Posts by Bob Munro
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Speaking during a 10-day visit to London the Dalai Lama said he was "quite optimistic" about the future.
China was changing through "wider contact with outside world," he said.
He cited China's efforts to deal with the recent earthquake that left tens of thousands of people dead in Sichuan province as evidence.
"This I think (is) one sign that the People's Republic of China is changing, I think at least decade by decade," he said.And yet the communication blackout from Tibet is pretty complete. I can find virtually nothing on line from ethnic Tibetans in Tibet, save the second hand reports from the likes of Radio Free Asia and daring reporters like
Nicholas D.Kristof
Has anybody else had more luck? -
So has anyone here actually met Key - I just can't get a read on him - is he real? acting? what does he believe in?
Please excuse the familial connection but the political guy at Canta blogged about this.
The biggest surprise in meeting Key was actually how…small he seemed. Usually with politicians you get a sense they KNOW they are someone important and demand you acknowledge that in someway (see Douglas and the door). With Key, there was no sense that he carried himself as if he thought he was important. From the moment he got out of the car he was friendly, chatty (he and my editor ended up talking about Ali Vs Liston and The Flight of The Concords), and an all around nice guy.
But he did appear a bit challenged in the coordination stakes.
So there I am, a little star struck to be meeting John Key, and we’re walking up to the Canta office, up the flight of stairs in the UCSA building when suddenly, BAM, Key trips and falls on the stairs, and comes quite close to hitting his head.
Awwwwwwwkward.
So there you have it, the guys a political genius, he’s probably going to win the election, but he can’t quite master the art of walking up stairs.
Finally, the weakness Labour has been waiting for. -
Jon Favreau is cute as a little button.
Is this guy the beginning of the millennials, the xkcd generation starting to make their mark? If so, bring them on.
-
The Bag also riffs on the phenomenon in Portland.
No one has been more skeptical than I have about the celebrity factor in politics. (And, in this case, idolatry might be the more accurate construct.) As the pendulum turns and gains speed, however, away from the last eight year of punishment, what we see exemplified is Obama as the focal point, conduit and recipient of great relief and (at least the stirrings of) a tremendous emotional release.
-
What I got from Ronnie was that if you just keep doing what you do with enthusiasm and enjoyment and don't resign yourself, then life might just go on as something to enjoy and not endure.
The musicians certainly seem to be able to do it. Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, born 1927, played the American Music Theater in Lancaster PA on 5 April, part of his regular touring schedule. Willie Nelson, just turned 75, starts a Coast to Coast tour in July and that whipper snapper Bob Dylan, 67 this Saturday, has just began his Spring tour at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts and will take in places as far apart as Reykjavik, Iceland and St. Petersburg, Russia before taking a breather mid August after the last concert at the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, That’s about 70 concerts since he was here in August last year.
-
Video confirming the crowd size.
-
75,000 people - to listen to a politician. In Portland, Oregon. Population 568,380.
Obama, an Illinois senator, drew his biggest crowd to date in Portland, estimated by a fire and rescue official at 75,000 people. Oregon also votes on Tuesday.
-
A garden spade made in Sheffield England, presumably before The Second World War, was brought into an exhibition of appropriated symbols here in Christchurch a few years ago. It had a small logo stamped into it which included a swastika and the words 'Kia Ora'. We tried to get to the bottom of it by contacting the Sheffield museum but had no reply.
-
From page 1.
They invited us to attend an "H Block Committee" ... That was our only foray into IRA sympathising
British artist and Turner prize winner Steve McQueen has premiered
his film about the events in H block in 1981 at Cannes this week.Bobby Sands is played by Michael Fassbender.
Shots of Sands' skeletal figure, ravaged by hunger and covered in sores, are some of the most challenging in recent memory.
Fassbender went on a medically monitored crash diet to film the scenes, much to the horror of those around him.
"After I started putting weight back on, my doctor told me that the last time I'd been in, the receptionist came up to him and said 'he's really ill isn't he? He's dying of cancer or something,'" he recalls.
"It was weird, because I was kind of happy when I heard that." -
I wish I could report that the stabbing victim married the wife of the new neighbour; but alas, their relationship -- although very intimate -- did not survive the court case.
Ah, so this was a crime passionnel . I trust the stabber received a suitably light sentence?