Posts by James Littlewood*
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Two harbour bridges, less than a kilometre apart? Great. I'll be able use them in between watching RWC matches on three different channels.
Did any of the architects, steel merchants or soldiers backing this ever stop to consider the harbour itself? For the last hundred years Aucklanders have been "reclaiming" (hate that word) land which was never theirs in the first place, reducing the Waitemata to little more than an estuary.
How on earth would a bridge from Wynyard point free up recreational use of that land? And what about recreational use of the harbour?
Put bikes, cars and tourist busses on the existing bridge. Put trains, all trucks and more busses down below.
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The whole thing's a fiasco.
Firstly, you can win the rights to host the event (not TV) without proving that you've got an adequate stadium or the main social gathering point figured out.
Now, according to one of those Herald articles you posted, we're asked to contend with the fact that the final will be played on three channels simultaneously.
If the consortium wins TVNZ and TV3 would have six games each and MTS could have up to 16.
"Everyone will have the final that's the idea; the final, the semis and the third and fourth play-off would be on all three networks."
Is it just me, or is that completely moronic?
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webweaker
Assuming the government spends my money wisely
Tee hee.
Seriously, the schools in my neighborhood fairly reek of wisely spent money. And yet they're stil just not as good as the Steiner school which lives off the smell of an oily grass roots community support network, despite not receiving a tax from your or my lovingly earned and paid tax dollars.
And in that regard, I suspect that wacky, culty alternatives are no different to the fancy dancy places the PM sends his kids to.
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Now, I feel really vulnerable about this, but here goes.
My kid started school this year. She's spoilt for choice, in zone for two and a Steiner primary school just over the hill.
We went mainstream. Seems ok. But I really like the Steiner one we can't afford.
So, contrary to my life-long voting preferences, I've found myself asking: for what reason would the gummint withold its per-child sponsorship from my child to attend the school that best meets her needs?
I mean,why limit people's access to the school that's best for them? They may have to pay a top up levee anyway, but then, that's exactly how the decile system works, so what's the difference?
The whole thing is cock-a-hoop.
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I always liked Greg Tate's take on him:
part of the tyke’s appeal was being able to simulate being lost in the hot sauce way before he was supposed to know what the hot sauce even smelt like
Craig: true, the guy didn't keep his moral centre of gravity quite where the rest of us did. But then, he was never really one of us, was he? He wasn't even one of them, whoever they might be.
As that other Jacko said in Easy Rider: You tell someone they not free, they'll hate you for it. But you show them a truly free person, they gonna be terrified by just what they see.
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Haaa haa ha ha ha!
That was easier than I thought. WTF is everybody?
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Nights of the Chills.
We used to go to Paul's cafe, aptly named the Underground Cafe. New North Road. Big, cartoonie finger pointing down the stairs. Pink finger.
In a world gone crazy with Regan, nukes, the material girl, whatever, we were drawn to the retro atmos, the retro pinball, and the decent juke box. It was no heavenly pop hit we sought, that would come later. We were more into alternatives.
I can't remember what else we dialed up, but the night never seemed complete without Pink Frost. I always marvelled at the song's ability to sound like the title.
New Zealand rock music was an oddity in those days. At school, I was a bit of a dick for even showing an interest, and Selwyn prided itself on being liberal. So I saw Martin not only as a pioneer (there were others, after all), but as a kind of champion. I guess I was proud of him.
We caught the band supporting Lou Reed. Then I found myself in Dunedin, and I swapped my pea jacket for a leather one. It was freezing. I wore it ... all the time.
Especially to gigs. All the cliches: standing at the front, by the stage, lights in my eyes, off my bonce, practically levitating in the kaleidoscope world.
Elsewhere, Reagan, Thatcher and some bastard known as Roger Nomics would just have to slug it out without us. Compared to that lot, the doledrums was the only place to be.
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where on the political spectrum NZers sit as a group
That's if they're on the spectrum at all. Most of them (us) find politics a total snore because it consists mainly of two parties slugging out the lamest argument ever. "More government!" "Less government!" "More spending" "Less spending"
That is what Actional means when it says "ideology for ideology's sake", because when political parties cluster policies along a one dimensional spectrum, they look one dimensional. When they don't do that, they look sensible.
Even when they promise tax cuts a well educated 12 year old could identify as completely unviable.
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pragmatic eventualism
What's eventualism?
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They've cut a lot of things, but one thing they're spending large on is roads.
$10.7 billion of roading projects.
Gag. Splutter. Puke.