Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Graceless Islanders

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  • Terence Wood,

    For what it's worth, Pamela Stirling writes well enough and I wouldn't pick her as right wing (as alleged up thread). Her political analysis isn't always great but hey. Joanne Black, on the other hand, is right of centre, but that's not the worst of it; what really rankles is the fact that she so rarely actually knows what she's talking about.

    Overall the Listener ain't what it used to be but some of the articles and columns are still worth a read, I think.

    As for Subway, I just wish that I used to eat there so I could stop now.

    Graeme E,

    The police always prosecute 'shop lifting' (which is what is alleged), there are plenty of other areas - the speed limit springs to mind - where they don't. So your analogy with S59 is misplaced.

    I'm happy to join you in a boycott they continue to press charges though. How do you suggest we go about it - perhaps you could get arrested, and then I'll refuse to recognise the fact that you have been?

    Since Nov 2006 • 148 posts Report

  • JP Hansen,

    <quote>Souvlaki anyone?<.quote>

    Sure, if I could find a bloody place that made them in Auckland.

    I got a taste for them while studying post-grad at Lincoln. There's a place off Cathedral Square near the tram terminal called The Greek Recipe, and I shudder to think how much of my student loan went into that place for their Double Chicken Souvlakis. And the rest of my loan went on Hilliers Pies.

    Anyway, while Christchurch was riddled with Souvlaki bars, I cannot find a single one in Auckland. All we have are Turkish Kebabs. Mostly bland franchise ones at that. There was a place called Yeeros up on Victoria Street (or Maybe Wellesley) that sold greek style wraps back when I was an undergrad, but I think it's long gone.

    So, anyone know of a souvlaki palce in Auckland? Preferably centre-west?

    Waitakere • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Update: This from a member of the AWU, the union representing the sacked employee:

    We have never asked anyone to boycott subway. We have members in other subways, and they deserve to keep their jobs.

    We have asked people to boycott George St. subway, until the dispute is resolved.

    The dispute is with the manager, who is new, at that store.

    Hmmmm. I think the realistic intent of the protest is to embarrass the company into acting, rather than shut down Subway nationwide - but up to y'all ...

    I have a plane to Wellington to catch.

    I'm in yr Beehive, tellin yr MPs about teh internets ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I'm in yr Beehive, tellin yr MPs about teh internets ...

    sigh... there goes the neighbourhood.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I guess it depends whether you consider deciding between plastic chicken, plastic turkey, and plastic cheese is "choice". It's certainly "choice", in an sarcastic 80s meaning of "choice" way.

    If you want unlimited choice of what you can put on your sandwich, go to a supermarket.

    If you're out and about and looking for something to eat that isn't deepfried and/or slathered in fatty sauces, then Subway can provide.

    In fact, I'd rather get a Subway roll than one of those dodgy slimy filled rolled from the bakery nearby.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    Lyndon, nice post.
    it's good to see other groups getting in behind the young labour action.

    We have never asked anyone to boycott subway. We have members in other subways, and they deserve to keep their jobs

    i think national action is the best way to get restitution and ensure other subway workers do indeed get to keep their jobs.

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • Chaos Buddha,

    Sure, if I could find a bloody place that made them in Auckland.

    . . . amen, brother.

    After competing in a bodybuilding show circa 1993, the first thing I did after jumping off stage was head straight for a double chicken souvlaki. Not beer, now hamburgers; a souvlaki. *And* the guy that ran in then sounded just like Con the Fruiterer from The Comedy Company . . .

    My own tour of Lincoln was, if nothing else, worth it solely for Hillier's pies. You know it's a steak n' mushroom pie when you peek under that oh-so-yummy pastry lid to see a huge, whole field mushroom nearly the size of the pie, interfilled with luscious, moist meat from the actual cow, and not it's hooves. And if the so-many-awards-on-the-wall-you-can't-see-the-wallpaper don't do it for you, then maybe the large line wending out the door and down the road -- even given the size of Lincoln township -- will.

    Bottom line: in Lincoln? Hie thee unto Hillier's . . .

    Nirvana • Since May 2007 • 27 posts Report

  • Mr Black,

    I too have been hunting high and low for a true Souvlaki vendor in AK...no dice. Every time I visit chch now, I brave the skinhead/bogan mobs to hit the Greek Recipe for a double chicken. They are truly one of lifes great treats and a good hangover cure too (if plastered liberally with chilli sauce).

    If you ask nicely, there is a tub of rather nasty looking, almost black, chilli paste under the counter that has brought me to my knees in the past.

