Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Jonesing

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  • Geoff Lealand,

    Oh no, what have I started....???

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to peterpeasant,

    All PR or “spin” doctors always aspired to be an Editor. They failed.

    Piffle: count two against in my house. I loved being a journalist, a daily working one. The clatter of thirty Imperial 66s reaching a deafening crescendo at 5.30pm was one of the best jobs of my life. Further up the chain is no fun at all.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    taiga, taiga...

    Oh no, what have I started….???

    Don't worry...
    every canopy o' worms
    has a sylvan lining...

    arbor traitors will make your
    'trees enable' behaviour right

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    If you’re not Labour, you’ll have different goals and aims for your politicians

    Keir, that's nailed my hitherto lack of understanding of Labour, which is steeped in tradition and customary practice I do not comprehend. (Not that I think it's wrong; it's that I cannot understand the thinking.) Maybe I'm not the only voter in New Zealand like that.

    Yes , I'm one of the commenting Greens, but then PAS isn't a Labour Party noticeboard. We're all allowed to talk. Doesn't mean Labour leadership voters have to take notice.

    PS: Thanks for the back-up on Erin Jackson and the Arts Centre survey!

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Don’t worry…
    every canopy o’ worms
    has a sylvan lining…

    arbor traitors will make your
    ‘trees enable’ behaviour right

    Oh bloody good Izzy Dazzle.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie, in reply to Hebe,

    I don't think there's anything wrong with the Greens being different! I think it's a good thing, that the Greens aren't just Labour in drag. And of course Greens are allowed opinions --- it's just they are the opinions of Greens, who have different goals and aims from Labour. (And that's true reciprocally, as well!)

    Hah! Well it came up as an ad on my Facebook feed (complete waste of money I might add, I'm not in the ward and in a demographic that's very very unlikely to vote) and I thought fuck it, if you want my opinion, here it is. Can't say I'm impressed with Jackson's soft-Tory politics either, to be totally honest.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Greens, who have different goals and aims from Labour

    being part of the next government?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie, in reply to Sacha,

    I don't understand why the response to a positive acknowledge of Green diversity and autonomy is a snide remark, but whatever.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Please explain again how other parties on the left have no interest in whether Labour gets its act together?

    There's 'diversity' and then there's not seeing the basics of MMP coalition governments.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie, in reply to Sacha,

    Clearly that’s not the thing I said, is it?

    [I'm really not saying that there's anything illegitimate about being a Green and having a view. I'm saying that clearly that view is coming from a different political space than a view from within the Labour Party --- because the Greens and Labour have political differences --- and that that difference is just as real (if not as large, or expressed in the same ways) as the difference between National and Labour.]

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Can’t say I’m impressed with Jackson’s soft-Tory politics either, to be totally honest.

    She is yet t convince me, as one of the core voting demographic round here. I can’t call this ward, and usually I can pick who will win the council seats.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie, in reply to Hebe,

    Are you in Spreydon Heathcote? Yeah, it will be interesting — what’s your feel?

    [ETA: agree lack of any actual politics, but, you know, she appears to be running with the tacit backing of the right, so yeah.]

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Are you in Spreydon Heathcote? Yeah, it will be interesting — what’s your feel?

    Snap.
    I reckon the council seats are wide-open in this ward. Four possibles, but the vote could be heinously split. As always getting people to vote will be difficult for anything other than the Mayor, where they have strong views.

    As to other wards, some have changed dramatically: Burwood/Pegasus and Hagley/Ferrymead. Others have lightning rod-candidates for discontent (Shirley --Button and Keown). I would be very worried were I Helen Broughton in Riccarton-Wigram -- Vicki Buck will romp in, leaving Broughton and Jimmy Chen to slug it out.

    Just found a fucking beauty of a piece about Noeline Allan on page 3 of the Bay Harbour News August 21 issue. Unbelievable.

    http://issuu.com/the.star/docs/113233bh?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fsoftlight%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=dddddd&showFlipBtn=true&proShowSidebar=false&logo=http://starnews.co.nz/images/MagicBox7.gif&logoOffsetX=0&logoOffsetY=0&CTI=37121

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    Getting back to the Labour leadership, I thought this Harvard Business Review piece on the gendered nature of leadership failure was interesting, especially in light of (1) the all-male nature of the choices available, (2) Shane Jones’s … interesting … approach to differentiating his brand, and (3) the history of the prime-ministership in NZ over the past five years. “Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?”

