Public Address - Hard News (Home)

Oh Dear ... | Mar 16, 2007 10:21

I see National's Judith Collins has had another bout of political Tourette's: this time attacking the Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro for her support of the Section 59 bill.

Collins issued a statement declaring Kiro to have "lost the plot" and advising the commissioner to "pay heed to the Children's Commissioner Act of 2003 and get on with her main job of dealing with complaints relating to children, and the monitoring of Child Youth and Family."

For a lawyer, Ms Collins displays a bewildering inability to read the law.

The intent of the 2003 Act was precisely to formally expand the Children's Commissioner's brief into advocacy, with particular emphasis on assisting New Zealand to fulfil its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. See, in particular, Section 3(b) : describing the Act's purpose as to "re-enact the Commissioner's functions with modifications that are consistent with the Commissioner's primary role as an advocate for children."

Collins really needs to stop insulting independent agents of the Crown and get a grip on what she's doing.

A rather better performance from a National MP - a dazzlingly good one, in fact - was to be had from the party's new arts spokesman, Chris Finlayson, on Frontseat last Saturday. In the past National has tend to chuck the arts portfolio at anyone who wasn't quick enough to get out of the way, but Finlayson looks like he not only knows what he's talking about, but cares.

You can see the video of that interview and the rest of the show here. I think Frontseat's looking really good in its new timeslot this year, but thank God (or Rupert, I guess) for MySky. Mummy and Daddy have better things to do at 8am on a Saturday than watch television.

Canadian-based expat New Zealander Richard Graydon confirms in our forums that Dr Tim Ball, the "expert" featured in The Great Global Warming Swindle is indeed continuing to tout bogus credentials:

I am a New Zealander who has lived in Winnipeg since 1972. From 1995 until 2006 I was a member of the Board of the University of Winnipeg and served as Chair of the Board for 2003-04.
Dr. Tim Ball was indeed a Professor of Geography at the U of W. I concur with the fact that at no time was he elected a Professor Emeritus. Since his retirement he has consistently denied the global warming phenomena and is considered to be a crank. Living on the Prairies I have seen the effects of global warming in our much milder winters, much reduced snow fall and dry summers. Dr. Tim Ball is really without honour in this community where he taught for so many years.

The great gay TV controversy has entered a new chapter with the announcement of the official title and likely content of TVNZ's new "obs-doc". It's called The Outlook and will be based only partly on observation of the daily lives of staff of the gay newspaper, Express, with a magazine component filled out with a "young programme makers' initiative" under which five-minute films on GLBT themes will be solicited for screening, with the producers extending screen credits and a "small fee" to the new film-makers.

TVNZ commissioner Jude Callen answered the question everyone's been asking in the GayNZ forums earlier this week: the owners and staff of Express are neither paying or being paid to appear in the programme. Callen also described the new reality format as "moving beyond the magazine style programmes of the past." I think there may have been some refinements to the format in the days before the announcement …

Waj's Virtual Nostradamus Super 14 picks are up for the week. I (largely) let Waj guide me last week and did rather well. If the Blues don't win this year with the dream draw they've had you have to wonder why.

And, by popular demand, new Colin: cat in a bag. I do wonder if stardom (21st most-viewed animals and pets video on all of YouTube on Tuesday!) is going to Colin's head a bit. Having spent recent days lurking in his bag and pouncing on any moving thing that strayed past, he was oddly reticent on camera. He's also refusing interviews.

PS: The response to my casual offer to people who might be interested in joining emusic.com to let me do the tell-a-friend thing was such that I'm probably going to have more free downloads than I know what to do with. So we're running some emusic ads now. These are cost-per-sale ads, so we only get paid if someone signs up. Most of the others you're seeing at the moment are cost-per-click, so we get paid if you click on an ad and have a squizz. The ad-serving system behind them should be prioritising the ads that get the most clicks. If you do click on one and get an "expired" message, please let me know.

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Shonky scepticism | Mar 15, 2007 11:18

There are some important announcements further down today's post, but first: well, I guess I might download and watch the UK Channel 4 programme The Great Global Warming Swindle in its entirety, but it would be more out of interest than in the expectation of a serious sceptical argument about climate change.

The programme has excited lots of right-wing bloggers, some of whom have even pirated the video.

