Posts by Russell Brown
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Speaker: The End of Trust, in reply to Sacha,
Apparently she did speak against restrictions on prospecting and mining at some stage in the show.
Really? That does change things.
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Speaker: The End of Trust, in reply to Anna Connell,
Many of us, including PRs, spokespeople and journalists are paid, in our day jobs, to carefully manage our communications. I don’t think it precludes us from having a voice. If there’s a transactional relationship, this should be disclosed but I think it’s dangerous territory to imply jobs should over ride people’s right to be politically engaged. Ultimately everyone’s got a barrow to push.
Yes, I think we’re talking about the wrong thing here. I’d be looking at the undeclared interests of one or two guests on The Panel, or Charles Finny “reviewing” Dirty Politics as a lobbyist closely connected with the networks the book is about. Or, of course, a crapload of what’s actually in the book and in subsequent reporting – especially the appearance that law enforcement agencies were undermined in a paid campaign on Mark Hotchin’s behalf.
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Speaker: The End of Trust, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Deborah Pead, under her own Twitter handle, rather than PeadPR doing a very nice round of spin
Eh, pretty sure that’s just what she really thinks.
Yeah, it is. She's not being paid to say it and has as much right as anyone else to share her opinions.
BTW, I deleted Sara's original comment at Sara's request, although it does make the thread look a bit confusing.
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Hard News: 2014: The Meth Election, in reply to Jake Starrow,
By not being seen to simply wanting to impose an ideology, Key has promoted a winning empathy with a public weary of hidden or partly-hidden agendas.
With Key, what you see is mostly what you get….a Prime Minister whose narrative is as clear-minded and open as it was when he was a highly-successful businessman.
His task is to get things done.
Yes, the non-politician politician. That has worked very well for him, no doubt.
Along the way he has shown the common touch which comes from his state-house background.
There’s quite a degree of myth-making around this. I went to school with Key and I know the suburb he grew up in (and lived for several years in a state house) – it’s a fairly wealthy suburb pepper-potted with good-quality older public housing and, more importantly, is adjacent to once of the best state schools in the country, Burnside High. It’s not as if he made his way up the ladder in Otara or Porirua.
I think the first time I was really appalled by Key was when he was in Opposition and dismissed a plan to incorporate public housing into the redevelopment of the Hobsonville air base land as “economic vandalism”. It was exactly the philosophy that gave him his start in life and all he seemed to care about was the property values of the relatively wealthy.
He’s still at it: his crack during the Christchrch debate about how the poor should bear some"personal responsibility” for living in unhealthy state houses might actually be the nastiest thing that’s been said in this election camapign. It was just vile.
I also happen to be friends with Jon Stephenson, who was subject to some disgraceful ad hominem smears from Key when he reported things the government didn’t want people to know about. Yes, Clark used to do that, but i think you need to go back to Muldoon for a PM who so constantly responds to being challenged like this. And nothing about Jon's reporting has been disproved.
Despite his detractors claims and imaginary machinations, John Key has yet to be proved to be anywhere near as culpable of the duplicity and dark dealings that they would have us believe.
To any reasonable observer, his account of matters that are his direct responsibility around the GCSB and the SIS release are unsatisfactory and frequently contradictory. I also do not share your confidence that he was innocent of any and all of Slater’s unpleasant activities.
And any commission that concentrates on the dirty politics stuff in particular and history in general will establish that innocence I believe.
Well, let’s be having the Royal Commission and establish that, then.
Key’s most notable achievements are seen in the delicate guidance he imposed through the global financial meltdown along with Bill English… and the positive impact he has had on foreign shores including China.
I thought the comments from some of the CEOs in the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom survey were interesting. He was seen as polishing his image while English did the hard work, and as lacking in long-term vision.
I might not agree with everything English says or does, but I regard him as a decent and principled man. I honestly can’t muster the same feelings about Key.
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Speaker: The End of Trust, in reply to Hebe,
Yet a few minutes ago on Twitter Fran O’Sullivan derides as “purist” someone asking for Q&A panelists’ PR posts or interests to be disclosed. A leading business journalist dismissing calls for disclosure of interest. What would she say about the prospect of independent voices being required?
That was very odd. I don't think Deborah Mahuta Coyle's day job in comms for the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association had much if any bearing on the discussion on Q&A today, but why you wouldn't be clear about what someone's job is, I don't know.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Mo' Nina, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Is Russia the band … back in the day?
Ah yes! Chris mentioned knowing Chris Knox when I talked to him.
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Hard News: 2014: The Meth Election, in reply to Grant McDougall,
Brownlee has a conviction for assaulting a pensioner (I’m not making that up), so doesn’t have a clean sheet.
Strictly speaking, it's not a conviction - he lost a civil action brought by the victim. From Wikipedia:
Brownlee received criticism during the 1999 election campaign when he ejected Neil Able, a 60-year old Native Forest Action campaigner, from the National Party's 1999 election campaign launch. The ejection took place with what many, including watching journalists, considered excessive force. Neil Able started civil assault proceedings against Brownlee, seeking damages of $60,000. In 2002, a District Court judge found in favour of Mr Able that Brownlee had "used excessive and unnecessary force on Mr Abel when he tried to remove him from a staircase handrail". Brownlee was ordered to pay Neil Able $8,500 in damages.[1][2] Brownlee later sought unsuccessfully to have $48,000 of his legal fees reimbursed by the Government.
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Hard News: 2014: The Meth Election, in reply to Trevor Nicholls,
I saw Bennett on Backbenchers. She’s supposed to be impressive?!?!
I don't get this either. But the theory is that because she's seen through reforms at a minefield portfolio like MSD without getting blown up, she must be capable.
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Hard News: 2014: The Meth Election, in reply to Jake Starrow,
Take a deep breath Danielle. Simply expressing my admiration for New Zealand’s most popular Prime Minister ever [as per each and any poll] shouldn’t send you into such a tiz. It’s simply an opinion. Grounds for debate.
Oh, good grief. You’re being really patronising and doing exactly what Danielle was talking about.
The problem is that this just ends up making all of the discussion about you, and frankly, that’s not all that interesting.
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Hard News: 2014: The Meth Election, in reply to Danielle,
That’s an example of the problem: you don’t seem to be very good at making your points without almost immediately going into the drama-flounce death spiral. “YOU GUYS ARE MEAN AND YOU SUCK!” isn’t actually an argument, y’know?
I think this identifies the problem.
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