Posts by Russell Brown
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
It's out. From Stuff
A conflict of interest inquiry into Hawke's Bay District Health Board has slammed it for failing "the most simple test of good governance", but also criticised Government appointee Peter Hausmann for not making full diclosures about work sought by his company.
Director-General of Health Stephen McKernan has just released a long-awaited inquiry into conflicts of interest at the troubled board - sacked by Health Minister David Cunliffe last month - which exposes systemic failures to follow good practice.
And:
"The review panel found a culture of mistrust and dysfunction between the board and senior management and that is a significant roadblock to good performance."
Dysfunction, along with a burgeoning budget blowout, was a major factor cited by Mr Cunliffe when he sacked the board and appointed Sir John Anderson as commissioner last month.
Though the review did not examine the boards sacking, the review panel said the problems it uncovered would have led it to recommend a monitor for the troubled DHB.
It looks like no one comes out completely clean, except perhaps for Cunliffe. I look forward to Ralston's next column.
-
In the context of a drug trial, I think any academic journal would not publish on the basis of a peer review commissioned either by a pharmaceutical company with a very direct interest in publication.
Sure. Let's just say he exercised his right to have the report reviewed by a a QC, then. I hold no brief for Hausmann -- he might be a right royal bastard for all I know -- and it doesn't really alter my point.
I just get annoyed at all the screeching and cries of corruption by a great many people who have only seen selectively leaked parts of a draft report, knowing full well those parts had been subject to challenge; and who have, in one case, used Parliamentary privilege to table those selective leaks in the House. I don't see much of a desire for natural justice there.
-
I wonder how many of the free beers went to Public Address regulars and how many went to lucky friends and workmates of PA regulars who were suddenly ordered to "OMG! Text this to get free beer! Free beer! Do it! Now! Right now!!!"
Cross my heart, it was 100% to readers.
-
Tom: Perhaps we could forget its election year for a moment,
To be fair, I hardly think that it's Tom who has made this dispute into a political issue ...
-
There might be some free beer left at Spare Room - same deal.
Oh you slutty readers -- always off to anywhere with free beer ...
-
Hmmm....email received at 10:54am....beer all gone at 11:02am...call me a sceptik but did 100 people really receive a free dozen beer today??!!
Yep. The last successful text seems to have been sent at 11.02am, exactly 25 minutes after I hit "save" on the post.
-
if you don't believe me just check the editorials in the back issues of Hawkes Bay Today.
Oh yes -- I'm familiar with that particular oeuvre.
-
This just in, literally:
Freeview|HDTM Launch Date Announced
Steve Browning, General Manager, Freeview, today announced that Kiwis’ can look forward to HD capable Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) courtesy of the Freeview|HDTM service from 2nd April 2008.
“Freeview|HDTM is New Zealand’s first high definition capable digital service and has the potential to dramatically alter the way in which Kiwis access and then enjoy television and radio programmes. It will provide crystal clear digital quality pictures and sounds on all channels with the added bonus of TVOne, TV2, and TV3 broadcast in a high definition format,” he says.
“The Freeview satellite service made bad reception a thing of the past, delivering crystal clear standard definition pictures to over 80,000 homes since its launch in May 2007. The addition of the Freeview|HDTM service provides the option to access free-to-air digital television and radio via UHF aerial,” he adds.
The Freeview|HDTM service will be available in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Napier, Hastings, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, or approximately 75% of New Zealand homes.
An official launch event for media and invited guests will take place in Wellington on Monday, 14th April, to mark this significant step in New Zealand broadcasting history.
The launch event will feature a HD broadcast of programmes kindly provided by Natural History New Zealand so those in attendance can experience, first hand, the digital experience that is Freeview|HDTM.
Freeview|HDTM digital terrestrial receivers can be purchased from New Zealand's leading appliance retailers from 2nd April 2008.
So you can rush out to the shops on April 2, plug in your box and sit down to watch Media7 that night!
But it won't be in HD, the boxes are $500, and there's some other stuff ...
-
I'm afraid that the Topfield is about as mainstream as they come. I have had my TF5100 for over a year and it is one of the most usable decoders/PVRs I have seen here in Finland. But that not too hard since some of them are really terrible.
Yeah, it's not bad, but we've worked our way through a few quirks in the past few days. It's still nowhere near MySky for usability, and the manual is quite poor.
OTOH, its geeky features rock. I still can't get it to connect to my router, but it didn't take me long to find a couple of great bits of Mac freeware that let you use the USB connection for file transfer (the official documentation insists these features are Windows-only, and that you have to install a special USB driver). I recorded Talk Talk from TVNZ 6 and ripped it to an AVI with a single piece of software. You can even upload custom EPGs, although I wouldn't think that's something your Mum and Dad would be doing.
At least you will get HD there though. The head of state TV here said basically that HD isn't stable enough standard yet and they won't implement it before 2012. Which is 5 years after going all digital. Of course every technical literate person in the country called him an idiot (which he really is).
I'll have some more on this later in the week. Turns out it's not entirely straightforward here either.
Hopefully the switch to digital goes smoother in NZ. It seems that the main benefit of digital here is to enable pay terrestrial channels and free up frequencies. The broadcasts are heavily compressed with extremely obvious artifacts. Youtube looks better at times.
Sky's digital pictures aren't that great, but they sound better than what you're getting ...
-
You do wish folk like her would go away forever. Dare I whisper the name again of Duncan Fallowell but there is a review by Simon Carr of his 'Going As Far As I Can', in the latest New Statesman (10 March)
It's here.
Not bad, either.
I'll go so far as to say that Rankin's behaviour since she departed Work and Income makes me wonder if she was really ever suited to the job.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 … 2279 Older→ First