Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Phoning a Friend

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  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    . He could have been clearer, couldn't he?

    Again :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Irvine,

    RE: UK football support, there's loads of reasons

    - Cultural cringe? Nah, you'd never get anyone that *actually follows* it giving that any air. You could argue Rugby fans suffer from CC as well, and it's taken off here the way it has because it's the only major sport we've got a change of beating them at. There's something very primeval and tribal about going to Twickenham HQ especially and beating the Poms. Hmm I suppose there's cricket too :)

    - Many people do a goodly portion of their OE in the UK and, if they're a sports fan, adopt a team to participate in office banter

    - People have been watching it for years, going right back to Big League Soccer on Sundays (those were the days!)

    - I would argue that after age 20, more people would play social football (even indoor counts) than Rugby

    - There are a lot of UK ex-pats here that contribute to the 'general' level of football interest. We get great UK football coverage here, with the Champions’ League and other European leagues coming along nicely too

    PS Hi Geoff Lealand - you were a lecturer of mine back in oooohhh, 1994 or so (!)

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 242 posts Report Reply

  • slarty,

    I'm really struggling with this AIA thing.

    NZ's rules were out of step:

    1. Under the stapled security approach, NZ would have lost serious dollars overseas: it's designed as a "tax efficient" structure. That was the only value these guys were bringing to the table, and that's why it was worth more to them than someone operating locally.

    2. AIA is a strategic asset and effective monopoly (go and look at the British / US / Oz / EU definition and see how liberal NZ is) and under the circumstances a strong local interest is the only balance. Maybe shareholders would have preferred a Commissioner to regulate it?

    Cullen handled it the right way: these things have to be secret until the moment you do it - blithering around with consultation etc. would have simply made a number of other businesses face a period of uncertainty, and give a bunch of other people an unfair loophole to exploit. With all these type of things its best to change the rules swiftly and decisively to prevent damage.

    The only thing Cullen has done is to signal to business that NZ is not a country full of weak ditherers who can be pushed around by business, but a nation of people prepared to act on the basis that business is a servant of society, not the other way around.

    Just like the Air NZ / Ansett / BIL thing really...

    Since Nov 2006 • 290 posts Report Reply

  • noizyboy,

    ...it's the only major sport we've got a change of beating them at. Hmm I suppose there's cricket too :)

    And basketball.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 171 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    But whatever the numbers say, I can see them battling this out until the convention, trading wins and losses all the way down the line. And that is something I'm not too keen on, because I think they need to be attacking McCain, not each other...

    yeah the polls are a bit variable, the ABC has both Clinton and Obama beating McCain with Obama by a bigger margin. But these are national polls that don't indicate how the electoral college might go. The popular vote as we all know is not the determiner. It's who can win in states like Ohio and Florida.

    But the poll analysis begins with

    A surge of Democratic allegiance is boosting Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton alike in match-ups against John McCain

    so maybe the drawn out campaign isn't a handicap.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Key's performance in the media just demonstrates how woefully ill-equipped for the job he really is. Challenge a position or question the detail and he falls to pieces - every time.

    He is mediocre at taking a firm stance, isn't he? He probably does have his own personal views on issues. But when it comes to giving a clear answer on them, he hesitates, as if he's calculating which answer will be the most appealing and popular to potential voters, rather spitting out a clear answer.
    As a result of such frequent hesitancy, he always ends up in a muddle, looking silly.
    He's failed to give clear answers on being for or against the '81 Springbok tour, whether he believes in God and now the slightly-more complex issues of Auckland airport and the Treaty of Waitangi.

    When he was being interviewed in Parliament's lobby the other day, he equivocated; Bill English was right next to him, looking like he was gagging to give a firm, clear answer, but must've known that if he did, it'd over-shadow Key.
    I don't agree with English on a lot of things, but at least you always know where he stands. With Key you simply do not.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    I don't agree with English on a lot of things, but at least you always know where he stands. With Key you simply do not.

    Agreed and agreed.

    In between those two there was Brash. On the one hand, you knew where he stood on most things. He could articulate positions relatively clearly, at least when he felt like it.

    On the other, some of this statements were so extreme and/or strange, you wondered whether he actually believed them.

    Last, Brash sometimes hesitated to take his "principled positions" to their logical conclusion.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    1. Under the stapled security approach, NZ would have lost serious dollars overseas: it's designed as a "tax efficient" structure. That was the only value these guys were bringing to the table, and that's why it was worth more to them than someone operating locally.

    Thank you for that Slarty, you said it much more eloquently than I did (but I had to run off and stop 2 kids fighting and then make them dinner. Who knew kids get scratchy if you don't feed them? Bad dad!)
    But I stand by my comment: this deal was jiggery pokery. Quite legal under the rules, but jiggery pokery none-the-less. So Cullen has changed the rules. Yes, his timing could have been better.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But these are national polls that don't indicate how the electoral college might go. The popular vote as we all know is not the determiner. It's who can win in states like Ohio and Florida.

    They're also polls in March and February, not November. I suspect Clinton will argue that she'll debate better and deal with the campaign better rough and tumble better, and Obama would probably put twice as many people on the ground as she would, and it seems, raise a crapload more money. He's looking like he'd draw more independents and traditional 'non-voters', particularly young people, but the question really will be who will do better in 'battleground states' if you want to know who'll win. There's half a dozen states that'll decide this election, the rest is all FPP waffle.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    (apologies for the private-type message) Greetings, Richard. Hope you are doing well in the world. I see your mother sometimes, most recently at the Food writer's awards.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Since we're on it Geoff, I remember when you were Sequence editor (that bigger format sure made the bound copies look weird).

