Posts by Russell Brown
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Heh. What did I start?
I should be clear: it was the combination of virtues on Thursday evening I found so winning: great band, wonderful atmosphere and then the chance to stroll over to a nice bar like the Hawthorn for a couple of drinks. It really was great.
I used to go to the Dancing in the Streets shows in Auckland before the council had a panic attack about them, but they tended to be a bit crazier, with more out-of it-people. Which is fun in a different way, but ...
On the other hand, I prefer the weather in Auckland. I know it rains more, but it's warm rain, which certainly wasn't the case on Friday night in Wellington.
Then there's the beaches, both around the city and on the coasts. The array of live music you can go and hear on any given weekend. The brilliant harbour, the sense of connection to the Pacific, the more satisfying museum (fightin' words!), etc ...
Apart from my many friends in the capital, the one thing I'd choose to transport to Auckland is the mighty Moore Wilson, both the fresh and wholesale sides. I have a Moore Wilson card and I don't even live there.
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waking to this was a wee bit of a shock.
Sorry, might have warned you ... I just found the posts interesting, and I didn't want to lead with a rant about the Herald.
Without going into detail, Damian told me a fall-from-grace P story last night that just staggered me.
Mekong Nuea was one of the little places I meant...god I miss the raw prawns, so much so that we've been trying to replicate them.
Oh god, can't resist it ... don't come the raw prawn with me, mate.
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Only if the road builders were prepared to skimp on the mitigation (and find some way of avoiding Pak n Save) would this option be significantly cheaper. And skimping on the mitigation is not what I want..
Which is why the surface option left the picture some time ago. Depicting the tunnel option as some sort of parish-pump vote-buying exercise on the Prime Minister's part is just a silly fantasy.
Completion of the western ring route is a mixed blessing for our household. It'll let me get to the airport from Pt Chev in as little as 15 minutes, but I can also see that it's going to saturate the northwestern motorway, which despite the Motorway Patrol madness, is a quick and efficient way in and out of town at the moment.
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Re the Herald, I am still undecided as to whether or not they have a strong right-wing bias or simply a strong "it's-easier-to-bash-the-government" bias. I suppose given a 9 year Labour reign they could morph into a very similar thing...
They'll be telling themselves it's the latter. And I think the Herald's reporting is still of a high standard -- Audrey Young is the best political reporter in the country, IMHO.
It's the paper's editorial voice (including most of its senior columnists) that's bonkers.
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And the proposed development seemed so poorly conceived that even Rudman was moved to comment: "I'm as wet and soft-centred as they come, but I would have objected too." Objections are not always based on socio-economic prejudice.
I think Clark would have been remiss in her role as a local MP if she hadn't voiced residents' objections to that one. It was a large private boarding house that wanted to triple it its capacity by sticking an apartment block in its front yard, in a suburban street. There was already a demonstrable problem with some of the itinerant residents -- my friend who lived across the road with his daughter would have people creeping around his house.
Clark's choice of words was, as I recall, unfortunate, but the grievance was for real. It went ahead, but I think the owner (the former bass layer for the Commodores!) was forced to reign it in.
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The PM's speech gets a good review from ... Family First?
Although Bob McCoskrie's claiming all the credit ..
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PS: You could also say that Labour hasn't done much new to shout about, and has had various calamities. But Clark's speech today reads very well -- much better than the drab effort last month -- and the policy seems sound and detailed. Key, by comparison, and even bearing in mind his short time to compose a response, was rubbish in the House today.
The Herald editorial column firmly declared Key the winner in a contest of speeches that reached no great heights on either side last month. I'm interested to see how it reads tomorrow.
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I'm sure it will, along with all the other occasions its said all kinds of positive things about the Gummint. Really, leave that kind of low-level paranoia to the Sub-Standard Left where it belongs.
Nope. With the notable exception of Audrey Young, who's an equal-opportunity kneecapper -- Labour has had overwhelmingly hostile op-ed from the Herald in recent months (for sure, not all of it undeserved). And John Key is having a very long honeymoon. I actually can't recall a positive editorial in that time.
Fran O'Sullivan's frankly silly column and John Roughan's early valentine to John Key in last Saturday's paper sort of summed it up.
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Not surprising. John Key has expressed similar sentiments in the past, calling the inclusion of affordable and state houses in the Hobson project "economic vandalism".
The mention of the Hobsonville (not Hobson) development was very deliberate.
Key didn't have his "compassionate conservative" thing down by then, and his lament that "there's the chance to build something pretty good there" -- ie, so long as the poor people are kept well clear -- will no doubt be raised again. And fair enough too, actually.
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The demented anger in the comments under Vernon Small's Stuff blog on the speech is unbelievable.
There is the inevitable claim that "New zealand is one of the few socialist (communist) countries left in the world," of course. Yes, that'll be why we've never been out of the Heritage Foundation's Economic Freedom Index ...
If National does become government later this year, they should be worried about having to meet the expectations of the raving nutter vote.
But Small is prey to curious narratives too. "Politically it is obviously an attempt to counter the compassionate conservatism that is becoming a hallmark of John Key’s leadership," he writes. Um, is there some policy with that, or just a lot of soft press and photo-ops?
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