Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Things we needed to hear

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  • BenWilson,

    Donna, I tend to agree. I thought it was just me, but Kiwiblog seems to have gone downhill. I don't think there are more idiots posting there than before, just less non-idiots.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Some of us try very hard to post idiotic things there Ben.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    To be fair to DPF, I get the impression that he's had little-to-no time for comment moderation. It doesn't take long for the bad to drive out the good. When you factor in that he has explicit party affiliations and a high profile, that makes his blog a troll magnet. He's also been using a system that's very vulnerable to comment spam.If you spend ages cleaning up drive-by spamming I don't suppose you have much energy to improve the tone.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    To be fair to DPF, I get the impression that he's had little-to-no time for comment moderation.

    A busy boy with more pressing matters:
    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/04/twins_1.html
    Seems to be no risk of being kicked out of bed for farting at Kiwiblog.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    yeah... but kiwiblog is the basis of his public persona. you'd think he'd hire at least one money to ensure it keeps a decent standard of comments.

    and to be honest, he frequently throws meat to the pack.

    some of his islamic/maori dogwhistles have been, quite frankly, disgusting.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Fart-in-bed-dude's stats have been way fisked as well, often and clearly. And I'm too lazy to look them up, my bad.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BTW - I only saw a minute or two on the news, but I thought John Key's criticism of Howard Broad, as if he'd been personally responsible for lack of change to the culture in the last 30 years pretty ripe.

    Andrew, to be fair, I'll make two observations:

    1) Howard Broad is New Zealand's top cop (and it's most highly paid civil servant) - it may well be heavy duty suckage that the Bazley Report landed on his desk but I wasn't overly impressed with his response either.

    2) I think there's been a pretty non-partisan (and quite correct) hope that this report isn't going to end up gathering dust in the stacks of the Parliamentary along with so many others. Broad can either lead meaningful culture change, or he can clean out his desk and make room for someone who will. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think this is a little too important to go through the same old spin cycle; I certainly think the overwhelming majority of police officers who do their jobs with courage and integrity deserve real leadership.

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

  • Malcolm,

    The interesting thing is that this stuff is all from the era of a famous Auckland detective, now deceased. This was a guy who had a reputation of beating confessions out of people. The brass turned a blind eye. Mr Asia was on the front page of the Herald with a bloodied face, alleging police brutality. Nothing happened. Later somebody was convicted of murder, partly on the basis of having one of the victims posessions. Later, the victim's body was found, with the possession in question still on it.

    This is why we need civil liberties for criminals. If we let cops do what they want with crims, pretty soon some of them will do what they want with the rest of us. Or at least those of us who are too vulnerable to sustain a complaint.

    Since Apr 2007 • 69 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    A busy boy with more pressing matters:
    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/04/twins_1.html
    Seems to be no risk of being kicked out of bed for farting at Kiwiblog.

    Wow. That is banal. And quite the crowd in there too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I've gotta stand up for DPF here - he does exercise some control over the contents of his threads - for example he banned me from his site when I suggested it was, uh, sexist.

    So there is some comments moderation after all ;-)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Daryl:

    Um, I think you went a lot further than that - and, anyway, I think there's a certain amount of preciousness going on. I'm planning to reactivate my long dormant blog, and if you don't like my comments policy and how I apply it please feel free to go elsewhere.

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

  • Kumara Republic,

    <quote?If we let cops do what they want with crims, pretty soon some of them will do what they want with the rest of us. Or at least those of us who are too vulnerable to sustain a complaint.</quote>
    Was anyone here ever at the receiving end of the Red Squad in '81? There'll always be a select few who dearly wish that Ross Meurant is in Howard Broad's seat.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    *Edit | Undo *

    If we let cops do what they want with crims, pretty soon some of them will do what they want with the rest of us. Or at least those of us who are too vulnerable to sustain a complaint.

    Was anyone here ever at the receiving end of the Red Squad in '81? There'll always be a select few who dearly wish that Ross Meurant is in Howard Broad's seat.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Nobody Important,

    Oh the power of Google!!

    As a result of the above posts my interest was piqued so I clicked onto Kiwiblog which led me to another of his items ... about SpareRoom and their cryptic story about a former TVNZ worker that DPS wouldn't comment on ....which led me to SpareRoom and a rather long item about another site that have named a person formerly at TVNZ who was "seeing a 16 year-old" ... but SpareRoom were indignant about this other site, and wouldn't name the site or the ex-TVNZ staffer or link to their story ...

    [**Moderator's note:** Congratulations on your enterprising googling, but that was a little too much info for me to be publishing there, so I've edited that part of your post. - RB]

    My point? I'm just fascinated (hey, it's late) by how I can move from this august site (PA) to the online equivalent of an Enquirer story within four mouse clicks. Did I mention it's late? How else do I explain/excuse that I was actually interested to learn these sordid details? (Who knows if it's true, but the site claims a good source)

    Would it be too prurient to run a pool to see when the MSM print this story? Most likely in the vein of "[Celebrity] Denies Outrageous Internet Rumours!" ...

    expat • Since Mar 2007 • 319 posts Report Reply

  • Nobody Important,

    Was anyone here ever at the receiving end of the Red Squad in '81?

    Yup! I was marching with (I think) the Biko Group, a few rows back. Suddenly wooden shields were being passed along my row; and then everyone in front turned left to confront one Police line while we continued onwards to the next Police line. I guess everyone else in my row knew what was planned but I had no blardy idea!

