Posts by Mr Mark
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(RICH LOCK)
No problem, Rich. A formal apology and agreement to buy back any unsold copies of your poem will do the trick.....Unless, of course, you wanna go for the full Witi defence and claim some sort of 'cutting-edge' innovation ?
Something along the lines of: "So I think what my Rodney Hide poem is, is the the beginning of a new hybrid poem in which you have the problematics of acknowledgement of Monty Python material and inspirations.....I'm having to try and figure out creative ways of addressing all this and I think that what we will end up with is in fact a very, very exciting new approach to creating a framework to these new Rodney Hide/Dennis Moore hybrid poems.....and, I mean, what I really like about this whole controversy is that it has engaged me in issues of ownership of property..."
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(RICH LOCK):"... What a bitch, what a bitch, what a bitch."
Reminds me of Monty Python's old "Dennis Moore" skit from the 1970s...."Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, riding through the Glen/ Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, with his band of men/ He steals from the poor, and gives to the rich/ Silly Bitch,... Silly Bitch,... Silly Bitch." At which point, Dennis Moore (played by John Cleese, riding a horse and in full highwayman gear), turns to the camera in shock and mouths "What th' ? !!!".
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Giovanni :"...the Christian Democrats never could."
Yeah, that was strange, almost the entire far north of Italy was a Christian Dem stronghold (the so-called "White-Belt"), but Milan bucked the trend and voted strongly for the Italian Socialist Party, back before - what was it called, "Tangentopolli" ? - the massive corruption scandal of the early 1990s. Craxi's PSI appear to have been socialists in name only though, close to the CDs and fairly corrupt. But then that was true of most of the parties (possibly excepting, or partially excepting, the Communists).Hilary :"...the Berlusconis were probably (Giovanni's) neighbours."
Oh Bloody hell !!!, haven't there been revelations of Berlusconi's links to the mafioso recently ? Does that mean I can now expect a horse's head in my bed, Giovanni ? -
Fair enough, Giovanni, I'll bow to your expertise (it was a little impertinent of me. Only went to Italy for the first time this year :-). Got very close to Milan - Lakes Como, Lugano, Maggiore - but didn't quite get there).
But I will repeat my earlier point that Berlusconi's People of Liberty Party received below average support in Milan (33% compared to 37% nationally). So, I'm still not sure it can be considered a hardcore electoral stronghold, despite its obvious strategic importance. Interestingly, the Left received about the same level of support as Berlusconi's POL in Milan, but his Right coalition bloc as a whole won the city easily because of the significant Northern League vote.
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(BENWILSON):" I think (Chch has) fallen into a bit of a stereotype problem of being a bit of a racist skinhead hangout. People like that catch undue attention."
Yeah, I think you're right Ben, Chch does seem to periodically beat up on itself over racism and I just wonder if it's entirely deserved ? Admittedly, my data comes from more than 25 years ago - and I certainly don't want to deny the kind of abuse that Pollywog and others have clearly had to put up with - but I do wonder if we're actually talking about a racist minority that is certainly LOUDER but also SMALLER than in other centres ? However, I'm hesitant to go too far, because obviously the contemporary real-life experience of Maori and Pacificas and Asians in Chch counts for a little more than old poll breakdowns !!!But I'll give you one or two more, just to make my general point:
In another early 1980s poll, a very large majority of people replied "No" to the question:"Do you think Maori are discriminated against or disadvantaged ?." In this poll every single town and city recorded a majority "No". But once again Chch was at the progressive end, with the highest "Yes" response (45%) - only slightly behind the "No" response (49%). Compare this with Auckland where the "Yes" response was 33%.And what's interesting in regard to the Springbok Tour is that Chch was standing out even in the early 1970s. Polls on attitudes toward the (ultimately cancelled) 1973 Springbok Tour revealed that an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders supported the Tour. But opposition in Chch (though still a minority) was about 10 percentage points higher than in most other centres. Journalists at the time speculated that this was probably the corollary of concern in Chch over the up-coming 1974 Commonwealth Games, rather than on anti-apartheid grounds. But, in fact, as mentioned in my earlier post, Chch continued to stand out throughout the 1970s and early 1980s on the issue.
