Hard News: The People's Choice
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OTOH, the Privy Council did us no favours at all in the Clear vs Telecom interconnection dispute. It overruled our Court of Appeal and gave Telecom what amounted to a monopolist's charter. That decision hurt New Zealand.
But upheld the rule of law.
I don't remember a lot about the case, but believe, whilst a decision the other way might have been objectively better, it would also have ignored the law.
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He basically said "The guy is guilty, we know he's done this, he's just done a bunch of things to remove evidence (cleaning and painting the boat etc) so it's going to be hard to convict him."
. . . but if it were that simple, if they "knew" Watson had done it, why couldn't they just use that -- i.e. how they knew -- as evidence?
I mean, I'm sure the police *knew* Solomona didn't use unrequired force to beat some kid up a few years back, just like I'm sure the police *knew* Rickards et al weren't out of line recently . . .
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90soemthing% of the time they get the right person.
I think it is reassuring to believe that. Although for those cases where there is a niggling doubt... I would prefer if those doubts could be explained away.
For instance, Lundy's sub-3 hour round trip - the cellphone calls placed him in Petone right? I've never heard it explained axactly how those cellphone calls work exactly, is there no way he could have engineered it to allow himself more time to get there & back?
Otherwise, it just seems too unlikely to me.
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Big thing here in Wellington is GOVIS and I know Che and others presented there.
Some videos posted at on the GOVIS site. See Tibby, Green and Lane in the flesh.
Eeek! Way not to make rich media available. That link will only get you to the most recent clip; you need to click the GOVIS 2007 link in the left-hand navigation, and then search down the page for the magic word, "Tibby".
Yes, so far as I can tell it's not possible to hotlink to any particular video, and if you try, you link will go to the wrong page altogether.
The clips are WMV: fine, I've got the Flip4Mac components for QuickTime on the Mac. Except it looks like they're using an audio codec that isn't supported by Flip4Mac. I'll go and update the components and see if that helps, but, honestly, what a sucky way to present some potentially excellent resources.
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Does anyone know/remember if David Bain chose for it [burning down the house] to happen? I presume it was his house so he must have consented.
No, it was the father's sister I believe. Yes, very strange - surely David was the heir?
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Personally, I don't ever bother with speculation about the outcome of court cases because I am always bemused by the way generally these trials last weeks yet everyone is an expert on the outcome based on 3 minutes of coverage on the infotainment that passes for news.
What has outraged me though has been the very fact a bunch of British judges, who may not have even ever stepped foot in New Zealand, presume to pass judgment on our legal system.
Today all sorts of people having been lamenting the passing of the role of the privy council in interferring in our internal affairs.
To me, that exposes a cringingly colonial mindset of people who want other countries to hold our hand.Either we are serious about being a sovereign nation capable of running our own judicial system or we are just a bunch of insecure white settlers pathetically clinging to the last wreckage of a long gone Empire.
We should be mature enough as a nation to stand on our own two feet without running off to Mummy England's courts.
Bring on a republic ASAP!
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Yes, so far as I can tell it's not possible to hotlink to any particular video, and if you try, you link will go to the wrong page altogether.
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What has outraged me though has been the very fact a bunch of British judges, who may not have even ever stepped foot in New Zealand, presume to pass judgment on our legal system.
But didn't we borrow our one from their one?
And in answer to an earlier question: two of the Appeal Court judges who ruled against Bain's previous appeal are now on the new Supreme Court; so no, I don't think they would have ruled the same as the Privvy Council.
But yes:
Bring on a republic ASAP!
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In case anybody's interested, the full text of the Lords judgement is online. Even just a skim makes for interesting reading. That, and one of the dudes was Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. Does David have anything to say about that?
Also, I can't find an interweb reference for this, but I'm sure it was on nine-to-noon this morning, but I believe someone said Margaret Bain left the house late the night before, withdrew all the cash she could from the joint account, and put it in her own account. That's right up there with burning the house down really.
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On ya Russell!
Neil...why in hell's name didn't he just shut up. The first quotes from RG got people talking, why did he need to come back and revisit. Sir Howard is a silly old twit, full of his own self importance and has been for years, who made some vaguely embarrassing records a long time ago, followed by a career in MOR covers....he was no Phil Warren (who WAS a great man)...although his work for Maori education was commendable...but the point is, there was no need to reply, and if he hadn't Neil would have stayed the respected but opinionated master craftsman he is...it did him no favours.
As you say, he may hold a grudge, which is sad, as Neil has contributed a lot as both a flag waver and as a financial contributor to the NZ music industry. He's an intelligent and forthright guy and I think he does have a point, and its not that far from the one Graham made in his blog. It's just that it's now getting lost amongst the petty rhetoric over Brash. I was at that show too and I felt embarrassed but you need to balance that with the gratitude the industry as a whole feels towards Clark and Tizard for the complete change of mindset in government towards what was, politically, largely ignored before their time. Brash, rightly or wrongly, represented a potential return to the bad old days.