They have dutifully ignored the fact that the programme's main hypothesis - the solar radiation theory - is not widely supported by scientists working in the area and that, indeed, quite a few of its scientific claims are extremely dubious.

Since the programme aired in Britain it was emerged that one of its onscreen experts, Dr. Tim Ball, described as a Climatologist and Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of Winnipeg, is in fact nothing of the kind (his academic career ended in 1995, he is paid by oil and gas industry interests and he was never granted an Emeritus professorship), and the university has previously requested that he cease presenting himself as such.

And then there's this:

But now the programme - and the channel - is facing a serious challenge to its own credibility after one of the most distinguished scientists that it featured said his views had been "grossly distorted" by the film, and made it clear that he believed human pollution did warm the climate.

Professor Carl Wunsch, professor of physical oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he had been "completely misrepresented" by the programme, and "totally misled" on its content. He added that he is considering making a formal complaint.

None of this should surprise anyone who knows anything about the programme's producer, Martin Durkin. In 1997, Durkin, who is associated with an eccentric Marxist organisation, made a series for Channel 4 called Against Nature, which mounted a bitter attack on environmentalists. After receiving a flurry of complaints, Britain's TV regulator required Channel 4 to broadcast an apology after finding that:

"Comparison of the unedited and edited transcripts confirmed that the editing of the interviews with [the environmentalists who contributed] had indeed distorted or misrepresented their known views. It was also found that the production company had misled them... as to the format, subject matter and purpose of these programs."

In 1998, Durkin shopped the BBC a prop for a documentary claiming that silicone breast implants were beneficial to women's health. The Beeb commissioned research that found that Durkin had ignored a large body of evidence that didn't fit his case. Channel 4's Exquinox strand aired the programme instead, but not before Durkin's expert researcher walked away, declaring that "my research was being ignored. The published research had been construed to give an impression that's not the case. I don't know how that programme got passed. The only consolation for me was that I'm really glad I didn't put my name to it."

In his latest programme, Durkin has already had to 'fess up to misrepresenting data in some truly remarkable ways:

The programme-makers labelled the source of the world temperature data as "Nasa" but when we inquired about where we could find this information, we received an email through Wag TV's PR consultant saying that the graph was drawn from a 1998 diagram published in an obscure journal called Medical Sentinel. The authors of the paper are well-known climate sceptics who were funded by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine and the George C Marshall Institute, a right-wing Washington think-tank.

However, there are no diagrams in the paper that accurately compare with the C4 graph. The nearest comparison is a diagram of "terrestrial northern hemisphere" temperatures - which refers only to data gathered by weather stations in the top one third of the globe.

However, further inquiries revealed that the C4 graph was based on a diagram in another paper produced as part of a "petition project" by the same group of climate sceptics. This diagram was itself based on long out-of-date information on terrestrial temperatures compiled by Nasa scientists.

However, crucially, the axis along the bottom of the graph has been distorted in the C4 version of the graph, which made it look like the information was up-to-date when in fact the data ended in the early 1980s.

Mr Durkin admitted that his graphics team had extended the time axis along the bottom of the graph to the year 2000. "There was a fluff there," he said.

If Mr Durkin had gone directly to the Nasa website he could have got the most up-to-date data. This would have demonstrated that the amount of global warming since 1975, as monitored by terrestrial weather stations around the world, has been greater than that between 1900 and 1940 - although that would have undermined his argument.

"The original Nasa data was very wiggly-lined and we wanted the simplest line we could find," Mr Durkin said.

Um, wow.

In the Daily Telegraph, Janet Daley sniffed at greenies who sought to suppress the debate on the issue. Well, yes. The recent threats made by fringe greenies against climate change sceptics are an outrage. I've certainly disagreed with some of the people Durkin has criticised in the past, notably over the GM issue. And there could have been considerable merit in a measured work of scepticism. But when the sceptical lobby has to rely on a kind of weird cult polemic to advance its arguments, you know it's in trouble.

Anyway, some announcements: Martha, Sue and co. open their Craft 2.0 exhibition at the New Dowse on Saturday from 11am-4pm. Says Martha: "There are goodie bags for the first 200 people thru the door at 11, and bands, and lots of somewhat fabulously crafted things: undies, badges, clothing, art ..."

Cool.

In a similar spirit, the actually quite famous Wellington Flickr group has been the leap into the real world with an exhibition called Online to On the Wall. It's at the Paramount Theatre until March 28.

