Posts by Ewan Morris
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This is why all the Father-of-the-Nation burbling these past few days is wrong. He wasn't universally loved.
An understatement, perhaps, but thanks for saying it. I have no wish to speak ill of the dead, but have been finding the reams of laudatory comment rather hard to take. Thanks for providing a more balanced and thoughtful perspective.
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Hard News: Where do you get yours? (Food…,
Here is lovely Lower Hutt (yes, I hear you sniggering at the back there, but don't knock it till you've tried it), we have Zany Zeus with their new outlet store down the road in Moera (delicious cheeses [smoked and otherwise], yoghurts [again, smoked and otherwise - who knew there was such a thing as smoked yoghurt?], ice creams and more) and the Taste of Europe bakery in the other direction on Waiwhetu Road in Fairfield (fabulous German-style breads and pastries) - plus a Moore Wilsons a bit further away, and that's without even starting on Petone....
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Legal Beagle: A matter of conscience,
This may be of interest - the Law Commission on alcohol legislation and the conscience vote
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Speaker: Bad Aid: How Murray McCully is…,
Thanks for this, Terence. What I find particularly depressing is the fact that the media have almost entirely ignored McCully's destruction of our aid programme. When the former Director of NZAID (an ex-diplomat, and not one to speak out in such strong terms without very good cause) writes a column severely criticising McCully's changes to the aid programme, you would think that this would make the news, wouldn't you? But in fact it hardly caused a ripple. Something to cover in Media 7 perhaps, Russell?
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless,
Harawira is specifically framing his statement as a rebuttal to what "non-Maori" say about Bin Laden. He's pretty close to presenting what he says as a Maori perspective there, isn't he?
I've translated "tauiwi" as non-Maori, but perhaps in the context it would be better to translate it as people who are not of Osama bin Laden's iwi (whatever that might be). I don't pretend to know exactly what Hone Harawira was trying to say, but I would suggest that he was drawing a contrast between how bin Laden had been portrayed in the West generally and how he was viewed by his own people. Again, I'm not trying to defend what he said, because the very best interpretation you can place on it was that he was dangerously ambiguous about what he thought of bin Laden, and you certainly can read his statement as supporting the view that bin Laden was some kind of freedom fighter.
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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless,
Just for the record, this is my transcription and translation of the most relevant part of the interview with Hone Harawira on Te Karere. I have no wish to defend his comments, but I think we should be accurate about exactly what he said.
Scotty Morrison: ...engari, he tangata whawhai mo te tino rangatiratanga o tona iwi, ne ra? Mo ona whakapono?
[...but he was a person who fought for the tino rangatiratanga of his people, wasn't he? For his beliefs?]
Hone Harawira: Ae, ahakoa nga korero a tauiwi, e mohio ana, e tangi ana tona whanau i tenei ra, tona hapu, tona iwi, ki tenei tangata e tu ana, e whawhai ana mo tona ake tino rangatiratanga, mo tona ake whenua, mo tona ake iwi, te iwi taketake o reira.
[Yes, despite what non-Maori have said, his family, tribe and people are mourning today for this person who is standing up and fighting for his tino rangatiratanga, for his land, for his people, the indigenous people of that place.] -
Hard News: The witless on the pitiless,
Russell, do we really have a "rush of misguided Maori sentiment" in memory of Osama Bin Laden? Yes, we have Hone Harawira and Ranginui Walker, who are two very prominent Maori. Perhaps we have Willie Jackson, although I haven't heard his views on the matter. Bomber Bradbury isn't Maori as far as I know. Aren't we really just talking about a few individuals, whose views have been disagreed with by other Maori?
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Hard News: Time to get a grip,
The curious thing about Hide's Bill is that almost no one, apart from the Act Party and the Business Round Table, actually seems to want it. Even a paper written for the conservative Maxim Institute has come out against it.
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Hard News: "Orderly transition" in #Egypt,
Does Mohamed ElBaradei really have a "pivotal role" in events in Egypt? Or is he just a suitably West-friendly figure for the Western media to focus on?
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Graeme:
It's not listed in their process for complaining
Yes it is:
12.In those cases where the circumstances suggest that the complainant may have a legally actionable issue, the complainant will be required to provide a written undertaking that s/he will not take or continue proceedings against the publication or journalist concerned.