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But upheld the rule of law.
I don't remember a lot about the case, but believe, whilst a decision the other way might have been objectively better, it would also have ignored the law.
Except, unfortunately, we seem to be the only country that actually had to live with the Baumol-Willig rule, rather than simply have it as something for economists to muse about.
The Appeal Court rejected Baumol-Willig as "obviously anti-competitive" and suggested that everyone go back to the drawing board. Both parties went to the Privy Council - Clear seeking damages and Telecom seeking to overturn the decision.
At issue was the meaning of parts of the Commerce Act. Ministry of Commerce officials strongly opposed Telecom's case on the grounds that it would prevent competition, but the PC decided to apply an economic principle that did just that.
I am of course no expert, but it seems to have been more a matter of deciding what to do about the law than simply upholding it.
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Sir Howard is a silly old twit, full of his own self importance and has been for years, who made some vaguely embarrassing records a long time ago
You need to see Don't Let It Get You.
Morrison is fantastic - you will wonder what on earth happened after that.
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Blair may have "f####ked up" in a lot of areas most notably Iraq and the whole Bush/US relationship, however the sight of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness sitting at the same table is not something I thought I would see in my lifetime.
While many figures played important roles in the process, notably David Trimble, Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams, I believe Blair’s commitment while PM kept the process alive and progressed it to this weeks formation of a “power sharing” government in Belfast.
That will be his legacy -
I've seen that Andrew....it was actually on telly once if I recall. I saw it when Jan had the Classic Cinema when he actually used to show classic cinema.
Bain....yes always been an odd smell from that one. But we have a few, and if Arthur Thomas showed us anything it was the that the police are capable of all sorts of things to get their man.
The ugly whiff of homophobia in the NZ justice system still makes me shudder...Peter Ellis, Phillip Sturm...
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While many figures played important roles in the process, notably David Trimble, Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams, I believe Blair’s commitment while PM kept the process alive and progressed it to this weeks formation of a “power sharing” government in Belfast.
That will be his legacyTrue to a point, but England is a tabloid newspaper society. Whilst the intelligensia may appreciate his legacy, the hoi polloi will just think he's a prat who lost it.
I think he was generally great, but let hinmself down when he allowed his religion to cloud his judgement. I predict a lucrative future on various American/International foundations of a 'family values' nature.
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This is a good blog site, but kind of dominated by testosterone...where all the ladies?
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where 'are' all the ladies....see we are not all good writers!
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While many figures played important roles in the process, notably David Trimble, Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams, I believe Blair’s commitment while PM kept the process alive and progressed it to this weeks formation of a “power sharing” government in Belfast.
That will be his legacyAgreed. What happened this week was remarkable, and Balir can take credit for it.
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What has outraged me though has been the very fact a bunch of British judges, who may not have even ever stepped foot in New Zealand, presume to pass judgment on our legal system.
Well, your outrage is based on ignorance, obviously. It has been convention for decades that the top judges from an overseas case's home appeal court sit on cases at the Privy Council.
Many of NZ's leading jurists have served on the council. As have judges from many commonwealth juristictions.
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Perhaps Blair was using Northern Ireland as a template for Iraq? Have terrorists in your own back yard (or the threat thereof), show a bit of military steel in their own backyard and then force the situation into a healthy conversation. Just a thought...
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Except it looks like they're using an audio codec that isn't supported by Flip4Mac.
Oh good, I was thinking it was just a Linux thing. Will go off and hunt down some DRM busting codecs now.
Che, if I had been there I would certainly have said hi. Chris Daish did a very nice job on our behalf though.
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I was at that show too and I felt embarrassed but you need to balance that with the gratitude the industry as a whole feels towards Clark and Tizard for the complete change of mindset in government towards what was, politically, largely ignored before their time. Brash, rightly or wrongly, represented a potential return to the bad old days.
Um, what 'balance'? It would be fair comment to say Steve Maharey isn't exactly a universally adored figure in broadcasting circles, and there's some very heated debate around the government's broadcasting policy (or lack of, depending on your POV). None of which, in my prissy opinion, makes being an obnoxious arse - and a wee bit of a bully - any less objectionable.
And a little hint from the Lobbying 101 playbook: Most people don't find being urinated on in front of a large audience endearing. Something to keep in mind if you're trying to make friends and influence people around the corridors of power.
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Blair can also take credit for the humanitarian interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo. Although the US did much of the military work it was Blair that convinced Clinton that something had to be done about Milosevic.
The British public aren't being quite so hard on him as some here - Poll shows he will leave with voters' respect.
Quite remarkable for any politician after 10 years at the top.
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Will go off and hunt down some DRM busting codecs now.
GOVIS turns me into a criminal. It's a funny old world.
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