Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Tragedy into Crisis?

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  • James Littlewood*,

    When our mate Nicole was run down on Ponsonby Rd by a couple of shore boys having a race at 10 oclock on a tuesday morning, the cops were no problem. They spent a long time preparing a strong case.

    The driver who made impact got 1 year. His mate, who was racing another car, got acquited. To some, this seemed very light. For myself, I can't imagine what it's like having a death on your hands followed up with a year in the clink (albeit with time off etc.).

    However, it does seem odd that the prosecution failed to result in a sentence any longer than a moderate dope dealing rap.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 410 posts Report

  • Tom Semmens,

    Should say "tightly restrict wholesale liquor hours"

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Point two: Any industry/trade connection was the sex industry (as the PM has called to limit retailing), specifically Street Prostitution made up 3.

    But you can't argue that street prostitution causes crime the way that alcohol abuse does. Its sole role in those cases was to provide vulnerable victims.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Mark Graham,

    No mention of the evil 'P' yet...

    Also - small point Russ, but the 1951 Waterfront Lockout was not a strike...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report

  • Kit McLean,

    Curiously enough, Christchurch, with roughly the same population as Manukau City, has more than twice as many liquor licences.

    I heard this point of discussion from a Manurewa CB member this morning. She seemed to be trying to justify the number of liquor stores in Manurewa. I don't buy it. Surely accessibility to liquor stores is the point here, rather than liquor stores per popluation? Christchurch has its licences spread over 1400sqkm (although I'm sure most of the population is in a much smaller area), Manurewa's are over 50sqkm.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • James Littlewood*,

    Tom

    I hear people speaking with a kind of new-nation pride about acres of sheep farm having been cleared of the woolly residents and replaced with the industrio-cultural miracle that is sauvignon blanc.

    So, we're replacing animal protein with alcohol. Roll on the good times (hey, at least it doesn't leach methane, unless you drink too much of it).

    I hate to sound like a wowser, I really do. But I have to agree with you that we live in a society that promotes alcohol almost as a fundamental human right. The posher, the better, but anything's better than none, right.

    I don't know what's already stopping local authorities from imposing their own restrictions on liquor licences, as we do in Waitakere. The Trusts now plug millions and millions back into charities every year.

    What is Helen proposing that will enable any TLA to do anything more?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 410 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    From the CCTV it seems to me the reason for the shooting was to kill, not to further facilate the robbery. I could be wrong, but murder wasn't the means it was an end in itself.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • Rob Hosking,

    According to a presentation by senior police bods to a select committee earlier this year, somewhere between 50-70 % (yeah, I know, pretty broad) (pun not intended but will leave it anyway) of all Police work is dealing with someone who is drunk. Not just violent crime.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    I don't know what's already stopping local authorities from imposing their own restrictions on liquor licences, as we do in Waitakere. The Trusts now plug millions and millions back into charities every year.

    Apart from the restriction of the number of licences, I can't really see that the licensing trusts themselves do anything to help. The off-licences are generally dreadful, and the bars provide a steady income courtesy of that other scourge, pokies. The supermarkets still sell booze, just via a jack-up with the trusts.

    I voted against trusts when Grey Lynn had to choose and I don't regret that at all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Rob Hosking,

    ...mind you I wouldn't want to see us go the way of Australia at the moment.

    I see the new govt has issued a definition of binge drinking: four standard glasses of beer in one day.

    Which tells me either Australia has changed one hell of a lot, or Rudd's govt has a death wish.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report

  • James Littlewood*,

    The off-licences are generally dreadful, and the bars provide a steady income courtesy of that other scourge, pokies. The supermarkets still sell booze, just via a jack-up with the trusts.

    True, they do tend towards the dreadful. And it's insane that they specialise in precisely the kind of muck that liquor companies use to target youthful binge drinkers.

    But limiting the number of licences is precisely the goal. Regarding the pokies, I think The Trusts enables the reduction of that particular scourge, although I'm open to correction on that ...

    Still, ownership is important. Who's the more desirable profiteer: Foodstuffs or local philanthropy? Who's the desirable beneficiary: private stock holders or local charities?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 410 posts Report

  • Tom Beard,

    Curiously enough, Christchurch, with roughly the same population as Manukau City, has more than twice as many liquor licences.

    Christchurch, despite best efforts to turn it into a doughnut of suburban malls with a desolate hole in the middle, is still something resembling a city with an inner-city entertainment district. Manukau, AFAIK, is not so much a city (except in administrative terms) as a fairly arbitrary collection of suburbs in the greater Auckland conurbation, so the comparison is a bit of a stretch.

