Posts by Chris Waugh
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The tree that was pretending to be a fern from a different angle.
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Capture: See Into the Trees, in reply to Hebe,
You have tree ferns? In China? Or have I missed something?
We're not back in NZ yet - we plan to make the move just after Chinese New Year. They just look like tree ferns, but they're not really.
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My little study hideyhole (to which I will retreat in about half an hour...)
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Through the trees, a setting sun.
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Hard News: Hope and Wire, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Well, here's an interesting little detail:
attempted murder of his second (**who co-operated with the production**)
(my emphasis added, of course)
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Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Gaston Flosse, who’s been knee-deep in corruption for much of his career.
And was in the news yet again for that just 10-ish days ago. [sigh] French Polynesian politics.... Meanwhile, back in the Métropole, I've been having a lot of fun watching the spot of bother Sarkozy has found himself in. The French coverage of corrupt politicians is so much more amusing than the Chinese media treatment of the constant stream of corrupt officials dragged before the CDIC and/or courts. Can't think why....
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Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Moved, not removed.
Oops, thanks. That was carelessness on my part - context made that perfectly clear.
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Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
My first reaction, before I'd read beyond "Murray S. McCully": 'holy shit! Murray McCully was Jesus!' Cue John Key: "He's not the Messiah! He's a very naughty Minister of Foreign Affairs!"
Another tangent: Sentence 2 of the subtitle of this piece at Le Figaro smacked my gob:
Mercredi, une association anti-nucléaire polynésienne a manifesté lors des commémorations. Ils critiquent le déplacement d'un mémorial sacré et l'installation d'une stèle à la mémoire de Jaques Chirac.
I know I don't need to bold anything, having already drawn your attention, but that's how it felt to read. My translation, anybody with less rusty French feel free to improve or correct anything I fluff, fudge or stuff up:
They criticised the removal of a sacred memorial and the installation of a stele commemorating Jacques Chirac.
And this for the 48th anniversary of the first French nuclear test in Polynesia. Bloody hell. The sacred memorial to be removed is for the victims of the tests. There's more in there, but I should be packing up to head back into the city, so I'll just assume you all read French well enough. Or somebody will run the juicy bit about the memorial including stones from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and now Fukushima, through Google misTranslate.
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Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Why would you want to live in a country where you can’t converse with most of the population? Or is “residence” about having a bolthole and a convenient way to dodge Chinese taxes by claiming to live overseas?
Two very good questions.
1: Beats me, but plenty of people do. Just pop down to Sanlitun on any given evening and you'll see the Beijing edition of people who move to a far off land and make no effort to learn the language or fit in to the local society.
2: Can't comment on Donghua Liu's case, of course, cos I don't know the guy, but there's no shortage of Chinese people who can afford it getting out, or at least, getting their families out of China. There are many reasons for that, having a convenient little bolthole is one. There are worse reasons (fleeing likely arrest for actual crimes) and better reasons (preferring the better environment or more relaxed pace of life). Liu's involvement in a corruption case in Chongqing has been reported, though it should be noted he was a witness and wasn't prosecuted. So let's give him the benefit of the doubt for now and assume he just finds NZ a more pleasant place to live than Chongqing.
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Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Russell Brown,
No, but there still seems to be a whiff of smoke floating about:
There is no explanation of the "previous intervention" of Mr O'Connor,
Also, that English language requirement for his category of visa is not exactly strict or strenuous or tough. I find it very hard to believe that he could not have afforded the minimal time and fees (IELTS is expensive for ordinary mortals like us, but if he's got Investor category-sized nest eggs stashed away... ) needed to get an IELTS 3.
And I'm a little confused, I thought Liu had failed the good character requirement. Or was there some other reason Immigration advised against his being granted residence that I missed?
So no, no smoking gun, but this certainly looks to me like a more likely tree to be barking up.