Anyone who loved 95bFM's Downbeat show - or who just treasures the sweet reggae music - will want to be aware of a benefit for the show's former co-host and all-round friendly big ted, Big Matt. He's currently battling gastric cancer, and his friends have rallied round to stage a benefit gig at Galatos on Friday March 23, to help Matt and his family. If you can't make the show but would still like to contribute, you can email Mike Wells (aka Yardboy) at m.swells (at) xtra.co.nz for info.

And finally, now's a good time to clear something up. The Clean are very kindly playing a short set (like, three songs) at the benefit for our kids (and other kids on the autistic spectrum) organised by my friends this coming Monday night (as are Mr Knox and SJD, while the Stinkster and some guy called DJ russb trouble the decks) but it's not a Clean gig. If you want to see a proper Clean gig, you'll need to go see them at the Studio on Saturday night, or make the trip up to the Sawmill on Sunday. Buy a ticket. See you on Saturday then.

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Memories of the attic press | Mar 14, 2007 10:54

The old 80s Rip It Up crew got together for a few drinks last night. There were a few no-shows, but it was so nice to see everyone again - Babs, Sheryl, Murray, and, not least, our old designer Ian Dalziel, who I haven't seen for 16 years, and who is one of the nicest men I've ever met.

I came to Rip It Up as deputy editor in 1983: the Darby Street days. We had the loft in a creaky building where a shiny bank tower now stands. The Denis Cohn Gallery was on the first floor, as was Geoff Steven's office, and on the next level up was Snake T-Shirts, then a busy factory for mostly music-themed shirts.

There's a story to how I was hired. When I sent RIU my first review (an overly impressionistic account of a show at Lincoln College featuring The Clean and the Dance Exponents), unsolicited, to Murray, he recognised the imprint of my typewriter and the Christchurch Star copy paper as being the same as those of an indignant letter I'd sent Murray the year before, mustering all the pomposity of youth to condemn RIU as "a paid advertisement for the New Zealand record industry".

So he chuckled, ran the review, and then a few more, and towards the end of The Year In Timaru, I heard through Debbie Harwood, who was managing the Exponents, that he wanted me to apply for the new post of deputy editor. So I wrote away, and Murray came south and, for the first of many times, bought me dinner. Turns out I nearly blew it when, thinking I was doing the right thing, I welcomed Murray by putting on Orange Juice's version of Al Green's 'L.O.V.E.'. As much as John Campbell loved the Sound of Young Scotland, Murray loathed it.

But it went well enough that Fiona, who was visiting, and I accompanied Murray to Dunedin for The Clean's last show at the Cook. We met the young enfant terrible Shayne Carter. I got the job.

I must have been the youngest person in the building when I first arrived at Rip It Up, but people were very kind to me. I was invited along to the Monday Night Problem Drinkers' Club, regaled with ancient tales of rock 'n' roll excess and generally looked after.

I feel privileged by the opportunity I had in those three years to conduct some memorable interviews - Nico, John Cale, Malcolm McLaren, the Birthday Party - along with one or two best forgotten (Andy Summers from The Police). I got to write some crazy tracts on the road in New Zealand and Europe, and I was there to document some exciting times. I have fond memories of the way that when the going got tough, Murray called dinner, and the effect of the whole experience was such as to infect me with the independent publishing bug and ruin me for corporate life.

Anyway, Ian knocked up a highly collectable folder of occasionally embarrassing period photos of the crew before during and after my time: Chad Taylor, wee Paul McKessar, Chris Bourke, Angela Jonasson, Peter Thomson, Stefan Morris, Mark Philips, Trevor Reekie, John Pitcairn, Simon Grigg, Harry Ratbag, Yoh, Michael Pearce, Babs Baker, Sherl Morris, Ngila Dickson, Terence Hogan, Dave Perkins, Kirk Gee Simonde, Chris Mauger, Donna Yuzwalk, Murray and Ian themselves and, of course, the old Bedford van that I used to drive around town dropping off bundles of the paper (there weren't any pics of Paul Luker, apparently). It's quite a lineup. Ian labelled it Rip It Up Annual 1980s Reunion No.1, and I'm certainly up for next year.

