Posts by daleaway

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  • Hard News: The Bottom is a Magic Place,

    Palmer's time as PM was very much taken up with the resource management law reform and the local government administration reform. Good, solid clear-eyed infrastructural stuff. Rationalisation of truckloads of messy uncoordinated old statutes and admin systems that had growed like Topsy.

    Are you all too young to remember the disappearance of sundry quangos, the rabbit boards and their ilk? I expect so.

    The resource management law reform took three years and amalgamated nearly 100 statutes and their assorted regulations. Huge effort. Massive consultation. A whole new approach to land and water use. Palmer was making about three or four speeches a week on it - I know because he took against one of his speechwriters at the outset and I got landed with the writing.

    Even though it was a National administration who eventually passed the Resource Management Act in 1991, it was Palmer's baby. He started it shortly after the Ministry for the Environment was established in 1987 - he was Deputy PM at the time and our first Minister for the Environment.

    He was also very involved with the work on the NZ Bill of Rights (1990) and other constitutional matters, and pursued upgrading the law of the sea and fisheries quota establishment. Caused quite a to-do in the UN with his anti-driftnetting stance which later became widely upheld. A little ahead of his time in so many ways.

    I think the boy did good. Probably better than a lot of other NZers have done with their "15 minutes" anyway!

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Speaker: Family First, Blowjob Later,

    (cough)

    McCoskrie, not McCroskie

    (pendantic cough)

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Radiation: Desperate Heroes,

    I think there's a generation of young women who think that because a few top jobs are currently in female hands, life is going to offer them a smooth and rosy path. They've never known it otherwise.

    Light is not going to dawn for a while.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Hard News: Fake Fiona Rae,

    Dear Faux Fiona and Echt Fiona (and Craig)

    1 tbs manuka or other honey
    2 tbs whiskey
    Juice one lemon
    slices of raw ginger

    Top with boiling water and drink when cool enough.
    You'll still have the virus but will feel strangely relaxed about it.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Cracker: Do real Afghans have walnuts on…,

    An interesting response from their CEO.

    I agree with the guy who offers NL kudos for having the courage to paint a big target on their backs .... because we'll certainly all be watching them now.

    And if they succeed in showing so much social responsibility that it makes that an aspect of the competitive commercial environment which their rivals have to match or better, then I'll be the first in the queue to support NL.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Cracker: Do real Afghans have walnuts on…,

    We thought the voiceover was Jeremy Wells. But we've been wrong before ...

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Hard News: Spammer until proven innocent,

    I share an email address with my husband because we are a team. The team belongs to some of the same organisations and charities, purchases goods and services from the same tradespeople, writes to and receives mail from the same rellies/inlaws, etc etc, and it is just more convenient if they can contact us both at once.

    We maintain separate email addresses for our separate hobbies (a lot of online chess games in his case) and for indulging those friends who persist in sending prodigious quantities of those "you gotta see this great wmv" emails to either of us. In other words, we try to stay out of each other's hair where our individual interests could give rise to an annoying component in the emails.

    No biggie. When you've been married as long as we have, things get a bit symbiotic. S'nice.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Tariana Turia has been a cracked record of late defending the indefensible.

    But fair play to her, last night she was on the news getting stuck into kohanga reo administration and saying kohanga reo administering bodies must be held accountable. She sounded quite cross with them. Good for her. She gained status in my eyes.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Cracker: Do real Afghans have walnuts on…,

    That was the conclusion formed on a number of other websites, Emma.

    Personally, we've always known them as "Noel Leeming, exit screaming" in our house and I can't say the Brockovich contribution will make any difference to that.

    She was conned.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Leo's Clips for Friday,

    Thanks Leo. Come in again sometime - Fridays are a good choice.

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

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