    … there is no denying that women’s path to leadership positions is paved with many barriers … But a much bigger problem is the lack of career obstacles for incompetent men, and the fact that we tend to equate leadership with the very psychological features that make the average man a more inept leader than the average woman. The result is a pathological system that rewards men for their incompetence while punishing women for their competence, to everybody’s detriment.

    [via Metafilter.]

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    Who do you rate as the four in Spreydon/Heathcote? Four of Allan, Clearwater, Jackson, Scandrett, Potter?

    Obviously I’d advise you to vote Clearwater/Potter, as two fine candidates who’ll be fine Councillors…

    My read in Riccarton/Wigram is that Buck will take votes off Broughton mostly, and Chen has a very strong chance of getting in. Have actually been favourably impressed with Broughton over the past short while, for all she's a Tory.

    The weird shenanigans on the right in Chch local body continue to baffle me. City First, iCitz, the unmarked but clearly Tory Lonsdale, and then Manji and Jackson? All very weird, and (hopefully) vote-splitting!

    That story's hilarious!

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    take me to your leader?
    …a telling moment captured here at The Standard

    Thanks for that Ian. Trust Shane to lively things up.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Scathing column on the show from Fran O'Sullivan today. Burn.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Is it safe to start calling him Sideshow Jones?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Henry Barnard, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Fran O'Sullivan:

    Fran O'Sullivan: "After all the chances are he will end up with a top slot on Labour's front bench and a prime shadow portfolio as a kiss-off if he doesn't win the leadership race against David Cunliffe and Grant Robertson."

    I hope the new leader, whether Cunliffe or Robertson, shows some true courage and does not do this and it would be good to see the Labour Party rank Jones really low in the party list, if selected at all. In my view , he is truly dreadful. All this rubbish about how he speaks for a certain kind of working class: that is truly insulting to large numbers of people.

    Palmerston North • Since Aug 2013 • 65 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Henry Barnard,

    Dunno about that. If he represents a certain kind, then he represents them. I wouldn't want him having the very top job, but if he plays well with some support then that's not something Labour should be kissing away or demoting. At the end of the day his misdemeanors are really quite minor, they don't even approach being criminal or nasty. Just silly.

    Also, I can't help echoing a cry made by others, that the fact no women even put their hands up at all is not something to be blaming the party at large for, or taking steps to correct via quotas, or punishing the sexist twit - it's really an indictment on the courage of the women concerned. It's quite a scary thing to feel that women in the National Party tend to have more actual grit.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    And again you're choosing to focus on different rather than similar interests. I for one am not coming from inside any political party. I just want to see a functioning left coalition ready to present a credible choice for voters.

    You'd think that would be a relevant consideration for all parties on the left - unless they really are not concerned with winning the next election, hence my first comment about indulgent tendencies in Labour's current caucus and those who enable them. Entitled seat-warmers should have been dealt with a long-time ago. For all of our sakes.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    because the Greens and Labour have political differences — and that that difference is just as real (if not as large, or expressed in the same ways) as the difference between National and Labour.]

    If you are talking about the central point of each group, perhaps so. But individuals are not all located in the center, and some of them may well be closer to National’s center than they are to the Greens’, within Labour. But the reality is that it is the Greens that offer a coalition, not National.

    ETA: Well, OK, a Labour National coalition is not in any way banned. If that's what Labour wants, then, well, goodbye to the Left altogether.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    it’s really an indictment on the courage of the women concerned

    Because everyone banging on about how terrible "identity politics" are for Labour's chances - that has absolutely no effect on how women in the party might feel about taking on leadership roles?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danielle,

    Because everyone banging on about how terrible “identity politics” are for Labour’s chances – that has absolutely no effect on how women in the party might feel about taking on leadership roles?

    I don’t even think it’s that. There’s an obvious leadership candidate in Jacinda Ardern, but she’s only 33 and hasn’t been a minister or won an electorate. Her deciding it’s not her time yet certainly isn’t a matter of lacking courage.

    Annette King has recently been deputy leader, but she knows she's not the new face the party needs to present. Again, nothing at all to do with courage or the lack of it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie, in reply to Sacha,

    Sacha, I’m not sure why you’re insisting on difference being a negative. I think that the diversity of the modern “left” is one of the best things about MMP, and trying to erase that difference into a “left-wing” coalition is quite disrespectful to the Green Party as a separate political organisation. (Apart from anything else, many Greens may not even see themselves as primarily left-wing.)

    [I think it's pretty dubious to blame paucity of female candidates on the women of the Labour Party. The patriarchy is a thing, after all.]

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

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