Posts by Christopher Dempsey
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@ Alan - she went to skool man! she knows!
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Can I inject a dose of reality? Having 'party central' on a wharf located at some remove from the downtown core of bars and other delights was always going to be difficult, and frankly, given the propensity for winter in Auckland to get nasty around September, impossible. Who in their right mind would abandon the prospect of a nice draught in the Occidential or a fine pinot noir at the Wine Loft to traipse down to a space that wouldn't be pleasant in a southerly and cold to boot?
McCully et al is dreaming - ironically the best advertisement for leaving certain politicians out of event planning, amongst other things - but there's no signs as Minister of RWC he's going to back down - it's his event (he's an old skool politician - he owns things that properly belong to the public) and bugger it if no-one comes to his precious slug.
I sincerely hope some bright young student is keeping a close eye on this. It would make for a great Masters research project.
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Does metro have an online version of the magazine? I'd be keen to subscribe to it (and willing to pay for it), even in PDF form.
The physical mag (http://www.magshop.co.nz/Metro), though nice and uniquely large in size (and definitively Metro), is a bit clumsy and not ideal for shipping to Aus each month...
I wonder whether there's room for someone to setup an 'ibook' NZ magazine section (real groove, metro...), minimizing the transition to ebook subscriptions for publishers and maybe utilising DRM for the paranoid. Maybe this already exists?
Well, I subscribe to Orion Magazine - their digital subscription. I get a sort of PDF copy mailed to me bi-monthly (their schedule), but I usually download it and read it on my laptop.
The technology is there. I'll ask Simon the next time I see him.
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The Fane 'roast' incident is pretty cringe inducing for me. It's just so embarrassing more than anything else. It shows up just how un-sophisticated we are.
Roasts as a concept are a great idea but the trick lies in being good with words, and manipulating them to a) sound clever b) poke someone and c) do it all without offending anyone. It can be done, but requires good clever sophists, erudite and witty - a modern day version of Oscar Wilde for example.
I struggle to think of people, but a good start would be Michelle A'Court - she could do a, b and c probably quite well, but to get to the next level we'd need someone with good strong 'literary/cultural' knowledge.
It's a real trick, requiring great sophistication, which is in very short supply in NZ. Fane clearly doesn't have it and shame on the organisers who assumed he did; they deeply embarrassed Fane at his expense, not theirs.
Fane should be sitting at the feet of the few of us who have a way with words for his sins. And the organisers are the ones who should be roasted alive - that's the very least we can do for them and even then it's not good enough.
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However, being new to the SPECIFIC world of council workings shouldn't immediately mean someone is incapable of being a good leader.
I agree there - it doesn't. It does mean that they will be incapable of being a good leader of a Council.
For something complex and byzantine as Council where relationships for the most part make or break policy, and daily life consists of a mix of guile, outright double think, executive decision making, and plain old fashioned talking, experience trumps political naivety and simplistic thinking that sees Council as merely needing to be 'lead' somewhere.
The only person I know who has managed thus far to combine simplistic thinking and solipsisms and political experience is Hide. And yet even he had to start somewhere, just not at the position of Minister of Local Government.
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Re that Bill allowing police to stand for local government. It was actually a law change under the previous government (about 3 years ago I think) that took that ability away from them.
I note that there is a currently serving member of the force on the Roskill Community Board, in Tamaki.
I don't agree that police officers should be permitted to stand for public office. They enforce the laws and standards politicians create. It's a somewhat uneasy mix.
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the commentators over here are saying that Gillard will destroy Tony Abbott in an election.
From my limited viewpoint, it looks like a no brainer: mummy's boy versus strong-minded female? Easy.
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The Bay City Rollers video was great... particularly the woman furiously knitting - let it be said that neither parliament nor the Bay City Rollers will get in the way of a person's knitting.
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It's a no brainer for Granny: something embarrassing for Nats or something embarrassing for Len (and by implication, leftwing/Labour)?
Granny's MO has been plain to see for years now, only more pronounced as time goes on and as it loses subscribers. To those who argue otherwise, I'll introduce myself as Betty Windsor.
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Was he bored? Is he so clever that politics is too easy for him?
A strong possibility, yes. A never-ending stream of stupidity, mediocrity and ego-wankers is probably enough to send one in search of comfort, be it chocolates, crochetting or blue movies.
For me, this whole beat up is yawn inducing. Gasp! Shock! Horror, politicians found to be human! Who knew? Oh grow up and get a life.