Fallowell calls Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson "artistically weak", saying he's produced nothing adult since the magnetic Heavenly Creatures. "When Hollywood gets hold of these weak sort of men – artistically weak, that is – all turns to dross."

a complete pretentious tosser I would say.

But Fallowell also thinks Christchurch people have "spontaneity, madness and sexiness".

He refers to The Press as "the best (newspaper) in New Zealand".

In an earlier interview, he said Christchurch was a place "with a...

a complete pretentious tosser I would say.

Meh... I actually agree with Fallowell on the LoTR trilogy. Hell, I thought King Kong was the world's longest show-reel for an FX house, but failed utterly on every other level.

Having said that, I may not have much of an opinion of...

Hell, I thought King Kong was the world's longest show-reel for an FX house, but failed utterly on every other level.

Oh, I don't know about that Craig, I enjoyed a helluva lot about King Kong, *all* it needed was an hour or so lopped out of it :)

I got to thinking that the Lovely Bones will be the making or breaking of Jackson's reputation as a director of genius.

I agree – when I heard the man who brought us Meet the Feebles was 'doing' the Parker/Hume murder I had disturbing vision of a very tacky Z-grade...

Oh, I don't know about that Craig, I enjoyed a helluva lot about King Kong, *all* it needed was an hour or so lopped out of it :)

I have to confess I stopped watching the dvd some point after the one hour mark, when they still hadn't made it...

'The women seem very confident': and this is a bad thing, somehow? Meh. I'll take the philistine hell-hole, thanks.

AND we have lesbian haircuts and no cleavage. WTF is a lesbian haircut?

OTOH:

Christchurch people have "spontaneity, madness and sexiness. They dress more smartly than other New Zealanders too".

Yes,...

As an 11 year old cousin of mine put it ... "I do enough home work without having to read about Harry and Hermione doing theirs."

LOL – thats brilliant

The cleavage thing is dead wrong too ... a 5 min walk down Queen St on a day such as...

Oh and if John Key utters the words "voucher" and "education" togetherin the same sentence today it will be mana from heaven for Labour supporters.

I'm sure it would, Tom, just as there are some folks out there who are going to be screaming 'Labour-lite' if Key stands up today...

Another option for urgent passage, based on the current harping about "artificial restrictions on land supply" would be the Down with the RMA (even though it was passed under a National Government) Bill.

I played host to another of Fallowell's luvvie-friends, the brilliant interviewer Lynn Barber, several years ago. She was perfectly pleasant, if rather high-maintenance, but after our event she took up a holiday to Rotorua and Queenstown.

In her subsequent write-up she got the wrong end of the stick about us...

But Craig is once again right, the guy's prose just isn't up to this level of vitriol. Evelyn Waugh? He's not even PJ O'Rourke.

Burn!!

NZ does take itself very seriously at times, and this can be a bit of a bore. We do tend to be as earnest as a serious teetotal...

I knew she had ambition, and can be very stateswomanly, but even so.... :-)

but you've got to give PJ props for being a very astute businessman, bloody-minded and self-confident to a fault,

yeah, that's why I thougth Fallowell had it completely the wrong way round with

"When Hollywood gets hold of these weak sort of men – artistically weak, that is...

it was...

I don't think there's any need to character assassinate Fallowell for having his opinion. He's really already done that and his reader base will have already discovered Bangkok as a much better alternative.

This made me snort with laughter, and then look around guiltily.

Boot camps.

Youth crime

As Labour has discovered, this sort of thing is expensive and difficult to pull off.

But I wish people would stop talking about a youth crime wave on the basis of the usual January headlines. The youth offending rate has been level for at...

This guy deosn't appear to be the one to offer it, but some good clear criticism of NZ culture and its faults is not a bad thing.

That's what I really liked about Hamish Keith's The Big Picture. Didn't agree with all his conclusions, by any means, but it was...

There are some people out there who are going to be sweatily excited about that. Unfortunately I was stuck listening to them on Newstalk ZB for 10 long hours yesterday.

