Posts by Harry Musgrave

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  • Hard News: The not-so-Evil Empire,

    My gripe with apple? That I had to install iTunes on my home PC in order to load music onto my daughter's iPod. Every other music player I have acquired over the years has happily accepted files from the original music management software I set up when I first moved into mp3.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: MMP Review #1: The Party…,

    Well argued. Halfway through your post I was thinking that 3 was a good minimum number of MPs and I'm happy to see you came to the same conclusion.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Cause they've got ... personality!, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    And now the only competition that means anything is the RWC. And if we didn't/don't win it we're failures!

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Coalition of Losers,

    An historic example that I think supports Graeme's arguement was the first MMP election. At that time the so-called 'Toxic Trio' - Labour, Alliance and NZ First were pretty clearly aligned against National, Act and United during the election campaign. I recall a leader's debate where they six leaders were framed in exactly that way - with two opposing sets of three.

    National was clearly going to get the most seats but no-one thought that Labour shouldn't try and form a government. We didn't worry too much about people voting for NZ First because 'it didn't matter too much which of the three you voted for'.

    Except of course, it did - with NZ First getting many MPs and choosing - to a lot of people's consternation - to form a government with National.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Busytown: She loves you, YA, YA, YA!,

    Other female SF writers I like:
    CJ Cherryh
    RM Meluch
    Maria Doria Russell

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Speaker: Knuckleball,

    A thought about diving - which I hate seeing - but:

    Do you ever see a referee award a free kick or penalty when the player stays on his feet?

    One example that comes to mind is Zico's effort in I think the 86 world cup. He dribbles through a mass of defenders in the penalty area and just fails to get the ball in the net. The fact that his shirt was in tatters at the end of it wouldn't convince the referee that he'd been fouled. You didn't fall over - it can't have been illegal!

    The player being tackled has to make an instantaneous decsion to either fall over or to attempt to carry on and hope that he can still do something useful after being impeded.

    Difficult to resolve but until free kicks start being awarded when the player stays on his feet (or even avoids the challenge) players are going to have to 'choose' to fall over.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • OnPoint: From the floor of the Tax…,

    Keith Rankin - not at all a right wing guy - has been proposing a flat tax system with a univeral wage for some years. He had a third component which was a kind of supplement for those people not able to work (sickness beneficiarys etc).

    His theory was we could all agree on the tax structure and then we could argue politically as to what rate the flat tax should be (I think he was talking of about 42%) and what the universal wage would be.
    Seems eminently sensible to me and I was surprised to see Gareth Morgan suggesting something so similar.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    I smell the sweet scent of a CIR.

    Should a joint as part of good parental relaxation or individual medication be a criminal offence in NZ?

    Great idea Michael.
    Sounds to me what a CIR should be for. Politicians don't have the cojones to support decriminilisation of any form. If they had a referendum showing some support for it then they might be able to strap some on.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report

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