Posts by Joe Wylie
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
. . . it just felt wrong.
Something's definitely wrong with a system that delivers the NSW State Government. Actively loathed and mocked by pretty much anyone who isn't a party member, and an equally hopeless opposition. Whoever made the comment about Tony Abbott being the first federally elected State Premier had a point.
-
. . . Italy is in fact full of centres of resistance (not all of them good, it must be said). The impression I get of Australia, which is certainly not direct, is similar . . .
Are these 'centres of resistance' similar to the upper houses and state legislatures in Australia? They've certainly provided an effective check there on the kind of crash-through 'reforms' we've experienced in NZ. One major difference in Australian polspeak is the constant reference to the parliament, rather than simply parliament, as in NZ. It's because they have so many of them, and often tend to think of themselves as over-governed.
In the lead-up to MMP, Jim Bolger expressed his preference for an upper house of parliament. As someone noted at the time, he already effectively had one, in the form of the Business Roundtable.
-
. . . couldn't get himself laid at a sex addicts convention . . .
I believe that the Australian version of that is 'couldn't get a pork if he paid for it.'
Then again, it may be 'couldn't get a soapy stick up a dog's bum.' -
I was bloody rubbish at singing.
Then you probably never accompanied yourself by rapidly pulling your jacket's zip back and forth to make authentic scratching noises. Maybe it takes a certain kind of zip, but done well it's most convincing. I'm easily impressed by such things.
-
But possibly the Association for Cretinous Tyrants?
As this country's last sufferer of endemic cretinism with hypothyroidism due to iodine deficiency supposedly passed away sometime around the early 60s, only tyrants are likely to cry discimination. Tough for them.
-
I believe that it was Denis Welch who, back at the time of Douglas's ooze to prominence, described him as having spent years in the political wilderness cultivating his mustache, which "bristled authoritatively and sent positive signals to the market". All I notice these days is the missing mustache, which gives the despicable runt something of the air of an amputee. It's the kind of face that the only humane response to is to step on firmly to end its misery.
-
We should get a monorail like the one on Sydney. It's futuristic, reliable and has revolutionised public transport.
The Sydney monorail is a joke. Last I checked it was $4.90 for a single ride, way more expensive than trains and buses. While there has been an attempt to integrate monorail ticketing with the far more successful light rail (don't say trams, that's so Melbourne) few locals use it. It's also notoriously trouble-prone, requiring an 18-person cherry picker to be on standby for those not so rare occasions when it goes dead between staions.
-
. . . anti-plagiarism software's never been a substitute for marking, but it helps a lot of students work out how to write properly. I think it's fabulous.
Makes you wonder then, Donald, why Turnitin hasn't been deployed at TVNZ and the Herald. Personally, I found COMS at Canterbury's over-eager embrace of anti-plagiarism software to be about as fabulous as you find the decline of public broadcasting. This is the department where students never had their previous week's tutorial assignment returned to them with any degree of comment, all they received was a grade. A similarly resourced department such as Linguistics was able to meet that basic obligation to its students.
I just find it a little rich for you to be passing judgement from the supposed heights of academia when your own department, last I looked, was affected by something of the same malaise that you deplore in the media.
-
This man stole, knowingly from the mouths of the babes.
Insofar as it was public money, yes he did.
Anyone remember Keith Hancox, who was jailed in the early 90s for embezzling a whack of corporate dosh from the Sports Foundation? While the relative amounts stolen might have some bearing on the kind of sentences, mainstream opinion at the time of Hancox's jailing was that robbing corporates was a lesser offence than stealing from the public purse.Around the time of Hancox's sentencing I recall the case of an associate of a common crim being given jail time for his part in a spending spree around the South Island with his criminal buddy. His mate had turned up with a bunch of stolen credit cards and invited him along. While the judge observed that Mr. Common Crim had no part in the original thefts, knowingly partaking of ill-gotten gains was a jailable offence. Curiously enough there was never any suggestion of punishing Keith Hancox's wife, who for years had enjoyed a lavish lifestyle funded by hubby's financial hijinks. One law for them, etc.
-
Can't find the quote now, but there was a wife of the Canadian ambassador to Washington a while back who came out with a nice line to the effect of "People kind of glaze over when you mention Canada. Maybe we should invade South Carolina or something".