Posts by Craig Ranapia
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December Alpha November Yoyo Lima - as a radio personality of growing repute I would expect you to be erring on the side of accuracy these days.
Fair point, Don, and it's a rather odd block to have - I went to school with a Darryl McLauchlan but as far as I know, he's a very happy primary teacher in South London, is utterly disinterested in New Zealand politics (which might explain why he's such a cheery bird), and has been for years.
Still, I do think you're veering off into Wishart-lite land with, I find it incredibly odd that Key and English chose to give their first in-depth interview to Wishart. Was this some kind of payback? I must admit I prefer to waste my discretionary income on chocolate and tobacco, so I've not read this 'in-depth' interview you speak of, but I'm pretty sure I've read a few other interviews with Key and English over the years.
Still, I think you've got a point about suing. It's the old Catch-22, isn't it? If you sue, you risk just giving the slime a whole new audience. The nature of the beast is even if you win (by no means certain), a defamation suit can consume years of your life, as well as huge amounts of money. (Just look at David Lange for a particularly sad example.)
OTOH, you never stop bullies by ducking, and just hoping they move on to someone else. Politicians, its fair to say, are generally people with very thick skins who have no illusions about the downside of public life. Others who get dragged into tabloid smear campaigns aren't.
Can't say I'd relish a legal brawl with Ian Wishart, but no matter how low my opinion of Cullen and Benson Pope those allegations against them are vile. If true, they should be char-grilled goneburgers. If not, and in their positions, I'd want Wishart's nuts for ear-bobs by any means possible.
Candy & Jason will be watching your career trajectory with interest.
Hum... if I had any idea what that meant, I'd be very disturbed. :)
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Not that this should need saying, but whatever my opinion of Messers Cullen and Benson-Pope (low to non-existent), I would be quite happy to kick in some dosh towards their legal costs if they sue Investigate -- and every other media outlet that's repeated the claims made against them - for libel.
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You know very well that Wishart has pursued an obsessive ideologically-driven campaign against the current government.
Yes, just and you and Darryl know very well the man has pursued an obsessive, ideologically-driven campaign against the two previous ones (__Paradise Conspiracy__ anyone?), and I'm sure he'll do exactly the same against the next.
I used to have to drink an awful lot to reach Investigate-like levels of paranoia (but would pass out fairly quickly, so little harm done), but I just don't see any evidence that Wishart's m.o. has noticeably changed over the last two decades or so. Just the targets.
Of course, it would help enormously if the supposedly 'respectable' MSM weren't quite so willing to spread the muck without doing the basic fact-checking Mr. Wishart doesn't bother with.
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The other way of looking at it is that there were far more senior policemen than him there, who may actually have seen the video. I think it would have been more incumbent on them to take action than a 23 year-old constable.
Hum... I take your point, as far as it goes, but I don't recall Commissioner Broad saying in recent weeks that playing pass the parcel up the chain of command is an appropriate response to matter like this. Without access to a transcript of his interview on Morning Report today, I think he said he'd expect a very different response from any constable in the same situation today.
I'll also throw something else into the pot: Where the hell would the Wood Commission into Police Corruption in New South Wales have gotten if it was dependent on the co-operation of those at the top of the greasy pole "taking action"?
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After all, can anyone over the age of twelve categorically state that they've never been to a party at which objectionable material MIGHT have been present?
Darryl, of course I bloody can't. Then again, I do own around two dozen restricted DVDs (though no porn, sorry) as part of my collection which I don't show (illegally) to minors, or would regard as appropriate entertainment at any kind of fundraiser in my home.
I also recently loaned from a friend a copy of Alan Moore and Melinda Grebbie's sexually explicit graphic novel Lost Girls, which I didn't leave lying around on the coffee table for rather obvious reasons.
And just an FYI, Darryl, Mr. Wishart was around long before the election of the Fifth Labour Government. Trying to paint this man as some kind of National Party sock puppet is (at best) a wee bit disingenuous.
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Interestingly, there were some far more senior police also present at the gathering, including the late, and well-respected Gordon Hunter. You'd think it would be more up to them to act than a 23yo constable.
Well, one would hope - but I don't think passing the parcel up the chain of command would be looked on too kindly by Commissioner Broad or Police management nowadays. Nor should it.
I'd also add that if you look at the honour roll of whistle-blowers when it comes to corruption and misconduct in the civil service, it's seldom the people at the top of the greasy pole. Before I take the moral Phar Lap out of a trot, could I honestly say I'd have behaved any differently from Constable Broad. I really don't know. There was just something about the Commissioner of Police's performance on Morning Report today that made me uncomfortable.
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Neil:
I don't know if Russell is going to address this in a future post (personally I can't think about it without feeling sick), but I wasn't awfully impressed by Howard Broad's performance either.
FFS. nobody would mistake me for the Virgin Mary in a line-up - not after a good chunk of my life passed in a haze of booze, promiscuous buggery and low living in disreputable company. But I do draw the line at shrugging one's shoulders at a video of a man stuffing a chicken in a manner not to be seen on the Food Channel being shown in my hone (the one part of Wishart's story Broad has not denied, BTW), then saying 'well I was young, mistakes were made, I thought my career would suffer, it would never be tolerated on my watch, blah blah blah'.
Sorry for sounding like a Polly Priss, but when you're New Zealand's top cop - and incidentally, New Zealand's highest paid civil servant - doesn't good judgment and personal probity come into the mix somewhere?
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The perps were actors: Oliver Driver and Anthony Starr, who was particularly boorish.
Fair cop, Russell, and given Mr. Driver's shall we say rather prickly reaction to professional and personal criticism one might think he'd be a little more gracious towards others. As for Mr. Starr - love Outrageous Fortune, but I don't see a brilliant career in stand-up in his future.
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I was at that show too and I felt embarrassed but you need to balance that with the gratitude the industry as a whole feels towards Clark and Tizard for the complete change of mindset in government towards what was, politically, largely ignored before their time. Brash, rightly or wrongly, represented a potential return to the bad old days.
Um, what 'balance'? It would be fair comment to say Steve Maharey isn't exactly a universally adored figure in broadcasting circles, and there's some very heated debate around the government's broadcasting policy (or lack of, depending on your POV). None of which, in my prissy opinion, makes being an obnoxious arse - and a wee bit of a bully - any less objectionable.
And a little hint from the Lobbying 101 playbook: Most people don't find being urinated on in front of a large audience endearing. Something to keep in mind if you're trying to make friends and influence people around the corridors of power.
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If I want to hear comedy repeated, I'll buy the tape...
Or if you're a fan of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'll recite it to you for a modest fee. :)
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