear-shaped in Iraq, and a column entitled We Were Right to Invade Iraq, by Oliver Kamm. It's something of an indictment that the paper had to resort to a mildly crazed commentator like Kamm to put the case. "The absence of WMD was a huge intelligence failure," he grants, "so it is fortunate that we are no longer reliant on Saddam's word." And perhaps, although he doesn't say so, most unfortunate that tens of thousands of innocent people had to lose their lives in pursuit of that comforting certainty.

Also, an eloquent apology from John Howard about the whole Iraq business. Not exactly official, of course …

And on another note entirely, reader Graeme Beasley notes Sportsfreak's wrap-up of the Fleming-Richardson affair.

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Oh, the irony | Mar 14, 2006 09:56

Up to and including the time of the announcement that Fairfax was to acquire the Independent business weekly, there was a perception that the Independent's rival, the National Business Review, was also up for sale, for the right price. I've said so myself. Not so, says the NBR's publisher Barry Colman.

Barry sent me this email to clarify:

Just for your info, the NBR has never been for sale. But I have had four approaches in the last six months, one suitor in particular who came back FOUR TIMES before I managed to convince them the meaning of the word no. They became persistent assuming my "not for sale" attitude was a sophisticated form of negotiation. They got that wrong. So there was never any problem with the amount of loot they wanted to give me, it was just a matter that I don't need the money and I don't want to go and sit on the beach at my tender age. The paper happens to be going really well at present anyway and is a lot of fun, it would be more fun if every bugger wasn't trying to steal my staff.

I agree. The paper is going well. Further on the Fairfax tip, Joanne Black's column in the new Listener is interesting. She notes that when she worked for a Fairfax paper, reporters were forbidden to use the name "Trade Me" in a story:

When we simply couldn't provide a proper news service without mentioning something for sale on Trade Me, the item could be referred to as "for sale on the Internet".

We struck the same thing with Michael Carney's Trade Me Success Secrets, published by Activity Press. The review copy was sent back by a Fairfax paper, on the orders of the general manager, because Trade Me "competes with our Fairfax Propertystuff website." Oh, the irony.

And a little more on the media: Scoop has links to the full drama on the exchange between Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson that Sky is insisting was all part of a spoof. Well, maybe. You be the judge …

Kete Were is really getting up a head of steam now. Xavier turns the scientific spotlight on recent abortion discussions on a less measured blog.

Mirage Media (hat tip: No Right Turn) listens to talkback radio so you don't have to. Best new blog of the year?

NZBC's latest Mixed Lollies roundup has some really good stuff, including interesting coverage of the Trade Me sale in the Aussie press.

And finally, things have tightened a little at the top of the Public Address Virtual Super 14 Leader Board. Nic Jones is still in the lead (and advanced five places in the overall competition after the weekend) but there were a couple of big movers below him on the board; most notably radio industry pundit Paul "Badseed" Kennedy, whose score of 45 took him to sixth place on our board, and advanced him a whacking 17,436 places nationwide. John Campbell had his best week yet, Michael Keir-Morrissey made a stand for poofs and actors everywhere by scoring top equal on 45, Holly Walker hasn't been the same since she started working for the Greens, and I was just crap. Next week, perhaps …

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Blur | Mar 13, 2006 12:15

I've never quite mastered 7am flights. This isn't to say that I actually miss them, or even that I'm not an early riser anyway, just that by the time I'm seated on the plane, I'm usually feeling hungry and stressed and have a thumping headache. Friday morning's ordeal was not helped by having been out on various jobs since 3pm Thursday, the last of which was an evening business meeting that took a decided turn for the convivial.

I was feeling better by the time I disembarked, got my bag and had my usual Friday morning chat with Wallace on 95bFM, sitting in what passed for a quiet corner of Wellington airport. Why do they have a sniffer dog every time I'm there? It unnerves me for no particular reason.

From there it was onto Astoria in the hope that either Sue or Janis might be on deck. Turned out they both were, and Sue summoned a bacon sandwich with a long black, which I ate while I chatted to Janis.