This made me snort with laughter, and then look around guiltily.

Heh, surely it's common knowledge that there's more to Bangkok than amazing history, art, architecture and shopping?

On a first reading, I'd give Key a solid 7/10 --...

The youth offending rate has been level for at least the last five years.

Actually, it looks like it hasn't shifted much as a proportion of all offending since the big jump between 1991 and 1994. ...

But Youth is a cunning demographic for National to target. They can't vote, so they...

Boot Camps for disadvantaged youth? I can see an opening for Tama Iti...

Perhaps the Urewera camps were National-sponsored trials for their planned bootcamps? Of course – the Terrorist! Terrorist! reaction all makes sense now...Police were pressured by Labour to demonise Iti and undermine National's plans for him...

Hmmm. Don't...

Boot camps? Cracks me up. How to outsource physical discipline and yelling at your kids.

Um, Ben, that's really as silly as saying if I ever have a violent and unmanageable manic episode that a term in a psychiatric ward is just a way to "outsource" the kind of neglect...

But Youth is a cunning demographic for National to target. They can't vote, so they are the perfect whipping boy.

Precisely. According to Key, it seems that Brash's biggest mistake was that Maori could vote. He's just as committed to divisive hate campaigns as his predecessor.

He's just as committed to divisive hate campaigns as his predecessor.

And we're off...

Back in 1993, I was an unemployed school-leaver on the dole (yay!). I was kinda happy spending my days writing, doing a couple of drama courses, student radio stuff, and obsessing over music.

But Ken, my randomly selected case manager...

Back in MY day sport WAS practically compulsory, insofar as not playing rugby was an opt-out process rather than an opt in. I was shocked to discover...

Are you comparing itinerant youths to violent psychiatric patients? Clearly the second need specialist care.

And clearly (at least to me), there are going to be some young offenders for whom a (figurative) boot in the arse and a shame-inducing dressing down isn't going to work. Don't think most Labour...

Heh, surely it's common knowledge that there's more to Bangkok than amazing history, art, architecture and shopping?

Yeah, but I still feel bad laughing about anyone in the sex trade. ARGH! THE PC NAZIS HAVE ME IN THEIR PINKO EMBRACE!

I think Key may have miscalculated here. Too much easy...

All noble-enough things that I'm not complaining about but hardly a...

He's just as committed to divisive hate campaigns as his predecessor.

Rolls eyes.

If you want to find a valid platform to attack Key then I'd suggest looking into the detail of his policy. This speech was almost certainly written in response to the events of the last ten days...

But everyone's discussing 'boot camps', where if you look at his actual speech (here, I presume this is fairly accurate as to what he said), the word 'boot' doesn't appear once. The word 'camp' appears once:...

Yeah, but I still feel bad laughing about anyone in the sex trade. ARGH! THE PC NAZIS HAVE ME IN THEIR PINKO EMBRACE!

They do indeed, cause u missed da point. The main joke-butts in the sex trade are the punters, and they can still be laughed at with impunity...

Thanks Kyle.

Point remains tho – Labour is going to have a fairly easy time of it making these unpopular, I feel.

And we're off...

Oh aren't we indeed……sigh

I want to take the effective elements of army-type training and combine them with the most advanced expertise in youth offending and rehabilitation that New Zealand has to offer.

This presumes that there is something about "army-type training" that is of value in...

boot camp
n.

1. A training camp for military recruits.
2. A correctional facility that uses the training techniques applied to military recruits to teach usually youthful offenders socially acceptable patterns of behavior.

Sure, a dictionary definition doesn't capture the negative emotional connotations. But I'm sure the same could be said for the highly loaded "anti-smacking"...

I've heard rumours that the Nat Party comms team put quite a few noses out of joint with the way they handled the media leading up to the speech.

Danyl:

As often as not, 'put some ice on it, and get over your good self' is an entirely appropriate response...

