Posts by Craig Ranapia
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meep... God, there's part of me that want to ask Betty-Spaghetti if he's ever been to a football match -- or the opera, for that matter. (And let's not even start on the freak-a-palooza that's Italian politics.) Passion is a wonderful thing, but like many other wonderful things it can turn from a virtue to a vice (or outright hysterical psychosis) remarkably quickly.
But I've also got to muttern under my breath, "ouch... the truth doesn't stop being true because the messenger's an obnoxious tosser". Like you, what really gets on my goat is the bullying pseudo-patriotism that kicks in -- am I really a bad Kiwi because the Americas Cup strikes me as the most effective non-prescription sedative out there? Because I don't want to rend my garments every time the ABs or Black Ferns lose a game? That I'm open to the possibility that local books, films, art, theatre and music are flat out shit as often as those created anywhere else in the world?
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It's not so classy to gloat.
Certainly not, Russell, and dare I say it there are some sections of the MSM (and bloggers, come to that) who don't have any moral high ground to posture on where Langwell or North and South is concerned. The Herald - and its Sunday tabloid - might want to be the first in line for some quiet self-reflection, because I've heard too many stories about that organ that sound more like Eli Roth-does-__The Office__ than anything else.
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Well, gee thanks Craig, considering I was correcting your inaccurate portrait on devolution vs centralisation I find that a little rich.
Don: I don't see how I can portray something - accurately or otherwise - I didn't actually mention and don't actually have much interest or specialist knowedge of. Hey, I was thinking about Blair's clear pattern of ignoring or getting rid of apolitical civil servants and replacing them with political appointees, the far from healthy absence of open debate either in Parliament or within the Labour party itself, a nasty culture of spin and smear Blair has the bare-faced cheek to complain about now, etc.
If saying all of the above creep me out makes me a militant Scarillite, where does one collect one's red flag and attractive cloth cap? No, I don't think Tony Blair is Satan incarnate - and Iraq certainly isn't the only issue in the world - but let's not put the man up for secular sainthood quite yet.
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Blair just delivered a speech about the British media, which was also interesting.
Was it ever... though I've got to admit the response from Independent editor Simon Kelner is every bit as lprecious and disingenuous in my view. The Independent is no more - but no less, complicit in the culture of New Labour spin as anyone else, and it would be nice if someone in the British media had the moral courage to own up. Otherwise, I feel another cry of 'Coddingtonswallop!' coming on.
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You may not have noticed...
Well, Don, I'm going to call Coddingstonswallop on most of your post. Sorry, but I think it's rather dishonest to lump all critics of Blair in with the Militant Tendency or the Colonel Blimps on the right. And, FFS, when does the statute of limitations run out on blaming the other lot for everything you do wrong? I know the answer for Blair and Helen Clark is 'never', but really...
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Don:
Well, you do have a point - very few politicians are quite as bad as their detractors would have you believe, or as saintly as their fans claim. (Since Thatcher has been mentioned in dispatches, I'd recommend John Campbell's excellent biography as a careful attempt to separate the myth of the 'Iron Lady' from the reality.)
And like some folks up-thread, I don't think you have to be some mad Hooray Henry or Old Lab class warrior to ask what exactly have people got for the erosion of civil liberties, the increasing politicisation of the civil service and concentration of power away from Parliament and into Downing Street, questionable improvements in core public services and infrastructure, etc. But, simon, it's just not good enough to cop out with 'Thatcher made me do it.' Not after seventeen years.
If even asking those questions is signs of political immaturity, then I'd respectfully suggest the Queen isn't the one who needs saving in the UK.
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<i>I've had to resort to bitorrents</i>
Meh... quite spooky what riches are out there if you want to spend no more than $20 on a shiny new DVD. Yeah, I know it's going to get Doctors Cullen and Bollard upset, but if I can tip the Kiwi economy into the abyss with the occasional armload of discount DVDs...
And when are we getting the new series of Doctor Who, Fiona The Wise and All-Knowing? Freema Agyeman hasn't been lynched by mobs of Billie Piper fans, and it looks like the last three episodes are going to be spectacular: Derek Jacobi! Captain Jack is back! The lovely John (Life on Mars) Simm as the mysterious Mister Harold Saxon, who (of course) is up to no good at all...
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Governments don't promulgate philosophies, they run countries.
*cough* Up to a point, Lord Copper. Perhaps the electorate is entitled to a certain degree of cynicism about folks who campaigned against 'Tory sleaze' a decade ago, and are now facing credible and persistent allegations of selling peerages for campaign cash? In the UK, as in New Zealand, there's a legitimate argument to be had around whether increasingly stage-managed 'presidential' politics is a healthy thing. But it's a little rich of Blairites or the UK Labour Party in general to complain when the political/media culture they did so much to create ultimately comes back to bite them in the arse.
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Craig: I noted your subtle inclusion of economic nationalism in the same breath as jingoism and immigrant-bashing. One can very much be economic nationalist and an inclusive multiculturalist.
*giggle* I didn't think I was being subtle at all, but if you cab pull of that magic trick please tell the likes of Anderton, Peters, Turia et. al. Now, to be fair, do I think you can be a scrupulous and fair-minded critic of free trade, open markets and a liberal immigration framework? Yes, and I'd go further and say they're public policy debates we need to have. But you can only have those debates when, to be blunt, objective reality gets a look in. Sorry, but I remember when Peters was up and down the country frothing about an 'Asian Invasion' of little yellow folks who were stealing our country out from under us -- and it just wasn't true. Let's say that again: IT JUST WASN'T TRUE.
Coddington, for all her sins, is nowadays in no more a position to influence trade or immigration or foreign policy than you or me. There are far too many respectable xenophobes still in Parliament who do, and it looks increasingly likely they're going to have enormous influence over the shape of the next government. No matter who wins.
That's worth thinking about -- and I hope the media is actually going to step up and decide what's more important. A sensational headline, or actually contributing to a thoughtful debate that leads to good public pollicy.
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<qupte>Well, there's Richard Long</quote>
Sorry, I don't consider op-ed columns - or what I do on PA Radio for that matter - to be journalism. Then again, I'm old school enough to draw a meaningful distinction between news and opinion.
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