I was down for my first meeting of the board of the Humanities Research Network, which manages the communication assets of the Council for the Humanities, which presently means their website. But I had hours to fill, so I left my bag at Astoria and wandered over (with my too-heavy satchel) to Nikau, where my Wellington recognition factor kicked into. In the course of two coffees, three people came up to say they liked the blog. How nice. Never happens in the Auckland CBD.

By then, the City Gallery was open, and I went in and was standing there trying to process the mind-blowing Patricia Piccinini exhibition (you can hear the onsite podcast for it here), when Alex from Lumiere appeared to say hello (he's just started work as the gallery comms person). He advised that Charles Mabbett was putting on one of his Asia New Zealand Foundation media-networking lunches at the Grand Century in Tory Street. Charles' lunches in Auckland have been a feature of the year so far, so I figured I'd gatecrash that.

I went upstairs and took in the Michael Smither retrospective, which was both enjoyable and moving, and headed over towards Tory Street, stopping in at L'affare for a Phoenix Cola while I did some swot for my meeting.

Lunch was attended by an interesting crew: Winnie from Bananaworks, a cross-cultural communications firm that does a lot of work for local companies looking to reach into ethnic communities, and, in theory, work for communities looking to reach back the other way (demand is a little light there). Also, designer/video director Sally Tran and actress Sonia Yee, and Ron and Mark Hanson from White Fungus, who are quite excited that their alternative arts mag is now being stocked by the legendary City Lights bookshop in San Francisco. It's a quarterly mag that comes out three times a year. I hear you, guys: I used to edit one of those.

I am the only one who struggles with boundaries at yum cha? At standard restaurants, you know you're done when your plate is empty. At yum cha, I just never know. But the time came to head for Molesworth St, with just time for a quick browse at Quilters bookshop. I struggle with boundaries at Quilters too. John didn't exactly have to force my arm up my back to sell me Vol 1 of Jamie Belich's Making Peoples for $50.

The board meeting produced plenty to be going on with. I'm a non-academic drafted onto an academic board for my perceived communications skills, so it's quite an interesting gig. The website, developed by CWA, is intended as both a hub for people working in the humanities in New Zealand, and as a window for the public. We'd like to get regular traffic through it. Feel free to have a look and share any thoughts you might have about it.

From there, it was back to Astoria, where one of the staff kindly intercepted me at the door and pointed me to a table with a "reserved" sign on it. Kerry and Simon and Jessie arrived and we had a drink then headed for Melrose via, as ever, Moore Wilson.

Two hours later, we were back in town, disembarking in Courtenay Place to see a pair of girls in matching fancy dress. And then another one. And then lots, all of them running backwards and forwards - hippie chicks, disco babes, lady soldiers, Wonder Women, all sorts. It was quite mad. We stopped one pair to ask what the hell was going on. Turned out ZM was staging a scavenger hunt with a $4000 prize.

"Do you have a Qantas boarding pass?" said one. "We need one of those."

Well, ladies, yes I do. And after an intensive search of every pocket, I produced it. There was much rejoicing in Cuba St. One of them took my mobile number so she could report back on their fortunes. Which she did, 24 hours later:

Girls had a fun nite. Thanks 4 the bd pass. We didn't get first prize but good nite had by all. Brenda. Alias island girl.

Happy to help. We had a good night too. After deciding we didn't want to be the only people at Tupelo, we went down to the Good Luck Club, and yarned happily over a drink, then further up the street to the Havana bar, which was happily thronging as usual. We walked all the way down to the waterfront to see the Len Lye sculpture go off, only to discover that it didn't run after 10pm. Pussies. We had a whisky at Molly Malones, then headed home to deck out and listen to music. Saturday seemed to pass quickly and I arrived home to my loved ones, bearing takeaways from Salt. Gotta love that salt and pepper squid.

Matt Nippert emailed as to my rather infrequent blogging of late, inquiring if all was well. Mostly. There's been some illness in the family, on top of a mother of a workload (does that add up to a motherload?), including a big-ass feature for Metro that I'm really happy with. It's in the April issue.

What's been bugging me? Friggin' Tony Blair claiming that God will be his judge on Iraq, that's what. The man's a walking Messiah complex. Mate, you're an elected politician: the people will be your judge.

