Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: New Old Left?

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  • B Jones, in reply to Lucy Stewart,

    It's certainly the present of political parties, if not the future. Having a woman on the top ticket, if not at the very top, is a good way to look sympathetic to female voters without too much risk of a freakout about a woman in charge like Julia Gillard (and lots of others, but she's a recent example) faced. Hasn't worked out so well for the Republicans, but.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Brendon Mills,

    Thanks, Brendon. I agree that appealing to voters in a more than academic way is a challenge.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    It’s certainly the present of political parties, if not the future. Having a woman on the top ticket, if not at the very top, is a good way to look sympathetic to female voters

    I don't disagree that having women in top positions is a good thing.

    But I'm dubious that co-leaders will appeal to any voter base beyond the Greens.

    I also find the female/male somewhat arbitrary. I would have thought that two leaders from each treaty partner side would have been just as likely.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to B Jones,

    I meant more the idea of having explicitly joint leadership which must always be one man/one woman - that's still quite peculiar to the Greens.As Kyle says, it's a little arbitrary. Humanity doesn't divide up neatly along those lines.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4343007/TVNZs-Breakfast-wants-Holmes-sweet-Holmes

    This is not good for the left! That they would even consider him for the job … He has been vile lately.
    And why does there have to be a dominant male presenter and a softer, even ditzy, female co-presenter?

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Did Lockwood Smith try to change the Travel Perk rules to stop the actions of Pansy Wong coming to public notice?

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Cecelia,

    And why does there have to be a dominant male presenter and a softer, even ditzy, female co-presenter?

    .. because producers believe (and ratings reinforce) that some audiences want their stereotypes reinforced over the cornflakes.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Cecelia,

    oops - duplicate (inadvertent double click)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Last time I looked, which was some years ago, Japanese radio & TV was even more that way. Man goes "Yibble-yibble-yibble" in o what a clever fellow I am tone of voice, ditzy support-woman goes "Hai! Hai!"

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Just thinking,

    Did Lockwood Smith try to change the Travel Perk rules to stop the actions of Pansy Wong coming to public notice?

    Yes, the timing seemed interesting though travel-independent disgruntlement likely had a part to play in Hodgson’s papertrail ending up in his hands. I wouldn’t be surprised if Auckland’s Chinese business community knew details some time ago too.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Young,

    Okay, here's my take on the likelihood of a neo-Alliance party. Clearly, there was a political space to the left of Labour during the nineties, but whether it's still unoccupied there today is a moot point. Added to which, while Matt McCarten is a damned good union organiser, he doesn't seem to be all that good a political strategist. The Greens are a reliable and left centre-left political party and it would be an unthinkable tragedy if this hypothetical entity ended up shaving necessary points off their total party vote. I can't see why Matt doesn't join the Greens and replaces Sue Bradford as the social justice heavyhitter there.

    Craig Y

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 573 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Because right now neither Search nor browsing will find me an existing Paul Henry thread, here’s the latest. Expect a self-pitying, ignorant, unapologetic blurt in New Idea tomorrow, TVNZ tells us today.

    [Henry] said he is disgusted at the fact that Bella, Sophie, 20, and Lucy 22, and his 81-year-old mother Olive – who appeared on Breakfast a couple of times – were dragged into the scandal.

    But he said one of the things that annoys him most was that the New Zealand government apologised for his original comment.

    “The governor-general is a good man and I didn’t say anything that implied he wasn’t a good man or that he wasn’t a New Zealander.

    “‘Is he even a New Zealander’ is a cheeky way of starting a conversation about who might be next. To say that proves I’m racist is, if nothing else, illogical.

    “I’m appalled that this country officially apologised,” he said. “It was unreasonable for India to seek and apology and worse that we gave one.

    “We are apologising for one person in the country exercising their right to freedom of speech. I think that’s an outrage.”

    But he is not outraged by his former employer, although he acknowledges he was egged on to be outrageous himself.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn, in reply to Cecelia,

    Just because ,OK, Cecelia?

    EDIT: Snap, Sacha. Although I didn't think it needed any explanation, myself:)

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Sacha,

    “The governor-general is a good man and I didn’t say anything that implied he wasn’t a good man or that he wasn’t a New Zealander.

