Posts by Rich of Observationz
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Density Church/Family Party are all over Mangere at the minute
Does anyone want to explain how, if South Auckland is such a hotbed of social conservatism, they elected the not-very-socially-conservative David Lange seven times?
Also, although the wierdo wingnut churches are very prominent, none of the Pasifica people I know actually go to church any more than Europeans.
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I saw the NZD250 (I guess) price tag for the iPhone. And then the NZD140 annual charge for MobileMe - which seems to be mostly functionality GMail has for free?
Does the "openness" of the iPhone allow Google, or opensource hackers, to create an alternative to MobileMe?
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I feel that a lot of women aren't going to be too pleased to have mostly male judges deciding what they can do with their bodies.
Maybe Labour should whip out a Bill to put the law in line with the current de-facto situation. This would be unacceptable to a lot of National MPs, not to mention the Christian Right. Making this an election issue might be no bad thing - it could sway the vote of a lot of people who are tending to the Nats.
(I think most of the hard-core god-bothering Christians were lost to Labour a while ago).
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Regarding the US presidential elections, can we see a *tiny bit* of discussion of policy in the media? I've spoken to several well-educated Americans and they couldn't explain the policy differences between Obama and Clinton - were these a state secret.
Does Obama want to invade Iran? Will he keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? (Actually, I know he's said he'll pull US forces out of Iraq in 16 months, but is that unconditional?)
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unknown law firm
So did people keep calling them wanting them to do their divorce/house conveyancing/motoring offences on a regular basis. Maybe, in between chasing non-existent Russian spies, the SIS team maintained a lucrative second career as small-town solicitors?
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I think the modern day equivalent of the Sutch affair are incidents like this one where a researcher was held in jail for six days for downloading an "Al Quaeda Manual". Or, closer to home, the student pilot thrown out of NZ (and jailed in Saudi Arabia) because he briefly shared a room with one of the September 2001 hijackers.
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it was something of a shock to see suited City businessmen board the train at Waterloo, place their briefcase carefully in the storage rack above, and then crack an extra-big can of Heineken to keep them company on the long journey back to Surbiton or Strawberry Hill
And why should they not? They've paid large amounts of money (my season ticket was GBP300 a month at one stage) to travel on the railway - why can't they have a bit of refreshment on the journey home.
Air NZ will sell you a beer on the plane home from Auckland, which is some peoples commute (and gives out free beer in the Koru lounge, without too much drunken rioting from the frequent flying classes). Also, the Waiheke ferry sells beer and relatively few, if any, drunks fall into the harbour each year.
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Is I first!
I just think these discussion boards (especially ones that require registration) are a bit like mouthing off in the pub or building site. Maybe the old saying about sticks and stones should make a comeback?
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Yes, of course a smoking ban is justified on underground railways, who said it wasn't? I'd have been keen for an overground smoking ban when I was in England, but that would have been me being intolerant.
Alcohol is different, you can't burn down a station with spilt drink, unless it's a Flaming Ferrari.
I think most IT staff and anyone else who meets customers has to deal with a bit of verbal abuse from time to time. I also think NZ train people are much nicer than the ones in the UK and mostly recognise that they are dealing with customers, not prisoners.
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I'm not sure who got assaulted - but the fact that the Met arrested somebody for assault doesn't mean there was one. Also, while I'm sure most railway workers are nice people, I remember an incident when I was a teenager when a mate of mine was cheeky to a ticket inspector and got punched. He complained and the guy was prosecuted but *not sacked*.
In the 10 years I lived in London and travelled on the tube, I was never hassled by people drinking. There were a few derros burbling around, as they do, but no real aggression.
I reckon this ban is another example of people not extending tolerance to the mildly annoying.
But if you want evidence that the UK is a police state, consider this story - they've confiscated 7000 safety deposit boxes and expect people to prove they've obtained the contents legally before giving them back. "Prove your innocence, citizen" or what? Or this one - police have arrested 183 children over their postings on Bebo.
Maybe the party is the start of people kicking back - like the Brixton riots, but fluffier.