Kyle, a boot is a boot, whether Key wants to call it a Fresh Start or not.

I was under the impression that a boot camp was simply a camp run by the army? Key says, quite specifically, that the camps would be run by the army, so... I don't...

Sorry – my point: the media is perfectly entitled to use 'boot camp' as shorthand

Indeed they are – just as, as I pointed out, the DomPost's sub-editors are quite 'entitled' to use 'booby hatch' and 'nutters' as headline shorthand for psychiatric wards and the mentally ill. I...

Or do you seriously want to argue with me that THREE DIE IN CRASH is intended to be read the same way as HOLIDAY CARNAGE CONTINUES!

Not at all Craig – especially when emotionally manipulative language is my day-to-day occupation. My point was less about how the media choose to...

I can see why the media has jumped on it, and I'd guess National probably isn't discouraging the label. It's just misleading at best.

Yeah, I guess it's more headline. It's only one small prong of a bunch of policy hints. Which themselves are only a small prong of the...

It's redolent of the old days of compulsory military training. I don't think its quite what is being proposed here. I suspect with this they get to sit around and talk about their feelings a lot more...

Sure, a dictionary definition doesn't capture the negative emotional connotations. But I'm sure the same could be said for the highly loaded "anti-smacking"...

No, that's what Sue Bradford initially called it herself, when the bill was drawn out of the private members' ballot. This was before she realised the negative...

He's not even PJ O'Rourke.

My favourite PJ O'Rourke quote – actually the title of a chapter in one of his books:

How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wingwang Pulled and Not Spill Your Drink

Either Key doesn't know what he is talking about or he is deliberately playing to the crowd.

Since he is a politician and all, my money would be on (b).

it's dog-whistling alright. i should know, it hurts my ears.

I'll see your 'dog whistle' and raise you a 'failed policies of the past'!

When Mr. Slack is finished building his Quackspeak Detector-cum-Rhetorical-Inflation Engine, we could collaborate on a domestic political/blog version of Bullshit Bingo. Endure election season and win...

But its the vouchers things that gets up my nose:

"I'm only on this course because I want to get the money….." Lets fill HE and FE with more people who are only there for the money. Local Polytechs will end up running mickey mouse/dump courses that can't be failed...

How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wingwang Pulled and Not Spill Your Drink

I really like early PJ O'Rourke. I still follow his wise, sage advice and never put my genitals into anything I'm not absolutely sure they'll come back out of.

Incidentally, Annette King has just put out a statement saying itsLabour's policy anyway, and that the teenage problems we have are all because of Ruth Richardson's 'mother of all budgets'.

Bullshit Bingo! What did you do during the Fourth Labour Government, 'Nettie? Because before then, all was lollipops and fairy-dust.....

I really like early PJ O'Rourke. I still follow his wise, sage advice and never put my genitals into anything I'm not absolutely sure they'll come back out of.

Am I the only person who once had a nightmare about being on a long road trip with P.J. O'Rourke and...

voucher entitling 16- and 17-year-old school-leavers to a limited period of free educational training at polytechs and other tertiary providers.

No collusion with Tim Shadbolt then?

Either Key doesn't know what he is talking about or he is deliberately playing to the crowd.

Since he is a politician and all, my money would be on (b).

Or possibly both?

No collusion with Tim Shadbolt then?

I wouldn't be surprised — ditto for the Maori Party with the wananga. We'll know when SIT sets up an Otara branch I guess.

I am also surprised that there was...

I wouldn't be surprised — ditto for the Maori Party with the wananga. We'll know when SIT sets up an Otara branch I guess.

But what about all that gnashing of teeth and wailing about low quality courses? They've simply gone from one rhetorical theme to another and hoped no...

I wouldn't be surprised — ditto for the Maori Party with the wananga.

Just as I wouldn't be surprised if the PPTA, NZEI and AUS 'collude' with Labour on a regular basis — though I think education sector unions would strongly object to the choice of words, and note they...

