Posts by Russell Brown
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Meanwhile Family Fist (sic) believes Forcing your kid to play rugby is good parenting.
Can FF find a put-upon "good parent" who isn't a textbook example of a man with anger problems knocking his kids around?
To be fair to the rugby dad, he pled guilty and went on an anger management course. He appears to be shouldering the responsibility that McCroskie is desperate to direct anywhere else.
I'm just waiting for one of the usual suspects to implicitly blame the child. Or did I miss that already?
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OK, I keep hearing this but when is someone like Martin van Beynen going to engage in some honest self-analysis of the media and their role in turning David Bain from the devil incarnate to some wronged angel?
Martin never did that, so he can't engage in "self-analysis" about it. And it's not his job to be a media commentator either. That's my gig!
With all due respect to Jonathan Maze, I didn't notice the Christchurch Press taking a notably more sceptical view of proceedings than the evil "Auckland-based media honchos".
Isn't the publication of this piece an example of an informed, sceptical view?
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Jackson is so much better in the rare shows where it's just him and one guest - like the interviews with Clark and Key before the election.
To be honest, I found it quite hard to steer Willie away from pointless conflict when he appeared on a Media7 panel.
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Now that's a song I'd proudly stand up and sing.
Hell yes. It's my favourite pre-game "anthem".
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Good that Masaga is getting a go. I would have been keen for them to try Ranger as a one off for the Italy game in the place of Joe. He looked really good in a super 14 match that I saw. Wouldn't hurt to bring him up for a bit of All Black experience.
I'd certainly have had Ranger in there ahead of Masaga. His skill level and reading of the game are streets ahead.
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I'm told that in the late-1970s through early 1980s it was actually useful.
It was, but people like Gordon Dryden brought a very different philosophy to the radio than most of today's hosts.
I frequently quote him, in the context of explaining Public Address, on what he used to tell his callers in the 70s:
"Don't give me your opinion. Give me your experience."
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Coming late to this, but I think a salient point here is that Comesky's star profile does not necessarily make him a good defence lawyer.
He badly let down Millie Elder when he sought a discharge on her drug charges:
Elder pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine or P and drug utensils and allowing her Auckland flat to be used for drugs last year. Her lawyer Chris Comesky told the judge a drug conviction would ruin her plans to visit her biological father in Greece and hinder her career.
"She is also interested in a career in the tour boat industry," Comeskey said. "All of that is based out of the United States and Canada." But the judge said there was no evidence that that was true.
"There is no evidence before me of the direct consequences of convictions," said Judge Anne Kiernan. "Such as inability to travel to another country, effect on employment or inability to pursue a chosen career."
So he asked for a discharge on the grounds that convictions would unduly affect her future -- but didn't offer any evidence that that would be the case, and was duly smacked down by the judge. That's just basic stuff.
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Hope you are feeling better and back into action, Russell.
Feeling better, yes. Back into action would be rather overstating things.
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“Cost per bed” had nothing to do with beds, or cells. It's just the total cost of the prison divided by the prisoners it's designed to hold.
I'm staggered at how many people don't understand this very basic point.
I spent part of yesterday lying in a hospital bed listening to Danny Watson and a chorus of morons on Newstalk ZB work themselves into a frenzy over how it could possibly cost $634,000 (or $380,000 if you use one o' them containers) to build one prison cell. No one seemed to grasp it.
Okay, I'm not looking for those people to make important decisions, lead the country, etc. But shouldn't the Prime Minister be able to understand it?
Mr Key said prisons were running out capacity and cheaper options had to be found to house prisoners.
Under the previous government it had cost more than $600,000 to build a single new prison cell."That is an outrageous sum of money, that is more than the average cost of the average New Zealand home. I can't see that the public are going to support a situation where prisoners are going to be put in a cell that cost more than there house," Mr Key said.
Is Stupidity one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
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Having been obliged to pop back to hospital early today for a cup of morphine and a lie-down, I was obliged to listen to Danny Watson's talkback show on Newstalk ZB.
Danny was fired up about the container idea, demanding to know how a container-based cell could cost even $380,000, and taking calls from blokes who reckoned they could do it cheaper.
When one chap rang up and said that everyone who'd committed three strikes should be locked up "and throw away the key for ever -- they wouldn't even have names any more" Danny congratulated him: "Our listeners will love your ideas!"
But no one seemed to grasp that it doesn't cost $643,000 to build a single prison cell (or $380,000 with containers).
The new Meremere prison works out at around $643,000 per bed . Can't anyone with a functioning intellect grasp that the per bed cost also includes kitchens, sanitary facilities, a prison infirmary, security facilities and the various other things required by a pirson of a given size?
Apparently not, when John Key can say this:
Mr Key said prisons were running out capacity and cheaper options had to be found to house prisoners.
Under the previous government it had cost more than $600,000 to build a single new prison cell.
"That is an outrageous sum of money, that is more than the average cost of the average New Zealand home. I can't see that the public are going to support a situation where prisoners are going to be put in a cell that cost more than there house," Mr Key said.
Note also the awesome spelling mistake in the Herald's NZPA story. Does everyone have stupid flu or something?
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