Posts by Russell Brown
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__Er, no. I'd be fine with it.__
Brown Backs Away From Anti-Goff Gaffe!
LOL.
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I like the way you insert your own sort-of-secret-code suggesting you'd rather see a rabid jackal head up the Labour Party than Goff.
Er, no. I'd be fine with it. I just wonder if it's a racing certainty.
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Some politicians are charismatic and media-savvy; some have it thrust upon them; and others just fake it until they make it. I'd put Clark in the third group, and don't mean it as a snide back-hander.
I'd qualify that. She needed no encouragement to pitch in to a frank and interesting discussion of political philosophy back then, but she was coming to terms with other elements of the political makeover.
When it came time to take her photograph, she sighed and got out the makeup kit. She was quite blunt about the fact that putting on makeup was daft, but something that was a necessary fact of her political role.
Mind you, she has probably come to terms with elements of image now. I can't see her ever going back to the old haircut ...
I suppose you could draw a comparison between the scruffy guy from Planet magazine and an interview on Alt. The other Labour MPs I interviewed for the magazine were quite different: Philip Taito Field struck me as an arrogant bastard even then; Pete Hodgson was quite dismissive; and Mike Moore (as leader of the Opposition) was charismatic and engagingly bonkers.
Speaking of which, brace yourselves for the inevitable (and inevitably bonkers) Mike Moore column this week. The only question is really which one of the two big papers will run it.
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You wouldn’t get that from Mugabe.
Lol.
If, as the polls presently indicate, Helen Clark won't be Prime Minister by the end of the year, I'm looking forward to her post-Prime Ministerial (or even post-political) interviews.
As you point out Damian, she has put up walls and followed strategies to avoid inconveniences like the Goff flap, and this has made her a rather dull interview -- except when she's overseas and not fighting fires at home. I interviewed her for our little street mag back in the early 90s, and she was great value.
Anyway, prediction: if Labour loses, she'll not only vacate the leadership an an orderly fashion, but also step down as MP for Mt Albert, and Phil Twyford will win the subsequent by-election.
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I agree with you in principle dubmugga, if not on all the details. I don't think radio's actually over, just less important for music discovery.
And I talked to a major-label boss last year, about an album he was distributing. His view was that he'd love to be able to take $5000 towards five low-budget videos that he could get on every kid's MySpace than $5000 towards one video for TV.
That's the game.
Oh, and I'm not sure where Brendan is at. Last I heard from him, he was writing two different posts, addressing issues raised in this thread. But he actually does have papers to prepare for his board this week ...
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Think Telecom is bad, they are still in nappies compared to the badness of Telstra.
I think we have to get used to assuming, at least by default, that Telecom is not bad. Because the whole purpose of the separation undertakings is that Telecom won't be bad any more. There are even whistleblower provisions in the way the Independent Oversight Group has been constituted.
If it turns out to be a bunch of crap, then fuck 'em. And I understand Vodafone's annoyance at the sudden movement of the goalposts that is the cabinetisation project. But on a consumer and infrastructure level, new cabinets are good.
That being said, the view here is that operational seperation for this infrastructure is critical
Telstra disagree. They want to build the network, own it and make an 18% after tax profit. It will be interesting to see what pans out.
Hmmm ... Whereas, for infrastructure, 7% pa over 20 years is more the game. A single provider for network, wholesale and retail really might come back to bite them ...
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Although the TCNZ board may have been eyeing up the well-above-book Toll deal and counting their chickens already.
But ... once you've acquired Chorus, even at a regulated price, you've spent all the money you were going to spend on fibre, haven't you? I can see any way it adds up, except for Telecom/Chorus to be the dominant shareholder in FibreCo. That'd be a fun negotiation.
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Kate Moss was a junkie, and at the height of her career and she looked like a junkie. That junkie look is far more disturbing than her size.
I'm not sure she actually was a heroin addict, although she has certainly had more than her share of the party drugs. And the look was more the fault of male stylists and photographers like Vincent Gallo -- and of course, Calvin Klein.
If you actually look at Kate Moss's size and stats (size 4 US 34 1/2-26-34) she is not very thin compared to fashion icons of the past. Kate Moss's waist at 26 inches is 5 inches bigger than Katherine Hepburn's was, 6 inches bigger than Audrey Hepburn's. Her measurements are bigger than most actresses and models of previous generations.
More to the point, she's more natural-looking than many current Hollywood and prime-time TV stars. They're the ones who freak me out.
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The problem with 1 is surely that TCNZ would price it through the roof given they have a locked-in, deep-pocket buyer? Unless it is "light-regulation" whereby everyone agrees to sell at an independently-judged fair value.
It could be done, but I've had some insight lately into the work that's gone into Telecom's undertakings for operation separation. It's eye-watering.
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For starters "her" idea of abolishing parole entirely and then having prisoners subjected to "supervised release" when they've done the full length of their sentence. Talk about missing the point!
I'm pretty sure the supervised release thing is from National's no-parole gimmick policy at the last election.
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