Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Graceless Islanders

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  • BenWilson,

    Everything changes, but everything stays the same...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Everything changes, but everything stays the same...

    Damn. And there's me spending an hour and 800 words to say much the same ;-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Stevens,

    He was, by all accounts, a brilliant and deeply concerned man. A shame the way the Lsitener has gone downhill so much in the last year or so.

    I'm going to keep an eye out for that book though.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 230 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    <"Every-thing stays the same..">
    I heard an interview with a journalist who spent a couple of months in Nepal, and she was asked what she had missed most. Her reply was ".....the news. I couldn't wait to get the back-copies but when I did I realized that some of the names had changed but the news was just repetition of the same same same news."

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    I am a great believer in democratic right to express an opinion, but over the last year or so, I think that the Listener editorials from Pamela Sterling and Joanne Black are pretty awful. Not just because they espouse right wing agendas but because they are guilty of passing opinion as though they are facts. The two women would do well as spin-doctors for Act or National but at least you could then read them knowing their where their loyalties lie.

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Malcolm,

    We Kiwi's are a funny mix. We are, I think, the youngest society in the world. Even the Maori are the youngest indigenous soceity. This youth gives us a self-belief and willingness to try different things. But on the other hand we were colonised in the Victorian era, and Victorian social attitudes seem have persisted until quite recently. To me, those quotes are a wonderful expression of the conflict between those forces.

    Since Apr 2007 • 69 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    He was, by all accounts, a brilliant and deeply concerned man.

    And better yet, the dude really knew how to use a semi-colon.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    RB, you said to never question your word mojo, and I won't; but are you getting into punctuation now? Mawahaw.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    That was in New Zealand!!!!

    I heard the Subway story while we we're preparing dinner last night and just caught a farction of the story. I thought ...

    "Good grief, another rednecked boss throwing his weight around in some small town south of the Mason-Dixon line".

    Concomitant with that thought was the smug, "I'm so glad we aren't so backwards here in NZ".

    To my horror I discover it happened here, in a country I think of as caring for it's workers.

    BTW I do actually eat subway and enjoy them so they can count two less customers for now.

    cheers
    Bart

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • James Green,

    I think the Listener has being going downhill for longer than the last year or so. I have fond recollections of reading it as a kid, when it was in a bigger format with longer articles. They're all short, twee, and populist stories now.

    Both my parents and my grandparents have always talked in revered terms about Holcroft's editorials.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    I'm joining the bloggers' boycott of the Subway chain over a disgraceful employment decision at a Dunedin branch, which saw a teenage employee not only dismissed but prosecuted for theft after she shared her free staff drink with an upset friend.

    Me - I'm refusing to read all blogspot 'blogs after blogger did nothing for ages about that appalling CYFSWatch page.

    Of course, as we all know, the police have a discretion not to bring charges for minor offending, so I'm sure common sense will prevail and the complaint won't be investigated or taken further...

    It was investigated? Sure, but no charges will be laid.

    Charges were laid? Um, what am I supposed to say next?

    Me - I'm refusing to assist the police with any inquiry they have until they drop the charges.

    And the Government may say they have no authority over prosecutions but I'm sure all of us refusing to pay our taxes can induce them to change their minds...

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

  • Riddley Walker,

    nice post Russell. and it's not all plus ça change, plus c’est pareil - it reminds us of what the Listener used to be.

    The two women would do well as spin-doctors for Act or National

    ...ummm. you do know Black's and Clifton's respective partners, no?

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Llewellyn,

    I'm astonished at the Subway thing - not surprised that an employer made a poor decision, which obviously happens too frequently, but gob-smacked at how poorly it has been handled subsequently by both the franchise and the head office.

    I'm sure this will become a textbook PR case on how to damage your brand and reputation needlessly (well to save $4).

    Also an interesting example on how powerful the blogging community is becoming.

    Mt Albert • Since Nov 2006 • 399 posts Report Reply

  • Kadife Blue,

    The subway thing is disgraceful!

    I saw on Scoop that Young Labour is calling for a boycott of Subway and they were on the news protesting in Dunedin. Good on them. This was an appalling treatment of a worker.