Claiming that God will be your judge is also, of course, only a hair away from claiming to be on a mission from God, which if I had my way would be grounds for instant dismissal from any significant position of secular leadership. The irony of the current face-off between the US and Iran is the shared millenialism of influential figures on both sides. In the US, it's dispensationalist Christianity (the rapture is coming, after the battle of Armageddon takes place in Israel; us heathens will be left behind; apart from the Jews, who will either be killed or converted), which has alarming penetration into the Republican Party. In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not only a crazed populist, but a believer in the return of the Mahdi, the Muslim prophet who will appear on earth during - you guessed it - the last days, which are imminent and will be ushered in by battle and bloodshed. In a nice twist, some believers in the return of the Mahdi think that once all the blood has been spilled and the unbelievers dealt to, Jesus and the Mahdi will live happily on earth together.

Now, if you could nominate the worst possible belief system for anyone with guns, bombs and authority (or trusted with making environmental policy, for that matter), this is it. The last people you want to run the world are the ones looking forward to it being all over next Wednesday, or shortly thereafter.

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Not bolted down | Mar 09, 2006 09:32

I would be surprised if the Commerce Commission were to, as has been suggested, get in the way of Fairfax's acquisition of Trade Me. Newspaper classifieds and online auctions are not - yet - the same market. And furthermore, those Trade Me customers are not bolted down. If they were, then Dylan from Zillion wouldn't be quite so chirpy. The very fact of the sale will generate churn that will create opportunities.

Meanwhile, a hilarious shitfight between National (well, Aaron Bhatnagar, mostly) and Act supporters over Richard Worth's dodgy letter claming that Rodney Hide "supports widespread drug legalisation", and Rodney's highly evasive answers when the Herald raised it with him. The discussion thread does tend to support the view that Act's major obstacle lies in the some of the personalities it attracts.

More battling in yet another round of Fox News' Bill O'Reilly versus MSNBC's Keith Olberman ("Bill thinks he has his own police."). Olberman's cool and funny and O'Reilly is deranged.

Thanks to Ziggy Potts, on the ground in Wanagnui, for pointing out that the winner of a home theatre system in a competition run by APN paper the Wanganui Chonicle is a Mr Tim Pankhurst of Wellington. Surely not?

In a possibly unrelated follow-up, Ziggy notes that Chronicle editor John Maslin and two employees of the local Harvey Norman store that provided the prize make up a whole quarter of Michael Laws' 'Wanganui Ambassadors' team. Does the mayor want a stereo too?

The extraordinary attack by Bloomsbury CEO Nigel Newton on the Google Library Project - in which he quixotically called for a boycott of Google - has, as you'd expect, attracted some furious responses, most notably Hissy Cat's engaging Google Library Project And Why Nigel Newton Is A Fuckwad. And C. Max Magee points out something that occurred to me too - if you're going to get precious about advertising appearing opposite great, out-of-copyright literary works, Charles Dickens seems a strange example to pick, given the context in which much of his writing originally appeared.

I bumped into Matt Heath and Chris Stapp taking tea in Grey Lynn yesterday afternoon, with Dominic Bowden, who presumably won admission into the shock TV fraternity by drinking his own urine on television this week. Heath and Stapp start filming The Devil Dared Me To, their debut digital feature with Headstrong, on Sunday. And then I got home and found an email referring me to this rather good idea. You can buy advertising real estate in the movie in the form of badges and logos on the jumpsuit of veteran Australasian stunt co-ordinator Dick Johansonson. Prices starting at $50, inventory apparently shifting nicely. I bought Public Address a stake in cinematic history: Patch 60, just above Dick's left knee, which I confidently expect to feature prominently in the film.

PS: On account of stupidity, I was briefly under the impression that there wasn't a Best Blog category in the Netguide Web Awards. There is, and you can vote for us in it. You could also vote for us in Best Media Site if you felt especially kind.

PPS: Help sought with extremely annoying Telecom Call Minder glitch. A month-old message has appeared out of the ether and is triggering the usual pip-pip-pip. But, because it has "passed its expiry date", the delete command doesn't work and the man just tells me - over and over again - that the message has "passed its expiry date". I know there's a way around this (some patronising git on a Telecom help desk once told me) but I'm damned if I can remember it. Please advise.

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