Posts by Marcus Turner
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I guess the Auckland transport issue is something that's mostly for Auckland people to discuss and deal with. (I acknowledge that, since money will need to come from the national coffers, it's reasonable to have some input from everyone.)
But the thing that resonated with me about this post was how opinions seem to change, once a major event or change has occurred.
I can recall dire predictions about the effects of the smoking ban, and the decriminalisation of homosexuality. I can recall promises about great and long term positive effects from events such as the Americas Cup and the Rugby World Cup. I'm sure a moment's thought would allow others to recall similar strongly-held and much-publicised views of the effects of changes in this country, made in advance of the changes: statements of supposed fact which turned out to be wrong.
There's a quote about those who fail to learn from history being doomed to repeat it.
Sometimes, I'd like to see these statements collated after the event, and those who've made such statements confronted with them. I have the impression that some people get a lot of publicity for statements about any upcoming change, and that their predictions are mostly wrong. It's beyond my resources to test and quantify this.
The case Russell refers to in his post is an example of what I'm thinking of: it seems Mr Roughan's been wrong in at least some of his predictions. Has he been right often enough for his views on future events to be taken seriously?
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Russell Brown,
Perhaps that’s a 20th Century lesson: don’t allow your economy to degrade so terribly that it appears that extremists are the only people who can fix it.
Must ... not ... Godwin ...
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Could somebody please translate what's being said in this video? I'd like to try and understand the apparently incomprehensible.
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Why not just make all helmets hi-viz?
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Hard News: What did you do yesterday?, in reply to Marcus Turner,
practised
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Pruned the pyracantha. Practiced the banjo.
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Hard News: Merry Christmas, you all, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Best wishes everyone.
A favourite Christmas song:
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Hard News: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, in reply to James Butler,
I'll clink to that.
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Hard News: The Public Address 2012 Word…, in reply to JessicaRose,
Perhaps something that couldn't be shelved wouldbe unrebuttable.
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"unrebuttable" is a late starter, but seems to have form.