Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Yeah, I've really got to stop getting around that mental block about five minutes after the edit window closes. Sorry about that, Sacha. Again.
-
is splitting hairs in comparison to Williamson phoning the cops about a mate’s domestic violence strife.
I’m not even going to start playing that game. My view of Williamson – and his “move on, nowt to see here” defenders – is perfectly clear and well on the record. That doesn’t make him a human shield for Cunliffe’s own words, actions and IMO (which you’re not obliged to agree with), at best, serious lack of judgement.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to LouisM,
My experience with using the OIA is that you have to very specific about the information that you want, otherwise it will be declined.
Well, yes and no. I obviously don't have the text of Savage's OIA in front of me, but requesting all correspondence relating to Liu between MPs and the NZIS is hardly an egregiously broad fishing expedition.
And while Idiot/Savant could speak to this with more authority, some ministries/departments are a LOT better at promptly and fully dealing with OIA requests than others. I don't know where Immigration sits on that spectrum.
-
You know what really surprised me – hearing Cunliffe say on Campbell Live last night that his office didn’t even retain a copy of the letter for (unspecified) “privacy reasons.” I wouldn’t find anything particularly sinister about MPs offices keeping file copies of all correspondence with public agencies – which, I shouldn’t have to say, I have perfect confidence are overwhelmingly conducted by MPs and their OOP staff with the utmost integrity.
@Ianmac:
Surely Mr Cunliffe could have signed the letter without ever meeting the man? Office process would have an electorate Secretary processing the request of many constituents and DC signing.
Full disclosure: I used to work for a list MP, and while I could easily believe Cunliffe never met Liu I find it disturbing that any MP would sign anything even tangentially related to an immigration matter unawares, let alone not keep a copy on file.
Look I agree with Russell – nobody can seriously suggest Cunliffe is even remotely in the same sleazy ballpit as Taito Philip Field. But it’s also impossible to muster a great deal of sympathy for a politician whose categorical denial of any interactions with a man he’d turned into a litmus test for political probity came back to bite him in the arse.
Exactly as intended. This year Joyce and co have been faithfully running Karl Rove’s strategy that got Bush elected.
Oh, come on Sasha -- that's about as absurd as suggesting Brash's severe case of running foot-in-mouth disease that pretty much cost him the 2005 election was all the fault of Rovian cunning and lefty media. As I said on Twitter, Jared Savage did the kind of basic follow-up on a legitimate story that journalists should be doing as a matter of course. I'm sorry if this time it's been politically inconvenient to the Labour Party, but I'd like to see more of it not less. And let the chips fall where they may.
-
Feed: A scientist researches restaurants, in reply to Bart Janssen,
That’s a little harsh, but if you look at the advertising in the front five pages, you’d have to say it’s probably fair that Cuisine magazine makes their money from folks closer to the 1%.
Fair point, and I’ll grant I was perhaps a tad on the unkind side. :) There’s nothing wrong with knowing your demo and pitching to it. The food/beverage side of “lifestyle” magazine publishing is like any other – there’s something out there to appeal to everyone, and it’s not like I’ve never furtively flicked through the glossy food porn section at Unity Books despite my cooking breaching multiple UN Conventions against torture and chemical weapons. :)
-
But that presupposes that news organisations will also sign up to a campaign of not reporting news: news they’re given in a constant, multimedia stream.
And let's be cold about it -- "news" they face precisely no legal or reputational sanction for publishing. Unlike, say, breaching a suppression order to publish graphic evidence in a murder trail or child abuse case. It's not like anyone in Iraq is going to lay complaints with regulators, provide celebrity testimony to Lord Levison or retain the services of Sue, Grabbit & Runne.
-
Feed: A scientist researches restaurants, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Nobody really minds if the server at a cheap and cheerful place doesn’t know what’s on the menu or your dinner arrives 10 minutes after everyones else’s (well not really, I do mind, but I’m fussy).
Honestly, I'm sorry to be that guy but I don't think it's "fussy" to expect baseline competent service. After all, I know a few couples with young kids where that "cheap and cheerful" dinner followed by a movie requires more planning than the D-Day landings, and only happen two or three times a year. At best.
Interestingly, I noticed that Samuel Flynn Scott was critical of the Cuisine Good Food Guide list for Wellington on Twitter a few days ago: only one non-European restaurant (“expensive and terrible”) on a “snobby” list that ignored some very good cheaper places such as Nam and Little Penang, he reckoned.
I have no reason to say he's wrong (been far too long since we've visited Wellington), but I think the filter you've always got to run these lists through is where they're appearing and who they're aimed at. Don't mean to be a bitch, but ever so slightly "snobby" about food sounds right in Cuisine's demo. Just as I don't think this list of 'The World's 50 Best Restaurants' is pitched either at my pocketbook or taste. I'm certainly not feeling inspired to visit this wankatorium if I ever go back to Copenhagen:
Diners at the 45-seat restaurant, located in a stripped- back warehouse on Copenhagen’s dockside, are introduced to Noma’s food via its inimitable series of ‘snacks’ – 10 servings that include the likes of sea urchin toast and caramelised milk and cod liver. These are followed by 10 further courses – a dish of beef tartar and ants among them – before the meal is rounded off with a stunning array of ‘treats’. Redzepi’s food can at times be shocking – visceral even – but diners who are prepared to put themselves in the kitchen’s hands rarely leave disappointed. With flavour to the fore, there are dishes here that slap you in the face and make you feel glad to be alive.
God...
-
Feed: A scientist researches restaurants, in reply to Soon Lee,
There's nothing more disappointing than to go to an expensive joint & have an underwhelming experience.
It does - because, let's face it, if you're paying silver service prices it's not just for the food. It's for an agreeable evening in a pleasant environment with waiters who know the menu and wine list rather than looking like they're one self-medication away from stabbing you in the face with a corkscrew. (I actually have mild but still unpleasant food allergies, so when I ask if something on the menu can be done without onion, it saves me a power-chunder if the waiter actually knows.)
-
Hard News: Practically jokers, in reply to Bill Bennett,
Sometimes I detect a strange resonance between Colin Craig and Tony Abbott. Anyone else think they have much in common?
Not really -- Tony Abbot may be a vindictive rat bastard impervious to taste, common decency, evidence-based public policy or honoring his own campaign promises but he's a frighteningly competent rat-bastard. If Colin Craig was an Australian politician he'd have been fed to the dingos years ago for the only truly mortal political sin across the pond -- losing. The man couldn't even buy himself into a set of Mayoral neck bling, FFS...
-
Hard News: Practically jokers, in reply to Kevin McCready,
I just wish the ACT party, SST and other psycopaths (I use the term correctly according to my understanding of neuroscientist Sam Harris of 1% of humans genetically unable to feel empathy for other human beings)
It would be useful if we treated being an wilfully ignorant shill for junk public policy as the lifestyle choice it is not a medical condition.