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Kids these days | Mar 13, 2007 10:06

Pew Research's A Portrait of "Generation Next" looks like this week's must-read. Pew finds that America's current 18-25 generation is more liberal, more tolerant and more Democrat leaning than the one before - but somewhat lacking in terms of personal goals.

The Summary of Findings has more detail and the full report is here in PDF format. The overall impression suggests both a distinct and a different generational group:

Some interesting bites from the full document:

Social networking:

They are the "Look at Me" generation. Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook allow individuals to post a personal profile complete with photos and descriptions of interests and hobbies. A majority of Gen Nexters have used one of these social networking sites, and more than four-in-ten have created a personal profile.

Downloading:

Gen Nexters stand out from other generations on one measure in particular. They are much more accepting when it comes to downloading or sharing music or video files without paying for them – 46% of Nexters said this was okay, compared with 28% of Xers and less than 20% of Boomers and Seniors.

Faith:

20% of today's 18-25 year-olds say they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic. Only 11% of those over age 25 fall into this category. The gap between young and old has increased substantially over time. In the late 1980s, 11% of young people were non-religious, compared with 8% of those over age 25.

There is a clear generational divide on the issue of evolution. Nearly two-thirds of Nexters (63%) believe humans and other living things evolved over time, while only 33% say all living creatures have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.

Media:

One show that has a particular appeal to young people is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Fully 13% of Gen Nexters report watching the show regularly, compared with 6% of the general public.

Politics:

These voting patterns reflect a broader Democratic leaning among Gen Nexters. In 2006, 48% of young people identified themselves as Democrats or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while only 35% identified themselves as Republicans – the lowest number recorded by Pew in its nearly 20-year trend. This makes them the least Republican generation. Larger percentages of Gen Xers,38

It is not the case that young people have always been more Democratic. In fact, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, 18-25 year-olds were more Republican than older age groups. Some political science research suggests that voters make the connection to a political party relatively early on in their adult life and tend to stick with that party as they get older; Generation X continues to be the most Republican-leaning generation today. If Gen Nexters remain solidly Democratic and continue to become more politically engaged, this could have major consequences for electoral politics

They are significantly less cynical about government and political leaders than are other Americans or the previous generation of young people. A majority of Americans agree with the statement: "When something is run by the government, it is usually inefficient and wasteful," but most Generation Nexters reject this idea.

Globalisation:

They are more comfortable with globalization and new ways of doing work. They are the most likely of any age group to say that automation, the outsourcing of jobs, and the growing number of immigrants have helped and not hurt American workers.

Pew also split out the marijuana question.

Not unrelated to the above: Pew's Riding the Waves of "Web 2.0", which finds the Web 2.0 concept "More than a buzzword, but still not easily defined." I thought the concluding paragraph of the paper, looking at the contrasting fortunes of GeoCities and MySpace, was pretty insightful:

The Geocities vs. MySpace comparison not only demonstrates the commonalities between the internet of 1996 and 2006, but it also provides a point of departure for understanding concepts of online presence in the Web 2.0 era. While the Geocities model relied on the metaphors of a place (cities, neighborhoods, homepages), MySpace anchors presence through metaphors of a person (profiles, blogs, links to videos, etc.). Geocities encouraged us to create our own cities and neighborhoods as points of entry to our personal worlds; MySpace cuts to the chase and enables direct access to the person, as well as access to his or her social world. And whether we call the current world 2.0 or 10.0, there's no question that the internet of today will look positively beta to future generations.

A further thought on yesterday's post: members of the gay community have every right to feel disgruntled at the programming that's been hurled at them by TVNZ in the past few years. I don't think it's fair to visit those feelings on Umbrella Productions merely because it was the only company to file a prop that actually met the possibly misguided "ob-doc" reality brief issued by TVNZ. Some of what is being said is bitchy and stupid.

Halliburton is moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai. Of course. Taxes are for little people. Killer fact: the $2.7 billion that Halliburton is calculated to have overcharged the US government for services in Iraq is greater than the company's entire 2006 profit.

And, finally, check out the raging success that is Jesus Christ Superstore, featuring actions figures of God and other deities. But why is Allah's box always empty? And why did Ganesh sell out before either of them?

PS: I have one double pass to give away to any show on The Clean's tour this month - dates and venues are in the ad on this page. Click reply - first in, first served. UPDATE: It's gone! I hope the unlucky punters will proceed to buy their own tickets ...

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