    Also, the $4 post mix diet coke at Subway would have cost them around 50 cents.
    ridiculous.

    Since Nov 2006 • 11 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    mr black, me thinks it might be costing them a bit more than that now.

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • James Green,

    There's another great souvlaki joint on Riccarton Road: Nomads.
    School (and other) trips often ended with a stop at Micky Dees in Riccarton before the long trip home. Eventually, we managed to tame various trip leaders into letting us run the few blocks down to Nomads, and the bus would stop to pick us up on the way out of town. The vast majority were puzzled at why anyone didn't want to get a Big Mac.
    Nomads is still there; I managed to refresh my acquaintance recently :)

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • James Green,

    Incidentally, the ODdiTy reported her age this morning as 36

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell,

    Oh dear, we've got it wrong- we've been going to "Costas". Still delicious. Still slide down yr arm, slop on yr shirt, smear round the lips. MMmmm

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • Mr Black,

    well, maybe more than 50 cents now, but still, not a lot. And defenitely not enough to even warrant a raised eyebrow from a manager I would have thought.

    Since Nov 2006 • 11 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    And defenitely not enough to even warrant a raised eyebrow

    the story I heard was that she is entitled to free soda etc, but that the act of sharing her free soda with a non employee constitutes theft.

    Of course, more, or different information may have come to light since I read that.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Also, the $4 post mix diet coke at Subway would have cost them around 50 cents.

    The story made Fark Fark yesterday. Thread contains much about cost of soda and things people got up to when they worked for Subway.

    While the act of sharing may be considered by some wanker to have turn the drink into one she should have had to one she shouldn't, the idea it might have actually cost them anything more than change - if it cost them a sale at all - is kind of utterly risible.

    One assumes manager was looking for an excuse.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • Mr Black,

    Nothing wrong with Costas or Dimitris,
    but Greek Recipe FTW.

    Since Nov 2006 • 11 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    One assumes manager was looking for an excuse.

    I assumed it was a kneejerk reaction to the personal grievance she brought.

    Has the guy been on TV yet? Does he look anything like Ricky Gervais?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I assumed it was a kneejerk reaction

    oops, I'm talking about the laying of charges. Lyndon, you're talking about the sacking...

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Richard Llewellyn,

    FWIW, at lunchtime today I saw a copy of Holcrofts "Reluctant Editor' at Jason Books in Lorne St Auckland.

    It precedes Graceless Islander, and is his account of the NZ media scene of the time, and how he came to be editor of Listener.

    Its still there - around $17.50 from memory.

    Mt Albert • Since Nov 2006 • 399 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    not enough to even warrant a raised eyebrow

    i reckon if his eyebrows aren't somewhere around the back of his head by now, it would be indicative of why his management 'style' got the business into this mess in the first place.

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • JLM,

    I agree with Terence, Pamela Stirling is a good writer, and she did some wonderful stuff about violence against women and children back in the nineties, when some of the men on the staff were pretty skeptical.

    She has a bit of a bee in her bonnet about the NCEA, but that's the most consistent thing I've noticed about her opinions. But under her editorship Gordon Campbell went and Joanne Black arrived, so that says something, I suppose.

    Jane Clifton makes me laugh out loud, and she's usually even-handed enough for me to have been very surprised to find out that M McCulley was her partner. But when I heard that Joanne Black's partner worked for John Key, I was not (surprised that is). I now read her page with more interest than I did, in case she's a secret np dogwhistler and spinner. So this week her verdict on the Section 59 Bill was interesting - Labour and the Greens swallowed a dead rat. Not how I saw it.

    Judy Martin's southern sl… • Since Apr 2007 • 241 posts Report

  • James,

    We are, I think, the youngest society in the world

    Um, no. We might be a little bit younger than most of Western Europe, but about the same as the USA, and much lower than places like Iran or the rest of the Western Pacific...

    (apologies if that Trendalyzer link doesn't work well.)

    New Zealand • Since Feb 2007 • 34 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    Brighton Rock, by Grahame Greene. The only one of his books worth re-reading, especially when worrying about the descent of today's youff into the abyss.

    Russell's right, maybe today's opinion writers should delve back occasionally.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • merc,

    Richard I'm getting 2nd hand bookstore envy and it's not pretty...

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Jane Clifton makes me laugh out loud, and she's usually even-handed enough for me to have been very surprised to find out that M McCulley was her partner

    Indeed. Although she mentioned McCully in her column recently, for possibly the very first time... now I'm not one to trade in salubrious gossip... (voices in head demand "Since when!!??")... but that made me wonder if they were still an item.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

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