Posts by Christopher Dempsey
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There was a television 'interview' of sorts with one of those nice trans-Tasman cop teams. He was from NZ (Palmerston North from memory), and he was simply from Australia.
Looters were featured as a topic of discussion on-air (I think it was these very officers that arrested a petty thief and his mate on suspicion of looting houses). The Kiwi said, paraphrasing, they are scum of the earth, with a tone that implied one knows what to do with such scum. The Aussie was visibly taken aback, and muttered that really, it was disappointing that people choose to undertake this activity.
I recall this in light of discussion here about Oi Oi Oi Police Officers being, well, Wild Western. I doubt for the majority of Aussie officers that they would 'import' their wild ways; they arrive in a country many don't know, with different policing culture, and plenty of cultural unknowns. The natural reaction, even I think for officers who do engage in a bit of rough justice, is to be very careful and circumspect - one never knows - there could be a camera recording them that their Kiwi counterpart hadn't told them about.
Which makes it slightly more believable that it was our own that well, pushed Arie down the stairs. The saving grace in that is least we don't need to worry about TransTasman policing relationships.
Which I think has been the major benefit of having Aussie cops here. There's nothing like working in a different (but somewhat similar) culture to break open one's mind. And the relationships / networks being built between NZ/Aus police will be invaluable in the years to come.
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Just noticed Aaron Keown is a councillor for the Shirley-Papanui ward. Hope local voters with power back on are noting his recent attitude.
Which seems remarkably, errr, what's a good word to describe this... oh this'll have to do - stupid.
And BTW, Steven Cowan is ok - he was without power for some days, so was unable to post for quite some time.
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I know it’s not a zero sum game but, if it comes down to it, and the call has to be made between ‘heritage’ and ‘safe,’ I know where I’m going to lend my support. And, sympathetic as I am to the value of heritage buildings, buildings of character, and the spaces and surrounds they can create, it’s one of those things where the distinction between “alive” and “living” becomes meaningless when the alternative is “death.”
I'd just like to juxtapose that thought against Cheryl Bernstein's wonderfully written post: "We were always razing the place to the ground and starting again. We are, effectively, at a medieval stage of history."
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Just on this issue of Chch people moving elsewhere - after the news last night of quite a few fetching up in Nelson, and around 7000 apparently in Timaru - I did wonder - would Chch people prefer to stay in the Mainland if they could?
I'm just trying to figure out what the chances are someone from Chch would move to Auckland as opposed to somewhere else in the Mainland?
Wearing my elected rep hat: I recieved news this morning that an estimated 20k people would move to Auckland from Chch, something that I'll be asking for firmer estimates because, you know, an extra 20k people is alot of housing to find, jobs, social services, etc, and we can't magic it up.
Whipping off said hat. -
The main thing the CBD needs is people and activity. That’s paramount. Everything after that is a nice to have.
And that's where I start to get the shits. Typically, men, and it is usually straight white men, paint a glowing picture of a rebuilt city - nice shining pictures of buildings, and shiny automobiles, and shiny streets but typically, they ignore people totally, as in, they don't exist. They are stage props, scenery, bits of fluff to fill the gaps in the shiny buildings and shiny streets.
They would have better luck asking mall designers to design the city, for these kind of straight white men see people as walking wallets, pedestrians with money in their pockets, so they build for pedestrians, and never for cars because you can't easily get money out of a car. Not surprisingly, people love malls. Botany Town Centre, a mall, would be a good example of how to build for people.
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FWIW - I don't think Brown-kingcoal-lee deliberately meant to overlook the Eastern suburbs. I think that the Eastern suburbs were never on his radar at all, at least not in the same way other parts of the city and other suburbs are. I think it's a 'blind' spot he has, in much the same way as some have blind spots about the needs of differently abled people for example.
In that sense, I don't think he actually registered that there would be areas that have food deserts, poor transport links, and poor social infrastructure needing help, so I can't really blame him for 'overlooking'. But it's nice that he has swung into action so quickly.
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Cracker: It's a Wonderful Thing, in reply to Sacha,
I had a go at a counter person in a cafe one time because the jar said ANZAC cookies.
Anzac cookies?! What's that I asked her? Since when did they become known as Anzac cookies?? And off I went.
Poor woman. She probably thought I was raving mad. Still, I refuse to use the term cookies, and deliberately ask for a choc bomb at the movies, which surprisingly many of the young 'uns know what I'm talking about. And don't reach for the phone to call the cops.
Language, sigh. On some things I'm a diehard, others easy going.
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Cracker: It's a Wonderful Thing, in reply to Emma Hart,
Yes - Selwyn Toogood saying his cousin had homosexual tendencies, quite as a matter of fact, no shock or anything - made me think quite hard about what was going on in 1971.
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My overweight self enjoyed watching those online episodes... I had to do a quick double take because I clearly remember watching that woman in the 2003 episode speak about obesity, and I remember thinking then crikey, we have a problem, and it's now 2011 and we still have the same problem - or at least I now do...
But I agreed with the last speaker - it requires a societal response rather than an individual response. The problem is that food is such an individual thing that it's always hard to avoid the idea that govt is interfering in what you are eating, even if a smart govt knows that the CBR outcome clearly indicates controlling food intake saves megabucks later on.
Easy, cheap, freely available oil has clearly had some influence over the cornucopia we face at the table these days. It'll be interesting to see how the disappearance of this factor in food production will have an effect on the amount of calories available.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Ross Mason,
Won’t stop the usual suspect cooking up knife fights in the Cabinet Room and drunken porn-watching marathons in ministerial hotel rooms though.. :)
Except when it turns out to be true. Granted, it is OIA, and granted, I wager one wouldn't find ahem, services of that kind in sweet Rangitikei (sweeping generalisation, and not that there is absolutely anything wrong with such services), but given that, I don't think Power's hiding anything of the sort other than a graceful exit.
His resignation is a loss to the National Party and us all, and I shudder to think what 'talent' will fill his shoes.