Posts by Greville Whittle
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but there were fewer grand speeches from politicians. Big, greedy companies didn't try and get a piece of the action. It wasn't a stage for politicians.
I really liked the post Russell. I've noticed that there has been a huge change in how we talk about WWI over the last twenty years. There has been a whitewashing and mythologizing of WWI as companies and politicians have tried to latch on to importance of Anzac Day for their own ends.
When I was at high school we talked about Anzac Day, and WWI in general, as a disaster and monstrous waste of life. We honoured the dead, while lamenting the shoving match between European powers that lead to war. "Lest we Forget" was a comment about the horrible tragedy of WWI.
I get angry when politicians use the "Died for our freedom" line as if our soldiers were protecting New Zealand from a significant threat. Our freedom wasn't on the line, we were part of the club.
I remember this scene from Blackadder goes Forth being particularly poignant. And yes it annoys me that a comedy show gets it when our own narrative has moved on to turning the war into a heroic effort.
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#dirtypolitics
manyhatted
Whaledump
Five Eyes
Orivida
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To all those getting caught up in the "But your guys did it first" arguments:
Most people here agree it's a big problem, and I think we see it as a problem no matter who is doing it.
I think we should take the line "This problem is happening, we all agree it's bad. Let's do something about it." Let's agree on what standards we expect and make sure that we attempt to fix the problem.
That being said I'm pretty tired of "labour did it too" as a rallying cry as the problem has definitely gotten a lot worse under National, and in the last 2-3 years particularly.
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An hour of week of exposure to religion will not harm your children providing they can discuss what they have absorbed with their parents…as they would discuss all the other subjects they do at school.
Perhaps, instead of getting all hissyfitish about such matters, this energy and concern for our childrens education could be better directed towards improving the efficacy of our engagement with our children.
Thank you for completely dismissing any misgivings I might have about a non-teacher influencing my children about their religion as being hissyfitish.
The school my children go to currently does not have the optional (but not really optional) bible classes. However if I wanted them to have these classes I'm spoiled for choices:
1. We could teach them ourselves.
2. There are at least five churches within a five-ten minute walk from our house. More if we wanted to cross the river into the Hamilton CDB.
3. There are at least two nearby christian primary schools.Taking these classes out of state schools, or having them as an after school activity doesn't make them less available, just a little less convenient.
On the flip-side we made the decision to hold off on any religious education for our kids. Problem for us as parents is that was easier said than done. To borrow a phrase from another conversation "we're soaking in it"; bits and pieces have come through from teachers, relatives, advertising, movies and many other sources.
What I find interesting is the reaction to people not wanting their children to have bible classes. I find it funny you mentioned sport, Rosemary, because the reaction I see is exactly like when I didn't want to play rugby at primary school. Schools are humiliating the children who opt out of these classes.
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To be honest I'm more concerned with the facilitation of OIA requests to the SIS than how the emails etc got passed to Nicky Hager.
I wonder if it'll be on sale in Hamilton tomorrow.
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Hard News: Karen, and being kind, in reply to Sue,
it's not that it gets easier it just gets different
This is true for me as well, you never get back to normal as it were, you just find a new normal. It is our second Christmas without Mum and we are relearning what works for us all.
I want to join the others thanking you for sharing this story Russell, and for providing such a nice place to visit.
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OnPoint: BTW, the NZ Police can use…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Maybe Napier, with it's art deco buildings, can double for Portmeirion?
Be seeing you... -
Hard News: Not good enough, Eden Park, in reply to Scott Chris,
Hi Chris,
Hmm, I don’t know about this one.
In my experience a typical rugby crowd is always going to have a few assholes in it. If you’re of a sensitive disposition, I suggest you don’t go.
A lot of people see this as just "A few guys who were dicks and then didn't shut up when asked, it happens."
This case is worse, they actively targeted her, harassed her and bullied her after she spoke up.
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There are the reports on the ERO website. You can plug a school in and see real data on how kids are improving, what are the schools strengths, what it needs to improve upon, etc.
I think the both Schools and the Ministry have let people down by not standing up and pointing to this while the idea "If not national standards, then how will we know how our kids are going?" has been pushed. I didn't know about it until our daughter's school really promoted it in their newsletter.
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Hard News: Reading the Numbers, in reply to Hilary Stace,
My daughters, aged four and seven, have been watching documentaries on 7. I can't tear them away from anything do to with astronomy or the solar system. Kathlene was raving about volcanos and asteroids after last weeks episode about how Jupiter's gravity effects Earth and the other inner planets.
They're also a big fan of 'Meet the Neighbours', a wildlife one run by DoC (I think) and the craft one (the name escapes me).
I also find the Kid's programming (before 8:00am) to be better than on the other channels; simply by not being toy commercials disguised as cartoon shows.