Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Up Front: Reading Murder Books, in reply to Emma Hart,
This is an odd co-incidence, because I was just thinking that of my four 'favourite books', P&P is the only one that isn't in some way a mystery.
Since you mentioned P.D. James, if you track down a copy of her 'diary as an oblique memoir' Time To Be In Earnest, it includes the text of a fascinating speech she gave to the AGM of the Jane Austen Society considering Emma as a mystery.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Gobshite vs Adele, in reply to Russell Brown,
The recent 'Adele at the BBC' show was good too. I like the way she doesn't worry about rough edges in her vocal performance. She's real.
As I think I said to you on Twitter at the time, 'Hello' isn't my musical cup of tea but I can see what she's trying to do and she does it well. And sorry, Noel, but at least when Adele has an album or tour to promote she doesn't go straight to the "go trolling for some pathetic but attention-getting celebrity feud" play. "Not because I have any sort of agenda," my arse.
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Speaker: Judith Collins and the…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think it was the implication of prison rape (“with a cellmate”) that was really beyond the pale. That’s a long way below the standard of character we should expect in a minister of the Crown.
It's below what we should expect of anyone. Ever. This crap is textbook rape culture and it just has to stop.
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I look forward to the Taxpayer Onion's strident denunciation of public money wasted by local government attempts to spite-fuck (and financially cripple) critics though the courts. Courts, needs I add, that already have significant backlogs.
Won't hold my breath waiting, though.
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Hard News: The Police Ten 7 State, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
…and frankly the more disparate eyes that parse their data, the more chance of other patterns or conclusions that can be drawn from a jealously guarded pool of information.
This is the really bewildering thing. You'd think the Police of all people would welcome sound research informing evidence-based policy that works. OK, will it contain things that are hard to hear or politically embarrassing? Damn near certainly, but this is where you put on your blue serge grown-up pants, deal with it and get on with your job.
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One other thing, I rag on the Herald a lot, and it richly deserves ever drop of bile so I'm very happy to extend well-earned kudos to them for publishing Jarrod Gilbert's column at all.
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Hard News: The Police Ten 7 State, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Sorry, I missed the bit where Labour has the power to instruct the Commissioner to stop censoring academics. Could you explain it to me, please?
If I ever say anything so absurd, please feel free to redeem this voucher for one free slap. But being the cynical cuss that I am, the most shocking things about Jarrod's column is that he wrote it in the first place and the Herald published it. It's naive in the extreme to think the Police don't have a profound and long-standing culture of hostility to scrutiny and a hell of a lot of enablers that didn't magically appear after the 2008 election.
Very few journos will ever say so on the record, for obvious reasons, but reality shows aren't the only place where Police co-operation comes with strings attached. Try being effective on the courts or crime rounds when you're tagged as having an "attitude problem" towards the Police, and if your calls are being answered at all its long after your more agreeable colleagues have their copy handed to them. There's a constant and real tension there, and while a certain amount of it is just part of the job (everyone's trying to game you for favorable coverage, so deal with it) I don't think it's acceptable from the Police any more than you do.
And I also have a certain degree of sympathy for any poor bastard (or bitch) who ends up with the Police portfolio, not matter what tint the government is. Just try suggesting the Police aren't flawless paragons when you've got a Greg O'Connor lurking in the wings to smear even the mildest critic as a crim-coddling cop-hater. It would take real political courage to do that with any consistency, and I'm not seeing a lot of that anywhere. (Count this as one of the few occasions I'd be happy to be proved wrong.)
As I said before, I agree with you that the Police Commissioner should be in the Minister's office getting his knuckles rapped. And not for the first time. But I don't think even beginning to wind back a toxic Police culture will be that easy.
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Hard News: The Police Ten 7 State, in reply to Matthew Poole,
It’s a shame the current regime is not a fan of transparency or honesty in government, as evidenced by the way the OIA is gamed by all holders of ministerial warrants. The only way shit like this stops is if the Minister says “Oi! You! NO!"
The current regime, Matthew? I’m glad you think the Police’s profoundly dysfunctional culture of hostility to scrutiny and criticism didn’t exist before 2008. Suspect there’s a long line of civilians, academics, journalists and ex-Police Ministers who’ve had Greg O’Connor go feral on them who’d beg to differ.
ETA: Not that I disagree with you, Matthew, that Michael Wioodhouse should (but probably won't) be reading Mike Bush the riot act. But I think you're underestimating how deeply entrenched this crap is, and how well trained politicians of all stripes are to roll over at the threat of being called cop-haters.
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I might be wrong, but I don’t anticipate Jarrod’s employers at the University of Canterbury will die in a ditch over this.
Easy for me to say, but they really should – if the University of Canterbury won’t stand up for the integrity of their academic work and public access to public data, pardon my French but what’s the fucking point of having universities at all?
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Hard News: The Message, in reply to Glenn Pearce,
You watch, Goff will remain as MP for Roskill for several months after he becomes mayor until after April then both the major parties will agree to forgo the by-election.
But what you’re ignoring is the political embarrassment – because it’s hopelessly naive to think Goff wouldn’t be mocked as a double-dipping hypocrite every time he showed his face in the House. Whatever else I think of Goff and Andrew Little, they’re not stupid. Or at least not that kind of stupid.
And why would National do shit to avoid a by-election? Considering Mount Roskill's never been remotely close to marginal, all you really need to do is select someone who isn't a barking loon and will make a respectable showing. Sure, by-elections are never cheap but I'm not seeing any down side. Labour should welcome it too -- free media with a low fuck-up risk.