Posts by Richard Llewellyn
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Strange days for journalism, in reply to Chris Waugh,
just on the question of NZ media in China, I know for sure that a prominent NZ columnist has been up to China several times this year akready and has written extensively in the main daily print publication here on trade, politics, business and media interests between China and New Zealand. And she does this every year. Usually alongside ministerial visits. With complete editorial independence.
-
Speaker: The Voyage: The Engine Room…, in reply to Fooman,
Tangentially, in response to Fooman, I was part of a discussion with a very well-informed UK aviation official recently, who remarked that his recent conversations with Boeing and Airbus suggest that their engineers believe the march of aviation technology is nearing a wall, and that without changes to fundamental parameters (fuel sources etc) it may not be possible to eke out much more efficiency, speed, performance etc out of existing aircraft engines. I have no idea if this is true though ...
-
I think part of the issue with the Crafar decision is that it sends uncertain signals to foreign investors.
If we accept that NZ needs some *some* degree of foreign investment/capital (given we are small, a long way from most places, and have a small population base yet we still want as a nation first-world health, education, lifestyle etc), then a sensible policy needs to be formed around what type of foreign investment do we want/need, and what don't we want/need, how it can be consistently applied etc.
At the moment I would suggest that the tos and fros of the Crafar decision (and the heat that it has generated) illustrates that we haven't yet got to that point. Most rational offshore investors (at least the ones I speak to), are comfortable playing by the given investment rules of any country, but they do want to be certain that the rules won't change at half-time, or be applied differently to different foreign investors.
There is a strong perception off-shore - true or not - that where the foreign investor comes from is a factor in the decision as to if their capital is wanted.
-
From Mt Albert way..
For the time-poor, Muzza's Pies, best pies in Auckland
Cosset for coffee
Seamart for fresh fish
New world in Mt Roskill for groceries
Farro for the dinner party shop
Name escapes me, but a great little middle eastern deli on new north road that makes their own stuff on site
-
Field Theory: All Blacks v Wallabies Tensionfest, in reply to Andre,
Yeah - Kaino has been Jerry-plus all tournament, awesome.
-
Haydn - I started my response with your brief for it to be light-hearted in mind ..... but, sadly, all too many of my strongest and most vivid RWC memories remain associated with Those Games That Cannot Ever Be Watched Again
There is the 1995 game in which we had invented a new brand of football which involved being fitter, faster and having Jonah. Total Rugby. And then were 'blindsided' by a team playing for a much greater cause than ours ....
Then there is the 1999 game .... Jonah back playing well, slightly flattering scoreline at half-time but hey this game looks in the bag, I can relax from the safety of the bar I was drinking in then whammo total gallic carnage.
Roll on 2003, and Mitch & Robbies 'journey' ..... and soundly beaten by a more committed Wallaby team. I still remember the management sending out a young Jerry Collins to face the media about where it all went wrong (and what ever happened to Jerry anyway? seems to have been a very strange end to a distinguished AB career)
And finally, 2007, and the game that truly will Never EVER Be Watched Again. I still don't comprehend it. Granted the opposition were immense, but that was just one of those weird experiences where it felt like we could park ourselves on the opposition line for days a time with 90% of possession without ever looking like winning a penalty or breaching their line. Just the weirdest game ever.
But onto happier times ....... to paraphrase someone wiser than me, I've got over my man-crush on the fortunes (or not) of the AB's. I'm loving this RWC. I loved taking my kids to the Fiji v Samoa game .... I'm learning how to love the game again through their eyes. Being a fan, not a fanatic. Some of the crowd on Sunday were magnificent, before, during and after the game, regardless of result.
-
Sorry - meant to say just before half-time, so at least they saw half the game.
I couldn't imagine Phoenix fans in Wellington taking kindly to being prevented from taking their shirts off :)
-
I was at the Ireland v Australia game on Saturday (fantastic atmosphere by the way, and the rendition of Whisky in the Jar that rang around the stadium at the end sent some Irish fans nearby into a joyous frenzy), but I have to comment about one of the worse pieces of security heavy-handedness I've ever seen.
Three young Wallaby fans stripped down to speedos and surf-livesaving helmets early into the game. Good on them, given the temperature they were much braver than me. The crowd got into the craic, plenty of Irish fans had their photos taken with the intrepid trio, all good banter. Just before kick-off, security and police arrived, and simply hooked them. No 'put your shirts on lads', no 'can you stop having so much fun with the other fans', no 'see how NZ can put on a good-natured RWC', just gone. Evicted. Despite the pleas of the Irish and Wallaby fans around them. I was astonished at the approach.
-
Hard News: Complaint and culture, in reply to Sacha,
Thanks Sacha, that Michael Nielson article is one the best things I've ever read on the disruptive impact of change.
-
Hard News: Complaint and culture, in reply to Sacha,
I learnt many years ago that when you see something in the media that you have personal knowledge of, it's most likely wrong or distorted in some respect.
Agreed. But given relative lack of public-service oriented media outlets and the pressures on private media businesses of things like globalisation, digitisation, commercialisation, commoditisation, competition, profit motives etc, sadly not surprising.