Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Moving right along?

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  • Craig Ranapia,

    And today in NZ Herald fails both maths and civics, Brown speaks to Bernard Orsman and idiocy ensues.

    The Herald-DigiPoll survey found 51% of Aucklanders think you should stay on as mayor, but still 39% think you should resign. Is that a sufficient mandate to stay on?

    I don’t think this is about mandates. We had a recent election and there was a reasonably high element that thought I did a good job in the last three years and wanted to carry on that good job. Aucklanders generally feel we are going in the right direction. That is the thing they are most interested in.

    Quite right, Mister Mayor. Again: Who elected The Herald to anything?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh, and I missed this Rudman gem from yesterday:

    Frankly, I've never liked the idea of a panel of unknown "experts", appointed by the unelected chief executive, sitting in judgment on the conduct of an elected official.

    What checks on the panel's ethics, or political views are undertaken before their appointment?

    This is a political stoush. We don't need a kangaroo court sitting in judgment on the mayor's morals. We need a council getting down to business on the issues we elected them on.

    Does Rudman file his copy from an alternate universe where irony and hypocrisy don't exist?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Also, 51% is a little higher than Brown's share of the actual mayoral vote.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Be that as it may, I still think the results of a free, fair and credible election trump the work product of The Herald’s pet pollsters. Every damn time. Sorry if Mr Orsman et. al. don't much like democracy, but that's their problem not mine.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,

    the Slater/Palomino camp

    well there's something prancing around in the woodpile...

    I know, I know ya meant the
    clueless isopod louse and the
    mantraless golden horse,
    but such a picture it paints....

    ;- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Lilith __,

    berk's peerage?

    Pored... Pet peeve

    Pawed, then, especially
    given the context...

    surely?
    ;- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • David Hood,

    As a Herald columnist, I for one feel it is clear Martha Corey should be hanged for witchcraft. I mean, sure their are allegations that this charge is caused by Thomas Putman reaching out for land, but what kind of a country are we coming to if we are not prepared to act without thinking on the accusations of a small band of fevered hysterics.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to David Hood,

    Being HistErica...

    ...what kind of a country are we coming to if we are not prepared to act without thinking on the accusations of a small band of fevered hysterics.

    yay verily ...
    Bring on the ducking stool,
    stocks and bondage,
    give us enough rope
    and we'll sort 'em out...
    slaying the floaters,
    interring the sinkers!

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd, in reply to David Hood,

    t what kind of a country are we coming to if we are not prepared to act without thinking on the accusations of a small band of fevered hysterics.

    Well-played, sir.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Brodie Davis, in reply to David Hood,

    but what kind of a country are we coming to if we are not prepared to act without thinking on the accusations of a small band of fevered hysterics.

    So your saying Len Brown is lighter than wood? or is it a duck? I can never get that right.

    Since Aug 2008 • 54 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Russell Brown,

    She .. is known as an ace networker.

    Heh. That's one way of looking at what she and Len were up to.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Who elected The Herald to anything?

    But....but....Democracy! Under! Attack!

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Rich Lock,

    But….but….Democracy! Under! Attack!

    Oh, I'll happily defend Rudman's right to talk out of both sides of his two faces at the same time, but geez... is there a Zoolander-style Cognitive Dissonance walk-off going on we should be told about?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    It’s ok to snigger at a name privately-

    With all due respect, Martin, it isn’t.

    Laughing at names is not sophisticated, but squeegee is a funny sounding word and Luigi Wewege at least doubles that in the funny sounding stakes, so it's not much of a shock that it happens.

    While you might get close to a useful point when you note that all of our names probably sound funny to someone in the world, you're still not the world authority on 'what's allowed to be funny' (which is an office that, were it to exist, I expect would come with an excellent hat), and even if you were, that wouldn't bestow any real power on you aside from the power your bossy britches already grant.

    I've traveled to a lot of places and no one has ever sniggered in my face about my name. (Though I don't know if they sniggered later in private.) So what you're imagining, in my experience, is not a real thing. In fact the only place my name has been a source of mirth was primary school -- among people from my same culture -- which is where TracyMac quite rightly places this particular level of humour.

    But the most important thing to me is that having a funny sounding name is very, very far away from the reason people are ridiculing Wewege -- which is for his actions, not his name -- it's just that for some of us his name makes him even more fun to talk about, and probably helps wash away some of the sour taste left by the venality of this whole sordid affair.

    Aside: I quite like 'Ranapia', it's an excellent name when pronounced correctly.

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    [double post]

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Poor Palomino

    Pored… Pet peeve

    Pawed, then, especially
    given the context…

    surely?
    ;- )

    I pour oil on troubled horses. ;-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Young, in reply to SteveH,

    That, and a Massey communication law paper I did twenty years ago, which referred to the law of defamation...and I actually agree, sexual scandal is little ground for demanding evisceration, whatever moralistic poseurs like Bob McCoskrie (Family First) demand. Financial irregularities tend to be what usually caused political downfall in many recent New Zealand political scandals.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 573 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Young, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    No, don't. McCoskrie and other fundies get strangely overexcited about spanking enough already and I shudder to think what mentioning bondage, rope and restraints would have on them.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 573 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook, in reply to Craig Young,

    Speaking of which...have I missed it, or has McCoskrie stayed completely silent on this one? Or have the media finally stopped recycling his every press release as if it were important comment?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Hmmm, no 'update' from David Farrar today. Maybe the big bananas in the Nat HQ have given him the hard word.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    is there a Zoolander-style Cognitive Dissonance walk-off going on we should be told about?

    Now, I am stuck with a mental image of Len failing to remove his underpants without taking off his trousers. Thanks so much, Craig...

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Tom Semmens,

    Hmmm, no ‘update’ from David Farrar today. Maybe the big bananas in the Nat HQ have given him the hard word.

    Nats may be trying to close the #lengate, but the palamino has already bolted...

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming,

    Hamish Price on Morning Report

    "She's very open about the amount of pressure that was brought on her by various people within the Palino campaign, including John Palino, to take part in what was clearly an attempt to place so much pressure on Len Brown, embarrass him effectively into stepping down from the mayoralty."

    BTW there's a lot more in the audio than is in the text report.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    It’s ok to snigger at a name privately-

    With all due respect, Martin, it isn’t. I can understand my weird “foreign” surname doesn’t exactly trip off every tongue, but I do appreciate it when people at least make a good faith effort to pronounce it correctly and avoid turning my name into an occasion for a smutty little sneer.

    I'll have a buck each way on this. It is entirely human to the connection between someone's (foreign) name and something ridiculous in one's own language. That connection may be amusing. It is human and reasonable to laugh.

    It is quite another thing to take that connection and use it for ridicule. At that point you become a bully.

    As for pronouncing foreign names, look at least try. But it can be very hard and most folks accept that it's hard but if you try most folks will appreciate that. Almost nobody in NZ pronounces my surname correctly, I spent 18 months struggling to put the emphasis on the correct syllable of my bosses name and got it right maybe 5% of the time. Some folks can do it really well, some can't, but trying matters.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to nzlemming,

    Now, I am stuck with a mental image of Len failing to remove his underpants without taking off his trousers. Thanks so much, Craig…

    I was more picturing Rudman giving himself a rhetorical auto-wedgie, and managing to make Whale Oil look relatively reality adjacent. Yeah... that's really not convincing you to step away from the brain bleach, is it?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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