Posts by Ianmac

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  • Hard News: We can do better than this,

    Jared Savage wrote the post about Mr Liu and the $100,000 bottle of wine paid as a donation to the Labour Party. Even though it was wrong he never withdrew and apologised.
    I wonder if Cameron Slater was his source?

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: We can do better than this,

    _Funny, isn't it, how some of us Pakeha look to Maori telly for 'decent' investigative journalism..._
    The program over the last two Mondays at 8pm called Re-think is so well formatted, so well compered and very very interesting. The one last week was a look at the effect of polling and last night on global warming climate change. Strangely the three guests all agreed on climate change and discussed possible actions that we could take.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: Not doing justice,

    and him and many of his colleagues have refused to even stand on the Party list.

    Shock horror. Terrible. But wait. On the other hand, Bill English is a List Only man? Hell clearly this must mean he is not brave enough to face his electorate. Or something weird. Conclusions conclusions.
    Are there others who are List only or Electorate only?

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: The silence of the public square,

    “I’ll get back to that … ”

    Translation: I’m going to ignore the question and talk about what I want to.
    Johmn Key's failsafe:
    "Lets go back a bit......"
    Yeah. Means we go so far back we avoid answering altogether.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: The silence of the public square,

    Is John Key willing to stand up proudly for Democracy?
    Openness and transparency? Fail
    Willing to meet the people? Fail (Except for the chosen ones.)
    Willing to be accountable to the people? Fail.
    Able to justify his position with valid argument? Fail.

    When was the last time we heard John Key being interviewed on any Media and questioned with the same vigour that other Party Leaders are subjected to?
    Questions, questions, questions.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: The crybaby philosopher,

    As for the lower grades allocated to these quota seats; this is simply a recognition that most Māori come from lower socio-economic areas and we know, from the statistics, that grades on average are lower across the board in lower socio-economic areas.

    This is to improve the <b> entry</b> into those special courses. The pass rate once in, has just as high a standard regardless of race.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: Now win the argument,

    Associate Professor John O'Neill, of Massey University's Institute of Education, said the Labour Party's proposal to cut school class sizes if elected in September would not achieve much without changes to teaching itself.

    So true. This does not mean that smaller classes are not important. It means that a smaller number allows better targeted learning to take place and for the isolated underachievers lost in a big class can get better support from peer tutoring and better feedback from teachers.
    Note that Private Schools with 18 per class and Charter Schools with the same, do so with clear evidence on their side.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: Hope and Wire,

    Against the tide but I think it was pretty good. The lasting image of chaos and of this bringing out the best and the worst in people and of ordinary people making some sort of sense resonates with me. The subject was so huge and had the writers narrowed the scope to focus on just a few characters would have distracted from the diversity and the size of the calamity. The bad people carried on taking advantage of the lapse of security and family dynamics still disrupted because or in spite of the earthquake, and authorities did their best to establish order.
    In short the program was unsettling but I will watch the other two episodes whilst I suppose those who are so critical will be watching something else.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: Decidedly Undecided,

    Maybe the high number of undecideds suggest that we should take poll result with a large spoonful of salt?
    How about the proposition that the number of National supporters in most polls stayed about the same over 6 years or more? Therefore, if this is so, the apparent rise of National support arround 50%+ is a statistical anomaly.

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

  • Hard News: Labour's Fiscal Plan:…,

    A weird Joyce being Joyceless and blustery. It almost sounded as though they are worried.
    I wonder if the twists and turns of the English response will be highlighted as much as the Cunliffe dolphin switch?

    Bleneim • Since Aug 2008 • 135 posts Report

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