    As everyone leapt forward into the fray I quietly shuffled back two steps - it was very Pythonesque.

    As someone else said earlier: the 81 Springbok Tour was when the middle class learnt the cops were actually bastards ...

    expat • Since Mar 2007 • 319 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I think there's a certain amount of preciousness going on. I'm planning to reactivate my long dormant blog, and if you don't like my comments policy and how I apply it please feel free to go elsewhere.

    Thanks Craig, but I think I'll just pick the 'go elsewhere' option upfront. Although if your blog is as drenched in irony as the above sentence I'm sure I'll be missing out. Good luck.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • rodgerd,

    This is why we need civil liberties for criminals. If we let cops do what they want with crims, pretty soon some of them will do what they want with the rest of us. Or at least those of us who are too vulnerable to sustain a complaint.

    Malcolm, you've touched on something that has made me more annoyed the more I think about it. The focus on the sexual misconduct; the report itself spends quite a lot of time talking on cronyism and other poor or corrupt practise, but there's no coverage of that.

    Ask yourself, what happened to the cops who planted the shells in the Arthur Allen Thomas case? Promoted to senior ranks.

    What about the guy who ran the Christchurch Creche case? Anyone remember him going on Holmes to give an interview about how the whole bizzo was part of his personal mission to clean up the country as it fell away from the good Christian standards espoused by Graham Capill, all the while shagging the creche mothers?

    Was anyone ever held accountable for the David Dougherty fuck-up?

    Now, I'm fortunate in that my encounters with the police personally have all been positive, bar one ex-Red Squad member I did a bit of work for once. But serving officers, fine. But there's long being something rotten in the police in New Zealand. It's sad that it takes rapes and group sex to get peoples' attention.

    As an aside: does this make anyone feel more or less comfortable at plans to beef up the powers of the even-less-accountable SIS, and to make it easier the police to sieze private property as proceeds of crime?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming,

    By the bye, I note the Herald has a few stories on the report but their headlines (until about 2 minutes ago) referred to the "Balzey Report" .

    Typo or Fruedian slip?

    ;-)

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Daryl:

    If we want to talk about irony marinade, I'd be quite happy to enter into a dialogue about folks who crank up the faux outrage when they go out to provoke a brawl and get exactly what they're looking for. You're far from the worse offender over at Kiwibog, but don't pretend you don't play exactly the same game as the self-appointed Torquemadas of the right. It's too cute for words, and I don't apologise for saying I'm not really interested in giving such people a platform. If David Farrar does, then that's his concern as long as he's willing to accept the consequences.

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

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Wow. That is banal. And quite the crowd in there too.

    <cough> a lot less cramped for space at the subsequent Mr World thread.</cough>

    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/04/equal_opportunity_blogging.html

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BTW, I've said both publicly and privately to David that he puts up with a lot more faecal matter in the comments box than I would and (IMO) it doesn't really add much value to the Kiwiblog experience. (I've lost count of the number of potentially interesting discussions jacked by a small number of faintly unhinged commentators from both the loony left and the rabid right who need to get a fully-equipped dungeon and a pay-per-view webcam. Now.) But in the end, both Russell and David have ultimate editorial responsibility for what they publish. You can bitch and whine about their judgement - or lack of it - until the sun goes cold, but I don't see the point.

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

  • Neil Morrison,

    As someone else said earlier: the 81 Springbok Tour was when the middle class learnt the cops were actually bastards ...

    That was the intention of many of the protest organisers which didn't really have much to do with fighting apartheid I suppose. The thinking was - provoke a fight with the police and then ordinary NZers will rise up and overthrow the oppressors. Why do you think that you weren't informed that the protest you were in was going to deliberately set out to confront the police? Possibly because ordinary NZers might have objected to being used so cynically as cannon fodder.

    Some of the police have a lot to answer for over the tour but the protest movement was wrong to move from civil disobedience to taking on the police.

    I've noticed with David Farrar that whenever he has a disagreement with another blogger he most often sticks to the issues rather then going in for gerneralised bitching. The comment threads go crazy at times.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    I wonder who NX really is?

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    I wonder if we could have a gentle persons' agreement to quit linking to the comments thread at kiwiblog. It is just too distracting. Bit of a bugger that because it is good to get David Farrar's views on things which are never boring and sometimes surprising.

    A propos Danyl and Craig's little stoush above I did notice this gem from the "ban Danyl" thread:

    Craig

    "I carelessly left ONE LETTER out of Darryl's Christian name"

    Heh, that was funny and I presume deliberately so.

    And he still leaves ONE LETTER out of Danyl's Christian name :-)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I think it's Craig's idea of a joke (ho ho). I couldn't help but notice that he can spell Torquemada's name correctly but not mine - that says something but I'm not quite sure what.

    Wandering back to the original topic, the Herald have an interesting article on the extremely litigious and confrontational attitude the police had towards the Bazley report, suggesting their current public mea culpas might not be terribly authentic.

    Labour seem to see this whole sordid mess and subsequent inquiry as a chance to reform the police to their hearts content, with the Police and opposition effectively powerless to object. Good on them. If they only achieve one thing this Parliament - and that's kinda how it's looking given their current legislative agenda - then police reform and a truly independent complaints authority will have been an admirable feat.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

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