Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: A business most feral

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  • Shep Cheyenne,

    So the HBDHB being a bunch of business people can only function properly and remove conflicts of interest in a totally prescribed environment?

    So we need more Policy and it needs to be highly prescriptive for businessmen/women to act ethically?

    That doesn't sound like Nationals doctrine of the moment.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Apparently HBDHB couldn't RTFM because there is no Manual...creating one for Governance and other tricky procedures (like, conflicts of interest) is in the recommendations from the Report.

    Oh boy... You'd think the Cabinet Manual, the State Sector Code of Conduct and sheer common sense would have prevented Messers Logan and Benson-Pope from committing career suicide. Apparently not.

    Sometimes, I wonder if 'tricky procedures' are only as complex as you choose to make them. And the more silage you find yourself in, the more complicated matters become. :)

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

  • Grant McDougall,

    Why not? I don't get it. Could you be more specific please, Craig?

    I just thought it was a rather peculiar sneer, considering that Public Address readers sure seem to be a pack of shameless elitists who aren't averse to setting the world to rights over a faine whine or six. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld used to say.

    You've got the wrong end of the stick, Craig. My comment was a reference to that local Hawkes Bay oddity, the Havelock North accent, not "shameless elitists" at large and that the denizens of that locale being exactly the sort of "big fish in a small pond" toffs that would indulge in petty, provincial politics, as refered to in Tom S's originalk post.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    Why are we still dealing with an Act party? Do the people of Epsom still feel victimized so much they need their own party? Has the price of pool cleaning gone up recently? Maybe we should have a telethon for them?

    I know theatre has already been called on this side-bar but it really irked me -- and I'm no ACT supporter. In a democracy people are supposed to be allowed to vote for whomever they want. If the people of Epsom want to rally behind one political party it is their right. If you think they shouldn't have that right then who else would be denied their right to vote for the party of their choice? Why are we still dealing with a Maori party? Do the people of Northland still feel victimized so much they need their own party? Has the price of beer and cigarettes gone up recently? Maybe we should have a telethon for them?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Has the price of beer and cigarettes gone up recently?

    Always good to counter one sort of I dunno, anti-rich person stereotyping, with another sort with racist undertones.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Always good to counter one sort of I dunno, anti-rich person stereotyping, with another sort with racist undertones..

    But, Kyle, Everyone's A Little Bit Racist!

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

  • InternationalObserver,

    Has the price of beer and cigarettes gone up recently?

    Always good to counter one sort of I dunno, anti-rich person stereotyping, with another sort with racist undertones.

    Er, that was precisely my point.

    Jeremy made the ludicrous assertion* that the people of Epsom were motivated by a rise in the cost of pool cleaning - a ludicrous presumption that everyone in Epsom has a pool. I had originally written "Has the price of kaimoana gone up recently?" but didn't feel it had the same impact (especially since the price of seafood has gone up) (no idea about pool cleaning, sorry -- don't have one)


    [*I acknowledge he probably wasn't being serious)

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Oh wow. Although I'm all for thinking about the ideas that can be passed on through uses of particular language (the whole "your mum and computers" thing, and so on), surely PAS ought to be a safe place to lampoon racist bigotry without being accused of being a bigot yourself... or maybe this is just another example of the fraught nature of satire/sarcasm on Internet.

    Despite being a generally left-centrist voter I have something of a contrary soft spot for ACT in that they're fairly up front about the sort of policies they stand for - and it's only become clearer with the return of Roger. You might call it lunacy, perhaps, but you know exactly what variety of lunacy you're voting for.

    And as IO says, if indeed the majority of ACT supporters did live in Epsom (and I have no idea if it's true or not), that shouldn't invalidate their choice - although I'm personally glad that not many other people have voted that way in the past...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Er, that was precisely my point.

    Yeah, the "you said something crappy, I'm going to provide another crappy example" annoys me.

    It's the 'how low can you go' approach to life.

    Do we need to point out how bad that thing was, by bringing out something else bad, just to make our point?

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Somehow I doubt that

    Your comment, whilst possibly made with frivolity in mind, conveyed an unnecessarily patronising view of a group of people who have as much of a right as anyone to vote in their own interests

    would have got the point across quite so vividly...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Somehow I doubt that

    Your comment, whilst possibly made with frivolity in mind, conveyed an unnecessarily patronising view of a group of people who have as much of a right as anyone to vote in their own interests

    would have got the point across quite so vividly...

    So you prefer a principle of "when shooting for effect, add other targets in because collatoral damage will make it more vivid"?

    I don't think it's a big thing, and everyone can tell IO was making up an example to point out the other one. I just think there's ways to make your point without it. And given that the point was about not making stereotypes because they're not fair...

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    Sam F - Yeah I'll never vote ACT but I like their honesty.
    I even respect Rodney Hide now he's had a change of life. Not trashing people and standing on principle - Foreshore & Seabed etc.

    Beats the spokesman for failed Fijian Timeshares and Perk-buster but only after he cleared out his Airpoint account persona he started politics with.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh wow. Although I'm all for thinking about the ideas that can be passed on through uses of particular language (the whole "your mum and computers" thing, and so on), surely PAS ought to be a safe place to lampoon racist bigotry without being accused of being a bigot yourself...