    “‘Is he even a New Zealander’ is a cheeky way of starting a conversation about who might be next."

    ....I. I don't even.

    (I know, I know, feeding the troll, but the total lack of ability to connect one statement with the next is.....astounding.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    But he is not outraged by his former employer, although he acknowledges he was egged on to be outrageous himself.

    I guess he knows provocation
    is no longer a defence for
    unsavoury behaviour.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    No doubt the only reason he's steering away from claiming that Satyanand provoked him with his brown-ness

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Narcissists Anonymous meeting success...
    Laws, in SST, waxing lyrical about a parliamentary reunion:

    And the "characters", dear Lord. John Banks, Jim Bolger, Chris Fletcher, Graham Thorne, Simon Upton, Muldoon, Murray McCully, Jenny Shipley, Winston Peters, Bill Birch, Ross Meurant – we were not so much a caucus as a collection of personality disorders.

    and this

    Certainly I talked too much, drank too much, laughed too much and confessed too much. So too did everyone. Because that's the nature of reunions – the exorcism of ghosts and the healing of wounds. This country needs more of them.

    OMG, has he quaffed too long from the humili-tea billy? We can but hope...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    re Travel Perks...
    Now it seems politicians are admitting
    they are not to be trusted with temptation,
    and want their travel perks rescinded ...

    ...or is this merely a classic case of
    two Wongs unmaking a Right?

    too early?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Might have been two hours ago, but made me laugh at 11.20!

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Young,

    Why on earth was Henry even allowed on a mainstream television network when he belongs to the augean stable market segment of squawkback radio? It certainly wasn't intended to attract mainstream educated liberal viewers to TVNZ. Given the high segmentation of the broadcast radio market, TVNZ really should have known better. One hopes that he has to emigrate across the ditch and makes a new start in Qld, where his sort of views are considered acceptable.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 573 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    One hopes that he has to emigrate across the ditch and makes a new start in Qld, where his sort of views are considered acceptable.

    Not sure that they'd welcome him with open arms, though. He may not be ethnically.... pure ... enough for Queensland.

    Slightly off-topic, but did anyone see that Pauline Hanson has abandoned her plans (which she originally announced in February this year) to move to the ethnically pure mother country.

    Apparently, there's some people there who aren't 100% white or something.. Who knew?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi, in reply to Rich Lock,

    Apparently, there’s some people there who aren’t 100% white or something.. Who knew?

    It’s almost as though this racially pure utopia she yearns for doesn’t exist or something.

    I still find it funny that she insists she was defending “Australia’s” culture, then decided Britain was a better place to live, surrounded by a purer version of the “same” culture. I know the racist subtext is obvious, but I can’t even begin to understand how anyone would believe One Nation was interested in “culture” after that performance.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    And Mr Henry claims TVNZ egged him on. Live by the sword, die by the sword - and that goes for both Henry & TVNZ. I sincerely hope it's the beginning of the end of the current model.

    For the Henryites out there who have a problem with the Anand Satyanands of this world giving more to NZ than taking from it, the solution is very simple, and involves just 2 steps. Step 1 involves visiting the nearest travel agent. Step 2 involves a Sunshine Coast real estate booklet.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    And the “characters”, dear Lord. John Banks, Jim Bolger, Chris Fletcher, Graham Thorne, Simon Upton, Muldoon, Murray McCully, Jenny Shipley, Winston Peters, Bill Birch, Ross Meurant –

    Pretty much what anyone would experience after buying a 2.5 kilo bag of spuds and contemplating the contents before submitting them to the scourer. Sad evidence of Lhawsie's squalid between-floozies existence.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    I hear Pansy has dragged Jenny Shipley into this mess too. She,has her hubbies business at her electorate office address.

    Pansy has always appeared charming to me, I don’t know how effective she has been, but certainly charming.
    As such it seems the whole lot of them are crocked carpet baggers, even the unoffensive ones break rules/the law for their own profit.

    Edit: Could someone confirm or deny that Pansy Wongs husbands company Sampan Enterprise Ltd, owns the Christchurch Resturant Sampan House, which has been convicted for blackmarket & undersized paua?

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

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