Posts by Rickai
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Feijoa crumble is pretty good - the feijoas go all pink. I also make a feijoa chutney from the Digby Law cookbook which goes really well with cheese and curry. Not together.
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I've got a great mental image of Winston standing on Whananaki South Beach, staring out at the Poor Knights, cell phone in one hand, durry in his other, slightly hungover from a session with the whanau last night, talking to breakfast tv with a huge grin on his face. He'll be awful and spectacular to watch this year. He'll cream in with 7%.
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Reagan and Thatcher's position on Mandela was deplorable but the Cold War context must be considered. For them, the dominant enemy was the Soviet Union and Communism. Anyone supportive of Communism was, by association, an enemy. In their simplistic winner-take-all mindset, the ANC and Mandela's connections to Communists, legitimised their position. I agree with Hooton - Reagan and Thatcher were instrumental in bringing tyranny to an end, they just seemed to lack the balance, grace and dignity of Mandela.
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Hard News: Not good enough, Eden Park, in reply to Tom Semmens,
Not that this is exactly on point but I really don't think we should give Eden Park security staff much credit for acting like decent human beings - this from an email I sent to a radio sport journo back in March (yes I'm still pissed off!!!):
During the final session of the cricket on Saturday I was out walking my 5 month old daughter with her pushchair. As I live in Kingsland, and still had my pass out from when I'd left during the second session, I thought I'd pop in and watch the beginning of England's innings.
At the gate I was told that no pushchairs were allowed. I said that I was just going to be watching from the closest vantage point in the concourse for 20 minutes and would be visible to the gate at all times. I was refused entry again. The explanation given was that it would cause a hazard and Eden Park had a "policy" against pushchairs.
I said I understood completely the logic for a packed house, but, given the tiny crowd, I asked that an exception be made. There were, literally, a dozen people in view on that enormous area overlooking Eden Park #2. Still the answer was no. I could leave the pushchair by the guard's superior's office and carry my daughter. I said I didn't have a sunhat for her and thought it would just be much easier for everyone if I used the pushchair. A couple of young English supporters helped me to argue my case against the security guard. He (and I) started to lose patience. Thoughts of some poor bullied kid at school now asserting his position of authority crossed my mind. I asked to speak to his boss. He pointed to the office where his boss was sitting shaking his head.
Madness. I felt like I was is a scene from Faulty Towers. I was so pissed off by this stage that I turned and walked away. I will admit I gave these muppets a verbal spray.
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Hard News: Judging the judges, in reply to Grant McDougall,
When Tony Molloy said judges were self-important he was spot on. Maybe it's a result of the massive pay cut most take when they join the bench. This also from the man who had these words to say about the profession as he closed his attack on Russell McVeagh in his book "Thirty Pieces of Silver" (love the title!!!):
“The proper province of the lawyer is not power or self-aggrandizement. It is not to abuse process and grind people down. It is not to deprive them of the full disclosure and the complete justice to which they have every claim. It is not sharp practice. It is not half truths. It is not covert deals. It is not the amassing of great art collections.”
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There is almost certainly some glide time happening at the port. I remember chatting to several workers at a POAL Americas Cup function a few years ago who laughed at how "we get paid for sitting around with our thumbs up our arses half the time". I'm not doubting the skills and experience needed to operate the machinery at the port, I just think that getting paid for, say, 40 hours a week, should involve actually working something near 40 hours. Also, IMHO, true casualisation to me means be called by your employer the night before and offered x number of hours for the next day. Or not, as the case may be. Being guaranteed 40 hours and having weeks, if not months, notice of shifts is not ideal, but hardly equates to the lot of your average KFC worker. Not that I was going to argue this when I ran past the picket line early Saturday morning!
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As good as it gets.
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Be sure to allude to Southland's Ranfurly Shield loss when you talk to Mr Paris.
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Does anyone feel a little sad looking at Roger Douglas...? Like watching a once vibrant disliked relative start losing the plot?
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Wilson was too respectful to finish Douglas off on natrad tonight. Did he talk about the failed 1996 Labour leadership coup and twice refer to 1966? Too weird.