Posts by Matthew Poole
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Russell Brown,
Some interesting wording in that. The first impression is that if guys were close enough to an end wall they might've been protected because of the pressure wave being deflected off compressed air, but it doesn't then explain that that protection is entirely from the pressure wave and doesn't extend to methane and CO collecting and suffocating the miners.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to SteveH,
It's hard to tell. The robot from Utah is, apparently, winging its way down under courtesy of AirNZ, but no mention made of support staff.
-
Hard News: I'm not a "f***ing cyclist".…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Sloan was anti-cyclist when he edited Craccum. I wrote a letter complaining about the worse-than-useless showers in the Quad locker room and got a very condescending response due to my status as a cyclist. He did at least have the grace to give me a bar tab at Shadz, but the disdain for cyclists was apparent even then.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Andre Alessi,
It’s stating the obvious at this point, but opinions as to whether Sup. Knowles managed this event as well as he could, or whether Pike Co. took all necessary precautions before the accident, aren’t going to be decided by independent enquiries after the fact.
Certainly the inquest (because it's pretty certain that there's going to have to be one) is going to be quite the circus. Yapping journos baying at Knowles' heels, Whittall being bailed up by the media hounds, the imagery creates itself.
One aspect I don't know anything about, and can only guess at, is how any decision will be made that the occupants of the mine cannot possibly have survived and all efforts will cease. At some point it may have to happen, and a call like that is far over Knowles' pay grade even if he is the IC. Would it have to be decided by the Chief Coroner? The chief medical officer of the West Coast DHB? A combination? Application to the District (or High) Court?
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
There are two bodies entombed at Strongman because they couldn't be recovered, even for all the heroic work done in the hours immediately after the explosion. We have local precedent.
What that does say, though, is that Pike River may well be closed for good. If it's too dangerous to go in after people, it's definitely too dangerous to go in after coal. The explosion's guesstimated location is pretty much smack in the middle of the active diggings, if I'm reading the map right.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Heather W.,
9.34am: The bore hole being drilled at Pike River has broken through into the mine.
In its report, Newstalk ZB said a rush of hot gas came through when the final layer of rock was broken.
If the gas was still hot at the end of a 150m journey through rock, that bodes very ill for the conditions inside the mine itself :|
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Is it just because we lacked the critical mass that we were unable to retain more than a token vestige of a genuine public TV broadcaster?
I don't think so. I think it's more that TPTB have decided that we're in a desperate race to the bottom for tax rates and that paying for real investigative journalism out of the public purse is a highly-sacrificial undertaking if the cost can, instead, be used to buy votes by way of a tax cut.
If TVNZ didn't have to return a dividend, there would be money available from the commercial operations to fund investigative journalism on a public broadcaster model. Maybe using TVNZ7 as the vehicle. There's plenty of money there, but they're compelled to make the money and return it to the government instead of hanging onto it and spending it on producing quality material. -
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to 3410,
Yes, sorry, my bad. Tom was the one who called Knowles incompetent.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Russell Brown,
It’s clear from the presence of Howard Broad and Judith Collins at yesterday afternoon’s presser that the government is concerned at the pressure going on Knowles.
Concerned, and I think also showing that they absolutely support him. It's when they disappear that you know Knowles is being cut loose. Being in-frame with Knowles demonstrates their confidence in how he's handling it, and you don't get a bigger gun that the Commissioner, even if he is on his way out.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Shaun Lott,
A big problem with modern media coverage is that it never stops. Things "take forever" because we expect to know instantly when something happens. Getting the drains robot from WA is pretty much a day-long task, because of the distances involved. Flight from WA to Christchurch is about eight hours, getting the robot crated up for air freight, after first ensuring it's absolutely sterile because it's going to another country, is probably another four-to-six hours. That's an eternity in the non-stop news cycle, whereas in the "good old days" it's just the time between a couple of editions of a newspaper, or a couple of evening news bulletins. Getting the robot from Utah is about three days of effort!