    The woman also had aspergers so it was particularly awful that they didn't tell her what the meeting was about where they fired her.

    Since Mar 2007 • 16 posts Report Reply

  • Chaos Buddha,

    With respect to Lang vs. Subway (2007), what more can be done?

    Whilst alliteratively appealing, bloggers boycotting Subway could be a rather too select population to make the necessary dent. Unless the type of person wont to blog is also the type of person wont to stop off for a Subway snack. Or are bloggers more McD's types? It will be interesting to see if a social stance initiated within the blogsphere could gain the momentum outside of it to be noted.

    I myself partake too infrequently for my own absence to be significant, but I feel the need to do something that gets noticed; it would be satisfying to know that the heavy-handers behind all this realise that people are actively acting due to their choices. I fear that too-small a proportion of the population choosing to disenfranchise themselves from the franchise would be but a ripple in the commercial waters . . .

    Nirvana • Since May 2007 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    Chaos, there's been a protest in Dunedin, and one scheduled for chch this weekend. Surely there's a subway outlet in nirvana you can raise a placard next to?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Did you hear about when Buddha walked into Subway? He asked them to make him one with everything.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I bet the Subway people in head office are probably looking very hard at their franchise contracts to try and find a way to make the George St branch stop being so stupid. Talk about an astounding PR gaffe. I think when everyone has first heard it they've done a double-take to make sure that they've heard the facts right.

    Just one point Russell, you say Jackie is a teenage employee. I'm not sure where you got that from, but I first met her some ten years ago at a friends 21st party, and she was certainly late teens at a minimum then. Ten years later, teenage wouldn't be accurate at all.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Brent Jackson,

    Hmmm. I agree that the firing of an employee for a trivial indiscretion is a huge overreaction. I am all for picketing the premises, and trying to convince them to change their mind. But, I think that trying to punish all the other independent Subway franchisees around the country is also an overreaction. My local Subway had absolutely nothing to do with the original decision, and, I suspect, there is absolutely nothing they can do to help rectify the situation. (Though perhaps another Subway store in Dunedin could offer her a job).

    I do not think that people should be punished for guilt by association.

    Cheers,
    Brent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

  • slarty,

    At the risk of facing a sedition charge, I think we should boycott the police too. Any sensible constable would have leaned strongly on the franchise owner not to press charges (there are all sorts of tools to "encourage" irrational people to do sensible things).

    But no, whoever made this call has just tripped nicely into the waiting arms of all those people who said that existing police discretion was enough in the case of s59...

    Perhaps the officer in question was trying to make a political point?

    Franchise agreements always have very strong brand protection clauses in their contract, so corporate Subway are talking out of their arse when they say this is nothing to do with them. Do McDonalds leave their franchisees to their own devices over matters like spilled coffee and body parts planted in burgers? Of course not. They sell one thing - their brand. And they will crawl over broken glass to protect it.

    I'll bet there's someone on their way over from the States as we speak to kick some PR Ass in the NZ office...!

    Since Nov 2006 • 290 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    I can't go to Subway, ever, it's the freaking endless demands. My son used to go to Subway and ask for..."chicken, just chicken on plain bread, that's all."
    Automaton: But what else?
    S: Chicken just chicken on plain bread.
    Insert endless loop here.
    I really admire him for that, he was 9.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    Surely there's a subway outlet in nirvana you can raise a placard next to?

    It wouldn't be Nirvana if there was a Subway there though, would it?

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I myself partake too infrequently for my own absence to be significant, but I feel the need to do something that gets noticed

    Same here, that's why I'm boycotting all of Dunedin!

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I can't go to Subway, ever, it's the freaking endless demands.

    I quite agree - I ordered the foot long steak & cheese - just make it please!

    If I wanted to agonise over every ingredient, I'd have made my own at home.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Andrew I suspect that's what SW is all about, it panders to people who like to order other people about while other people are waiting, it's minion nirvana for people with Cartman syndrome.
    Cartman; asshat make my fr*&^n sandwich and respect ma authorteh!

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

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