My psychic abilities are rather crap, but I think John Key's answer would be 'no'. But if the policy is so badly designed that there would be no proper auditing or oversight, then we do have a problem.

That's the inherent risk with vouchers, they tend to be gobbled up...

My psychic abilities are rather crap, but I think John Key's answer would be 'no'. But if the policy is so badly designed that there would be no proper auditing or oversight, then we do have a problem.

Which I suspect is what it will come down to. The 2002...

Which I suspect is what it will come down to. The 2002 Labour strategy covered in the story I linked to earlier looked great on paper, but it's been really hard to make work, in part because the people in the relevant agencies are already running at capacity.

That's generous!...

Anyway, Graheme...

But if the policy is so badly designed that there would be no proper auditing or oversight, then we do have a problem

No we have a bigger problem. Educational auditing is poor at the 'mo the strengthening of TEC has yet to precipitate much of positive benefit in the...

I must say, I'm greatly enjoying reading the usual suspects at Kiwiblog hailing an expensive social policy they'd have been screaming blue murder about if it came from the Evil Liabour Dykeocracy.

There's more dignified ways to indulge your masochistic urges – like asking Fiona to strap on a pair...

No it's a poverty issue, one which National is set to deepen. It will then punish the victims of its policies with boot camp, and have a chuckle about it over a pinot gris...

With the Army already short on numbers to run a programme like this (market forces at work).

Do we want the worst of our community to be fitter & stronger when they're...

Do we want the worst of our community to be fitter & stronger when they're turned out onto the streets?

Oy... Do you want me to give you an answer that assumes you're being half-way serious, or the Social Darwinian/Eugenic snark that the best thing to do with the scum of...

Pay young folk full benefits if they're out of work and out of school, and minimum wage if they're in work. 14+ will do just fine, it's a huge waste of everyone's time and effort to keep kids in school that aren't interested in the learning,...

kinda old-news but possibly relevant in the current conversation: I...

When Mr. Slack is finished building his Quackspeak Detector-cum-Rhetorical-Inflation Engine, we could collaborate on a domestic political/blog version of Bullshit Bingo. Endure election season and win fabulous prizes!

As a matter of fact I was working on the very thing at the moment you wrote that. Here, have some raw...

hillary
hoodwink

Well, that's on the shortlist for my new drag name. I've come to the sad conclusion that one is far too nelly to pull off Mrs. T. :)

And according to NatRadio, Clark's big new idea is... raising the school leaving age. But the details are, according to...

A 50-year-old man charged with the murder of a teenage tagger in Manukau should be allowed to "get away with it", Christchurch City councillor Barry Corbett says.

Lovely.

That wasn't the State of the Nation speech, it was the State of Manurewa speech. He should have been standing for Sir Barry Curtis's old job, not Helen Clark's.

Perhaps that's what is meant by a "small target" approach?

Against this background, Key spends all his time talking about ..... taggers?!

No he didn't, and with all due respect unless Key has been doing some serious moonlighting in Washington I rather doubt his fix for the U.S. economy is of much utility. Somehow, I suspect we're going to be...

where is the work on the additional funding, resources and staff that will be required? And how is this going to lead to more students leaving school with meaningful qualifications, as opposed to just 'warehousing' folks to keep the welfare and unemployment rolls artificially depressed?"

Craig, the answer is clearly...

The death penalty for tagging? Fucking disgraceful comment.

Absolutely. From a Mayor nonetheless. I realise Christchurch has it's crime problems but it's got a bit rough when the Mayor suggests letting murderers off.

I'd also like to offer a little advice I got in high school English — engage with the text on the page, not what you think the author should have written.

OK, fair cop. However it doesn't undermine the key point (pun intended) that his speech didn't exactly deal with...

I didn't notice any drive-by shootings in my neighbourhood this morning, but I did pay attention to the petrol price at the gas station.

While serious crimes are gratefully still rather rare, they do happen.

And if one of them did take place in your neighborhood, I bet you'd be...

