Posts by Grant McDougall
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There's been snow all over Dunedin (and, indeed, Otago at large) for the past 24 hours, too. My heat-pump's been earning its living the hard way, that's for sure.
I thought it may've eased off today, but it's still coming down steadily. As an aside, great to see Southland win the Shield again, too.
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Hard News: The scandal that keeps on giving, in reply to Russell Brown,
And I'd suggest you'll be interested in the Commons select committee hearing that Brooks and the two Murdochs are about to appear before. It's live on Sky News tonight from 11.30pm. Yowza.
I hope they're crucified. However, the Murdochs' and Brooks will probably have been tutored by PR trouts in how to handle and fob off any tough questions, unfortunately.
I hope the MPs grilling them are hard-arse, long-term MPs, not just a bunch of newbie back-benchers. -
Field Theory: 65 bottles of beer on the wall..., in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
I was in Newcastle, NSW in 2001 when the Newcastle Knights won the AFL grand final. The streets were alive with celebrating munters, yelling random shit out of their cars. I know that's league
No it's not. AFL (Australian Football League) is the dreadful game of "Aussie Rules" and played mainly in Victoria with a minor following in Sydney.
The Newcastle Knights play the great game of rugby league in the NRL (National Rugby League).
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I've been disappointed by Simon Mercep as well. He seems wimpy and scared and afraid to ask tough questions. Or if he does try to ask a tough question he often seems to ask it in a meek way rather than simply going for the jugular.
I'm loath to agree with Joanne Black but a few weeks ago in the Listener she too noted Mercep's gutlessness and quoted a few lines of his interview with Kyle Chapman (or some other guy distributing antiAsian leaflets around Auckland) and it really did show Mercep in a poor light.
Like John, I too have been much more impressed by Susie Ferguson. She seems to have no problem asking tough questions and has a more direct, cut-to-the-chase style.
I'm pretty happy with Mary Wilson, she has a real take-no-prisoners attitude.
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Regarding the Electoral Commission's and twitter, I think it's doing so so it can simply say they've made a call on it.
In other words, it's a bit like the rule that everyone over 18 must be registered to vote (I think...) and open to prosecution if not. Of course no one's every prosecuted for not registering, but the Commission is obliged to at least put up the window dressing.
I assume there are plenty of people at the E.C who realise they're fighting a losing battle against twitter (and social media in general), but know they've just got to go through the motions and wave the big stick.Also, why just twitter ? Why not Arsebook as well - surely there'll be plenty of people with politically-inclined status updates on election day, too ?
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Stuart Nash and Cunliffe have done some good posts on Red Alert teasing out some fiscal policy issues for Labour, so it's not like they're short of that in the background.
And therein lies the problem. People that read Red Alert are likely to be Labour voters anyway, so they're wasting their time preaching to the converted.
They need to present their message to a broader audience, somehow.
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I tweeted thus in my frustration:
Dear Labour. Say this: "The deficit is way over projections because National has buggered the economy." Not the "rich prick" trivia. 'Kay?
Listen to Russell at this point. Labour needs to focus on the hip pocket issues and put it across that the Nats have had three years to fix the snafu, but have managed nothing.
They really need to hammer home that aspect, not the BMW stuff. -
Russell, did you ever get your leather jacket back ? I seem to recall your H&C story ending with a plea for it to be returned.
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Can someone please e-mail me and explain in very simple terms, how to post 1) a youtube clip and 2) a link ? Sorry for my dumb-arseness. (I realise there's the basic explanation below, but I've tried with it and failed).
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Russell, I remember reading your H & C cover story for RIU, really enjoyed it. I liked H&C's '80s stuff, but not their latter stuff. I eventually saw them in Dunedin in '92 or so and thought they were bloody dreadful, just this very bland, overly-slick upbeat pop / rock act. There was none of the innovation or edge of their earlier material, I was so disappointed.
Regarding down-loading songs, I think it simply comes down to cost and efficiency; money always talks, doesn't it ? Rightly or wrongly, d/loading songs is just the equivalent of taping a record on to a blank tape - it was simple and it didn't cost too much.
I remember in the mid '80s the music biz ran a "home taping is killing music" campaign, which, of course, was ignored and the music biz still exists and rakes in the big bucks.
I also think it's a bit hypocritical of musicians to complain about d/loads, given that every single one of them's taped a record / bought a bootleg / burnt a cd at some stage in their life.The music biz needs to embrace the internet, not oppose it or be petulant about it.
(Incidentally, I say all of the above as someone that has bought and still buys loads of records and cds).