Posts by Dave Patrick
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It'd cause much the same reaction from me as this week's Listener cover did
That was the "Why are Christchurch women dying" cover? Haven't read the article yet, but I presume it shows no proof in terms of statistical evidence that Christchurch women are more at risk of murder than any other women in New Zealand, but merely conflates a series of recent events into a sensationalist story?
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just to say that I am totally in awe of the Π jokes on this thread. Makes me so pleased that I chose Π rather than e.
pie = 8.53973422 (approximately) - so 2 x pie, while not only being a balanced lunch menu, wold also make a pretty snazzy GST level too
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It all seems to be policy in search of a point.
It's not even policy in search of a point, it's an election slogan in search of a policy to hang itself on.
I have a bias in this, in that I'm chair of the local school BOT, and am going to have to, along with the principal, find a way of implementing this election promise without alienating staff, parents or pupils. This promises to be a fun year.....
I also wish the School Trustees Association would just shut up, stop acting as if their pronouncements come with automatic support from all boards, stop acting so much like a mini-Business Roundtable, and actually contribute something more than a "ra-ra Tolley" from the sidelines......
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I have some questions I really would like someone to answer on this.
Why, if we are to have National Standards, can't we use the existing "national" standards of PAT tests, running records, 6-year-net, that all schools are already required to perform on all children?
Why are the rankings Above, At, Below and Well Below? Why isn't there a Well Above, when there's also a current requirement for schools to identify their gifted and talented children and put in place plans to cater for their needs in the same way as they would cater for someone's needs who was Well Below?
Why do we need National Standards when apparently Ms Tolley already knows exactly how many children are being failed by the education system?
And, as Russell already alluded to, when we have identified all these children who are Below or Well Below, what happens then? All teh talk so far has been about identification, there has been no mention of assistance to schools to raise their scores, no mention of increased funding to bring all children up to the required level, no mention of any extra money in the education system at all apart from the funding already announced to "support and publicise".
And can someone please PLEASE tell everyone involved to stop talking about "kids"? They're children for goodness' sake..... (sorry, pet peeve, ranking alongside all references to New Zealanders as Kiwis, I'll shut up now....)
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I saw that Herald headline about the preschool, and when you read it, Key's name is mentioned exactly once, as "giving approval". Doesn't sound too invested in the whole process, does he? And where was he when Aorangi School was closed?
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Gutted that a triple booking meant I missed it - so I'll just echo the statement made further up thread that David and Emma write LOTS more books so another book launch is required
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The Downstage item led EVERY bulletin on Morning Report from 6:00 onwards - more of a beat-up over nothing I haven't seen in a long time. One F-word, one "bullshit", one "slapstick-style simulated orgasm" (whatever the hell THAT is) in an hour-long performance.
They interviewed the Director of CYS who'd taken hios own kids to see it, and he was trying to concentrate on teh pleasure the kids got from just being somewhere they may never have been before and seeing something they may never have seen before, but kept having to answer inane questions about "appropriateness". not Morning Report's finest hour by a long shot.
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I could swear they were always red when we went to the pictures there - one of the highlights of yearly trips to Auckland from Kaitaia to visit the grandparents when I was a wee lad. Closely followed by afternoon tea on the top floor of the old Farmers building
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wasn't that the Femmes gig at His Majesty's?
I was at that one too, that's the gig that decided me against ever sitting down at a concert again - the Town Hall one was definitely when the stage physically MOVED backwards about a foot.
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Loudest ever - Motorhead at Mianstreet. Lemmy's bass notes felt like they were interfering with my heart beat.
Most ear-damaging would be a tie between the Hoodoo Gurus at teh Gluepot and the Gun Club at some dive in London - both treble-heavy guitar bands, and the Gurus concert left me with ringing ears, and secondary buzzing whenever someone spoke to me, or a car drove past.
They Might Be Giants at the Powerstation wins for "dopey audience of the year" interaction - they came on stage with teh usual "Hello Auckland" bit, then "Are you ambivalent about being here tonight?" to which the audience responded with a "YEEESSSSSSSS" (programmed concert responses ftw). They Might Be Giants look a little non-plussed, and repeat the question, to which the audience again responds "YEESSSSS", except for me who says "NO" and gets frowned at by everyone around....
Violent Femmes at the Auckland Town Hall in 88, when they had to leave the stage for 10 minutes after the entire stage moved when people surged against it....