Posts by Euan Mason
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: The future: be careful what…, in reply to Peter Darlington,
The Premier League had 80% of weekend games and all weekday games though so we were all seeing our teams practically every week, every game, and it was easily recordable via MySky. Hard to see where the improvement is with this.
The big improvement is the price. With Sky you are forced to buy loads of content that you don't necessarily want before you even begin paying for sport broadcasts. It will be interesting to see what happens on the price front as consumers make up their minds.
-
Field Theory: Part of the Game, in reply to BenWilson,
"It was common when I played waterpolo for penalties to be given for even raising one's eyebrows about a referee's call."
I would have raised my eyebrows under water.
-
In reply to FletcherB:
““Entirely professional” doesn’t even allow for some flirting.
Are you sure? If I and a prostitute have an “entirely professional” relationship… I expect some sweet-talking or flattery could well be exchanged in either direction, no? Just because it’s not required doesn’t mean it’s ruled out entirely.”
Yes that occured to me, but in this context PD ruled out anything sexual, unless, of course, he was lying. Add the evidence that the other two leaky prospects have been exonerated and a partial release of the document’s information without actually releasing the document is more likely.
-
Legal Beagle: D-Day for Dunne (updated), in reply to Paul Campbell,
"And what do you mean by “professional relationship”?
ION: today’s Tremain
http://garricktremain.com/media/PD1.jpg"But "entirely professional" has much less wiggle room. You can tell someone key bits of a report without actually releasing it to them. "Entirely professional" doesn't even allow for some flirting.
Love the cartoon, even though it is slightly cruel. :)
-
Experienced politicians are usually very careful with their words. “I did not have sex with that woman” comes to mind. So, PD assured the PM that he didn’t leak the report. He also says his relationship with Vance is entirely professional. The two other potential leakers are completely cleared. On the other hand, he admits to behaving with poor judgement and resigns. So, PD, what is your precise definition of, “leak the report”?
-
Hard News: Media3: We have much to discuss, in reply to Russell Brown,
Ok. Missed the Maori Council's response, and also Metiria Turei's. They have abandoned the moral high ground.
-
"But do the lefties who wanted Al Nisbet’s unpleasant, unfunny newspaper cartoons put down with the full force of law have any moral high ground of their own here?"
I must have missed that. Who called for an actual prosecution of Al Nisbet? Sure the cartoons were unhelpful, borderline racist and not funny, but I didn't see anyone calling in the cops.
-
OnPoint: What Andrew Geddis Said, But…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Tom, none of that works against a determined government. Parliament is sovereign and can override any previous legislation, including the 1689 Bill Of Rights.
To illustrate what our unconstitution allows, you might think that there must be an election in 18 months and that's entrenched? Nah. The government could, in response to a 'crisis', pass a CERA-style measure allowing it to raise taxes and legislate by edict, prorogue the now redundant parliament and continue in office indefinitely. The parliamentary term would end, sure, but the government could just prevent any election from taking place and a new parliament being summoned.
And the GCSB could let the PM know who to lock up in order to mute protest. Yeah, wonderful.
-
Well said, Keith. This is scary stuff, and we can't just stand by and say nothing.
-
Just out of interest, here is the link to an Australian study that suggests ~ 40% of pokie revenue comes from gambling addicts, even though they form only a small percentage of the gambling population. This appears to be the study used by the Problem Gambling Foundation.
http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/95691/08-chapter5.pdf
Fascinating discussion here, and great post, Russell. I agree that the parties' responses are different, and I'm appalled at the deal with SkyCity.