Posts by Andre
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Our Kennedy assassination. Norm Kirk's strange death seems like poisoning. Perhaps I should have said 'our Arafat'. For his loss set us back decades. Hopefully the Tories don't get a majority or there will be despair. I'm enjoying the squirming English press denying the SNP vote doesn't mean the majority want to get rid of English rule. That referendum seems like yesterday - maybe they just want local representation at a national level though. And the Northern Irish voting Tory is interesting too. It's been an educational election but I'm not sure I'd like to live there right now.
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Anecdotal evidence would lead me to proffer that the increase in penalties for cultivating marijuana (taking growers' homes etc) is leading gangs to make P instead because the profits are so much higher. Great work PC Plod.
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Winston is a proto-Muldoonist – this was not a win for the left wing. The fact that in some quarters it is seen as such is a sign of how far right Roger Douglas and 30 years of governments chipping away at workers’ rights have taken us while eroding recognition of the changes a true left-wing government would bring.
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The Warners were the ringmasters of New Zealand's most competitive mosh pit. I met these guys who lived at a doss house in Pt Chev while holidaying in Mangawhai over New Years 1985. They'd pub crawled from Auckland, arriving noisily late but were up and drinking over an open fire at 8am. It was the first time I'd seen a skulling funnel and tube in action. I was impressed so caught up with them when I shifted to Auckland a month later and luckily they invited me to the Windsor Castle and various other venues to see The Warners. They were incredible. Allan Stephenson was pure energy. The crowd was electric - and amazingly friendly as we smashed into each other gleefully. No one got too badly injured. I always felt things may have been a lot different if I wasn't so young and with the right people though.
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The dairy farmers and manufacturers have a monopoly that extends to retail, FMCG etc. Now cattle and sheep farmers want a monopoly too. The fact that self-regulation wasn't enough to get dairy farmers to cut discharges of effluent and chemicals into our rivers and streams shows how environmental needs get addressed without a law change. Climate change will happen. The new south-western motorway tunnel will become a favoured spot for divers. Sand-bagging the north-western (in Auckland btw) is a monument to the thinking of climate-denying local government planners. Legislate everyone to accept a 20 metre sea rise in the next 50 years, I reckon.
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Our thanks must go to Edward Snowden for protecting our human rights through his actions. A true hero. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/06/gchq-mass-internet-surveillance-unlawful-court-nsa
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30754443
It's happening in the UK too... -
Onehunga looking across to Mangere Mountain. Superb!
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Let's build it at just above the High Tide mark, like the new motorway tunnels at Waterview. Make the grandkids pay, that's the Keynglishjoyce way. I wonder if they intend to borrow another $50 billion, and what they'll spend it on.
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One of my closest lifelong friends is a schizophrenic. He was hospitalised 18 years ago for six months and still sees a doctor fortnightly for medication. We're each our oldest close friends and see each other at least weekly. I distanced myself from him before he was diagnosed (because it was impossible to understand his actions at the time) and then saw him a couple of times before shifting cities then only a few times while living away for eight years. His parents are wealthy and he doesn't suffer financially from being unable to work. This makes a huge difference and will continue to increase in importance under our current economy. He gets multiple visitors a day, isn't perfect but dates and has long-term relationships with women, is still extremely intelligent and has fun often. He has his quirks but that's just him. I think BITD he would have now been incarcerated for 18 years. Just imagine. Every proponent of re-institutionalisation should be made to read One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