    I'm not sure who said that places in Chritchurch were selling liquor 24/7: I wish that were the case here. Proper bottlestores in central Wellington all seem to close at 11, and by then or midnight the Starmarts & the like have all brought down the shutters on their pitiful wine shelves because the squeaky-voiced teens they employ at night aren't allowed to sell alcohol.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    Besides, Russell, has your local Liquorland in Pt Chev ever given you a free torch or first aid kit or fire extinguisher? :)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Tom Beard,

    I see the new govt has issued a definition of binge drinking: four standard glasses of beer in one day.

    Strewth, cobber! That's not a binge, it's breakfast!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    The breakfast of champions:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brown's_Schooldays

    GrandDad preffered whiskey though.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • James Littlewood*,

    Never mind Liquoland. Us westies go to "King Dick's".

    Yeayaah!

    Ahem. But back to the chat ...

    While the Aussie measures seem a tad draconian, perhaps it's a matter of what you're used to. There was a time when smoking was an unassailable right. Now even the brits can't do it in pubs.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 410 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    Southland Licencing Trust are to be admired for the work they've done.
    3 yrs support to SIT Free education, now self funding from central taxation - and under attack.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    What's wrong with knocking on the back door of the pub at 1am and adding an extra $5 as I did when I was 15yrs old?

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • Paul Williams,

    I see the new govt has issued a definition of binge drinking: four standard glasses of beer in one day.

    Which tells me either Australia has changed one hell of a lot, or Rudd's govt has a death wish.

    More the latter, if either.

    Rudd's a pretty puritanical character by comparison with earlier Labor leaders however he's got this wrong. If Australia has a drink-problem, and it probably does in the same way NZ does, then this is not going to help because it's not credible. Kids binge-drinking RTDs are not amenable to this kind of campaign; adults might be, but this definition is inconsistent with a lot of the material already in the public domain. Sydney radio gave huge airplay to a study late last year that suggested moderate drinking, 3 - 5 standard drinks per night for men, on no more than 5 days a week, was within healthy limits.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Leigh Kennaway,

    … the real blame for Mr Singh's death lies with whoever cold-bloodedly shot him, not with the police. Focusing on what the police did is a distraction, the kind of distraction we go in for in this country, as if the police have to not only do their job, but compensate for the harm done....

    Isn't that the Kiwi way of thinking? We're all entitled to compensation, especially if it's from a big, easy target like the gummint. They're responsible for ensuring I continue to have a comfortable easy life, regardless of what is happening overseas to petrol and food prices, interest rates etc, and for paying me heaps if anything goes wrong. If the harm that occurs to me is by someone who has been involved in any way with any government department or social agency ever it's really their fault.
    Big sigh.

    sunny Pt Chevalier • Since Mar 2008 • 40 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    No matter what the drug, people generally stop when they run out. That is how it works in the real world.

    In your 'real world', perhaps. But the one I was living in as an alcoholic (and well before you could buy wine by the case down the local Foodtown) its a little more complicated. Seriously, why not go the whole hog and ban alcohol and treat home-brewers like P cooks? I know that's a total reductio ad absurdum, but I don't think you can really affect a deep chance in social attitudes with facile knee-jerking.

    AFAIC, a good start would be actually enforcing the licensing laws we already have on the books.

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

  • Russell Brown,

    Some tidbits from the police crime statistics:

    - The homicide rate in Counties Manukau was 70% down last year -- a total of 8, or an incidence of 0.2 per 10,000 people. Robberies were down too.

    - OTOH, there were 17 homicides in Wellington District in 2007, or 0.4 per 10,000.

    - Homicides were in single figures in Manukau City, Auckland, Waitemata, Canterbury and various other areas.

    There's some stuff you won't be reading in the news ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    I'm infavour of an ACC type fund for victims.
    The thought being that the victims are not further victimised by the failure of the criminal to pay compensation.
    The criminal is then to repay the govt.
    I think Finland runs a system like this and it takes a bit of the sting out of SST.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • Tom Beard,

    There's some stuff you won't be reading in the news ...

    Didn't you know, Russell? Crime's not measured in incidences per 10,000, but in column inches.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    I think Finland runs a system like this and it takes a bit of the sting out of SST.

    I think National is proposing something similar, but the numbers don't come anywhere near adding up.

    It's also worth noting that the most recent international crime victimisation survey gave New Zealand a stellar rating for victim support. Best in the world, in fact.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

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