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Talking of political management, I see APN is curtailing freedom of speech of one of its publications.

    No doubt DPF and his freedom loving buddies have a picture of Joe Stalin ready to go alongside the names of the perpetrators of this "retraction".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Jarno van der Linden,

    On the Auckland airport thing, is there something in people thinking it is OK to sell off assets to Canada but not Dubai?

    But...but... it's a pension fund! How can you deny some old people a few meagre dollars to support their subsistence living?

    Nelson • Since Oct 2007 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • Snowy,

    Key certainly needs all the help he can get from APN to get elected. It must be reassuring for John to know they're ready to retract and apologise for any inconvenient truths one of their many publications accidentally publishes.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2008 • 62 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    re: Soccer, it was one of the things I left the UK to get away from.

    Plus soccer viewing is by no means as universal an interest as people make out. In my office of 20 people, we had one person who followed the game enough to own a season ticket, maybe two others who watched it on telly and the rest were up for watching big finals and that was all.

    UK politicians, especially Labour ones *pretend* to be really keen on football, incidentally. They normally choose a team when they're adopted for a winnable seat. Tony Blair claimed to be a fanatical supporter of Newcastle and to have spent many a happy teenage day watching Jackie Milburn, his idol. Milburn left the club when Blair was four.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    Key is a politician cut from the same cloth as Blair and now Cameron in the UK. But while Key pretty good at the smiling at camera bit, his oratory skills are positively third division. Hopefully this will eventually be his undoing as I think he’s got the potential to really loose it when put under big pressure come election time. On the football thing, as an ex pat Brit living in NZ, Installing Sky was one of my non negotiable, pre emigration requirements as my wife always vetoed this in the UK on the basis that I would not leave the living room and see daylight during the season. I enjoy Rugby and Cricket here in but anyone who has been to a Football match in the UK (or any other european country for that matter) will understand that spectator sport in this country can seem a bit passionless at times. If you’ve ever been to Anfield to watch the mighty Reds and heard ‘You’ll Never Walk’ alone belted out by the Kop you’ll know exactly what I mean. Yes Liverpool 4 West Ham 0 is very good news.

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    A popular vote that included many Republican and independent voters that turned up on the day to vote for Obama. That's the rules and Obama benefits from that particular anomaly.

    What data I've seen pretty clearly suggests that in Texas the Republicans and independents split fairly evenly -- and I wonder how many of those Republicans are dittoheads who've fallen for Rush Limbaugh's deliriously valentines to Clinton. I don't understand why Obama doesn't go for the gut and run ads with every Clinton mash note they can find from the likes of Limbaugh, Hewett and Coulter.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    He could have been clearer, couldn't he?

    I'd personally like Cullen to stop being so fraking cute, and tell us exactly what the Government considers "strategic infrastructure".

    Talking of political management, I see APN is curtailing freedom of speech of one of its publications.

    And cute link to Colin Espiner, who I guess is an entirely disinterested party. I'm still wondering why the Dominion Post hasn't been charged with contempt over the publication of the so-called 'terrorism files'. Then again, I'm one of these cranks who actually thinks a fair trial and the rule of law is slightly more important than Fairfax NZ's bottom line.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Mike Graham,

    but anyone who has been to a Football match in the UK ... will understand that spectator sport in this country can seem a bit passionless at times

    Agreed - although my experiences were primarily at the Shed end of Stamford Bridge.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    I'm still wondering why the Dominion Post hasn't been charged with contempt over the publication of the so-called 'terrorism files'

    If they're 'charged' with contempt, then the S-G is effectively admitting that it is impossible for Te Qaeda members to get a fair trial, and that all the firearms charges should be permanently stayed.

    I think I can see why he wants to avoid conceding that point.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I think I can see why he wants to avoid conceding that point.

    So can I, but can see the S-G is eventually going to have get a spine implant and assert that suppression orders exist for damn good reasons and hacks (and the Police officers who love leaking to them) are going to have to do a bit better than squeaking 'public interest'. I might be hopelessly naive, but I don't think the whole Guerrillas in the Mist saga was a red letter day for the media in this country. Having their collective noses rubbed in sight of Iti being insufferably pleased with himself would do them some bloody good.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Snowy,

    I thought it was Key that had his nose rubbed in Iti's face?

    Wellington • Since Jan 2008 • 62 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Robeson,

    "Could someone tell me - and I am genuinely fascinated to hear a sensible answer - why so many people are obsessed with a foreign domestic competition on the other side of the world?"

    Because it is the best league in the number one sport in the world perhaps? Other than that I really couldn't say...

    Since Feb 2008 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Robeson,

    I remember JK, cue soft lighting, kids and ukele music, talking on tv3 saying that he wouldn't have gone into Iraq, but that he supported the right of US and UK to do so, because he supported "countries' rights to take their own actions."

    This guy could be our prime minister. Yeh I guess he is just itching for the moment he can quit this touchy feely crap and go back to being the right winger he is inside. This is still the same crew from the Brash National party right? Can their convictions really be so much different?

    Since Feb 2008 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Since we're on it Geoff, I remember when you were Sequence editor (that bigger format sure made the bound copies look weird)......


    Andrew: you may be confusing me with someone else as I don't remember doing this. I was arts editor for the UoC student newspaper for a year or two (that was a laugh) and have edited an academic journal or three and put together a newsletter called 'Trailers' for 10+ years, but 'Sequence' doesn't ring any bells..

    PS This is an awful admission but I haven't quite mastered the reply process for this blog. Any advice?

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

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