Lovely.

Yeah, and here's the bit that really turns my stomach.

After the meeting, he said he did not know the full facts of the case, but he stood by his remarks.

"Everyone is feeling sorry for the kid and his family, but if the kid was not tagging, he...

While serious crimes are gratefully still rather rare, they do happen. And if one of them did take place in your neighborhood, I bet you'd be taking a lot more attention to it than petrol prices.

Well, I'm prepared to feel the fear and drive to the gas station anyway...

I think Key's falls into this category not least of all because the training is not likely to lead anywhere i.e. a qualification.

Lets not overlook the horrific numbers of people who leave compulsory education every year with no qualifications.

Given the base they are starting from, most second chance...

Craig, the answer is clearly to cut taxes.

Apologies to Kiwiblogblog/The Standard etc

They should be apologising to you, but that's a whole other argument. There's a reason why I spend a lot more time around here than the Kiwiblog-Kiwiblogblog/The Standard Axis of Crazy.

Things can get a bit intense...

From my own perspective, I would be hard pressed to think of a situation where I have ever found any practical use for anything I learned at university

I can think of hundreds, personally. But then I did a practical course at University, along with the not-immediately-practical. And curiously one...

I've got a solution – bit radical, although quite obvious considering how all the experts concur that a person's future behaviour and psyche is predicated and shaped by the time they are seven. How about compulsory early childhood education?

Yes the tag-em and bag-em Councillor may have been a more...

Why students think HE classes should be like school. Why students reject challenging teaching in favour of shortest possible route to an answer.

My suspicions rest with:

Large class sizes and results driven assessments that do not reward excellence sufficiently.

Repeat after me smaller class sizes please

ALso, how about...

The govt is about to give your local council the ability to levy another 10c on petrol for local vanity projects... sorry that should read transport and infrastructure and other projects.

That will go on top...

I think we can assume that since both the main party leaders devoted their opening speeches to issues around The Youth Of Today that their polling is picking this up as an issue.

Good point. Interestingly, nothing much about mortgage-belt poverty (ie: dangerously over-committed homeowners, resentful as hell), which I've...

The key point is, however, that the retention alone isn't the goal, the goal is achievement. In which case, I'd still argue for an education, not school, leaving age.

Yes, I'd be fully behind anything which made advancements on actual achievements. I'd just be worried that in 10 years we're...

Good point. Interestingly, nothing much about mortgage-belt poverty (ie: dangerously over-committed homeowners, resentful as hell), which I've been hearing is coming through in polling.

Well, can you imagine a reality-based double act from Clark and Key (or English and Cullen) directed at the 'mortgage-belt' that wouldn't result in a political...

Smaller class sizes would be great. But so too would a greater proportion of teachers who inspire their students to want to learn.

Which is in a roundabout way the point I was trying to make. You can't blame HE for uninspired students it's not fair. Primary/secondary has contact with...

No speculation on how to fix the social development the 50 year old murderer and the people who think a clean fence is worth more than a life?

Ali: If you can legislate against, or find a genetic marker for, callous stupidity I'll be very, very impressed. :)

Don't mean to be rude Paul but I really would like you to be more specific about which bit of this report constitutes bugger all evidence.

Not at all, I kinda expected the question. My recollection of the study is a little hazy and I wasn't directly involved, although some...

Ali: If you can legislate against, or find a genetic marker for, callous stupidity I'll be very, very impressed. :)

heh

for sure Craig. you are quite right. By way of explanation my sarcastic little aside (about the lack of comment and condemnation about the 'respectable' murderer's actions) was mainly...

I am so stinking mad Im not expressing myself very well.

Hope this doesn't come across as a patronising pat on the head, but you're doing fine. A damn sight more measured than I've been on the subject — between seeing that turd Christchurch City councillor and Annette King & Len...

Good to hear your voice again.

Phil Redfern.

Tagger killer convicted of manslaughter

Tagger killing verdict: Judge calls for restraint