I should stress that I'm not from Chch :-). Wellingtonian born and bred and probably spent a grand total of a mere 5 or 6 weeks of my life in Chch (mainly holidays). It's just I'm beginning to think they're a little bit hard-done-by when it comes to accusations of rabid racism.
Incidently, I gather that South Canterbury has long had a reputation for Far-Right tendencies. (presumably Ashburton, Temuka and Timaru ? The last of these, incidently, wasn't meant to convey irony :-)). Certainly one of the key figures of the PRO-Apartheid movement in New Zealand in the early 1970s was a National Front guy from Ashburton. The scary thing is he was also a Primary School teacher and I think (trying to remember the article I recently read) a Headmaster too !!!
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Bloody hell !!!, my second post. Already I'm an old-timer.
(PHILIPMATTHEWS):"...two-thirds of Chch residents opposed the tour."
Exactly. And there are some other, almost entirely-neglected, statistics from certain polls of the time which emphasise just how much Chch stood out from other centres (including other major cities) for its opposition to the Tour - polls not mentioned in any publication to date (but I'll have to keep stum because I'm heading for publication myself and, selfish glory-seeking bastard that I am, don't want anyone to steal my thunder).
On attitudes to Maori, an early 1980s poll found a significant majority of New Zealanders wanted to abolish the Maori electorates. Of a whole range of cities and towns surveyed, one and only one - Chch - expressed majority support for retaining the seats (and it was a fairly substantial majority at that. Major contrast, once again, with the rest of New Zealand).
I'd suggest that, at least during that period, Chch Labour voters were among the most progressive people in the Country. (based on a reading of various poll demographic breakdowns).(POLLYWOG):"...don't be frightened of the PA natives, their bark is worse than their bite :)."
Hi, Pollywog. Yeah I emphasised the 'deferential' bit at the start of my first post after reading the long and rather intriguing debate involving you and some old hands on the LET"S LYNCH THE LIBERALS thread - what I increasingly tend to think of now as "Pollywog-gate" :-) (bordering on "Ben.Shirmer-gate"). But it all ended well. No blood spilt, so that's the main thing. -
Woo Hooooo !!! (as Homer Simpson once said), my FIRST EVER Hardnews post. My God, it feels fan-BLOODY-tastic !!!
And as a newbie (the Hard News equivalent of a small, naive, glossy-eyed baby arctic fur seal), I'll sincerely try to be appropriately deferential to the site's old-timers (doff my cap every now and then).
My reaction to 2 comments:
(JUST THINKING):"...in OZ I've never come across the routine racism I see often in Christchurch."
Yeah, you often hear that about Chch. But I wonder if the city simply has a more active and visible - rather than larger - Far Right ? Some research I've been doing recently suggests that the people of Chch - at least in the late 1970s/early 1980s - tended, in fact, to be more progressive on racial issues (attitudes to Maori, 1981 Springbok Tour) than people in other New Zealand cities and towns.(GIOVANNI TISO):"Milan is the centre of Berlusconi's empire...that's where the hardcore of his electoral support resides."
Ahhhh, but have you any evidence to back that up, Giovanni ? I mean, yeah of course his ownership of AC Milan (I'm an Inter fan, myself :-) ) and his early background in the city, but I'm not so sure you can call Milan a real stronghold for either (1) Berlusconi's People of Liberty party (POL) or (2) his broader Right-wing Coalition bloc as a whole.A whole swathe of northern Italy - especially the smaller, wealthy cities in Lombardy, the Veneto and, to a lesser extent, Piedmont - gave the Berlusconi Right coalition more support (close to or more than 60%) than Milan (around 52%) in 2008. The coalition also took more than 60% in large parts of staunchly conservative/Catholic Sicily and in the Latina province (southern hinterland of Rome).
And in terms of Berlusconi's own party, both Milan and indeed the whole of Lombardy actually gave the POL BELOW average support at the last election (33% compared to 37% nationally). The real hardcore of Berlusconi/POL sentiment is in the south - Sicily (47%), Campania (49%), Puglia (46%). They also do quite well in parts of Rome and its hinterland (Lazio region (1) 41%, Lazio region (2) 49%).