    Sure, Sam, but can you understand why I get really irritated when people make dumb - and frankly rather offensive - generalisations about quote unquote 'Christians' based on the latest brainfart from Brian The Bish? And sorry if this sounds a little pompous, but I've tried to be a little more scrupulous about doing the same to a billion-odd Muslims who are no more a social, political or theological Borg collective than Christians.

    I'm the last person on earth who has the moral high ground when it comes to bringing the industrial-strength snark But I also think there's got to be some limits. While Philip Field and David benson Pope are hardly jewels in the crown of representative democracy -- and I think its pretty obvious that I'm not a fan of the Labour Party -- I do try to avoid patronising those who don't vote to my liking, let alone doing it in terms of crude and nasty stereotypes. If IO proved one thing, it's that the fun is pretty hard to see when you get outside the comfort zone of the prevailing social orthodoxy. I doesn't seem a bad thing to be self-critical about where those boundaries lie, and why they exclude some people.

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

  • Sam F,

    Sure, Sam, but can you understand why I get really irritated when people make dumb - and frankly rather offensive - generalisations about quote unquote 'Christians' based on the latest brainfart from Brian The Bish?

    Oh, absolutely - I'm not defending those sort of broad-brush claims at all, but rather IO's vivid illustration of just how pointless and offensive they can be.

    Kyle: as for the "how low can you go" approach - sure, it's not the most elegant form of argument ever, and I don't think anyone would want it to become the dominant form of argument on PAS. But like Craig says, it does demonstrate how pointless and gratuitous such posts look when they're aimed within your comfort zone - rather than at a safely distant target one doesn't really sympathise with, whoever that might be for one personally.

    Given everyone's response, I think IO's succeeded rather well in reminding us how useless and offensive sweeping generalisations can be, no matter who they're being pointed towards. Careful, you'll have someone's eye out with that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • daleaway,

    Hide's a climate change denialiser, unless he's had an aha moment recently.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Sorry for sliding back on topic -- if Cunliffe on the utu trail is really a smart move:

    Minister of Health David Cunliffe is threatening to issue further damaging details about conflicts of interest involving the former Hawkes Bay District Health Board.

    A bitter row is deepening following the issue of a report on Monday into conflicts of interest at the DHB.

    Mr Cunliffe says there are more serious examples of conflicts of interest at the board, and he's having them checked before he issues details.

    He said there have been discussions in Parliament about Royston Hospital, Hastings, and that there were suggestions of manipulations of waiting lists for commercial gain.

    He said it would be a very serious matter if it were true.

    Oh, well...

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

  • Russell Brown,

    Sorry for sliding back on topic -- if Cunliffe on the utu trail is really a smart move:

    Yeah, I thought the same thing when he said it on the radio this morning. having come out of the whole thing looking quite composed, it doesn't seem like a good idea to start mud-wrestling with everyone else.

    BTW, I gather from his strange outburst on Radio Live this afternoon ("wanker", "worst commentator", etc) , that Bill Ralston is planning some utu on me in his next column.

    I hope he's calmed down by the time he writes it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Your star is on the ascendant, this will draw intense fire and scrutiny, reward the poppy clippers with a dignified silence, unless of course blatant lies must be redressed.
    As for the icky iwi ad man, his 15 minutes is long gone and never really was.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Yeah, I thought the same thing when he said it on the radio this morning. having come out of the whole thing looking quite composed, it doesn't seem like a good idea to start mud-wrestling with everyone else..

    Indeed. The one thing I will give Annette King credit for is that she was pretty adroit at keeping out of the way of health-sector poo fights (I blame ready access to drugs and bone saws, myself).

    BTW, I gather from his strange outburst on Radio Live this afternoon ("wanker", "worst commentator", etc) , that Bill Ralston is planning some utu on me in his next column.

    Challenge him to a nude jelly wrestling death match. It won't be any more insightful, but infinitely more fun.

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

  • Russell Brown,

    Challenge him to a nude jelly wrestling death match. It won't be any more insightful, but infinitely more fun.

    That's your second eeew this week. And it's only Tuesday!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    That's your second eeew this week. And it's only Tuesday!

    You just hope I get it all out of my system before Thursday afternoon, or we may not be on speaking terms for much longer. :)

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

  • InternationalObserver,

    ".... Russell Brown, that half-wit ....

    As heard on Radio Live at 4.45pm this afternoon. Not sure exactly what host Bill Ralston was on about as I was texting a mate at the time, whilst giving an errant child in the back seat a clip 'round the ear for pointing out that the light we were running was orange.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    I hope he's calmed down by the time he writes it.

    Guess you're not a media lawyer then ...

    The more outrageous, the better:-)

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

  • InternationalObserver,

    BTW, I gather from his strange outburst on Radio Live this afternoon ("wanker", "worst commentator", etc) , that Bill Ralston is planning some utu on me in his next column.

    Weird. I thought I was reading all the comments, but somehow I skipped that comment.

    So what was he barking on about?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    I gather from his strange outburst on Radio Live this afternoon ("wanker", "worst commentator", etc) , that Bill Ralston is planning some utu on me in his next column.

    he's probably never forgiven you for sullying his brand by talking about ingesting X on bfm.

    revenge. cold dish. etc.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

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