Posts by Alfie
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Hard News: Incoming: Summer, in reply to Ben Austin,
So Buchan is Doric? Or a variant?
I get the impression that it's a regional variation of Doric, though only a Scots speaker would know for sure. It was certainly incomprehensible to outsiders.
Grandad emigrated to NZ after WWI and ran a pub in Denniston, on the West Coast. So his accent was well-diluted by the time I got to know him.
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This story deserves a mention in the Dirty Politics thread. Lynton Crosby of Crosby-Textor fame is in line to score a knighthood in the UK, presumably for his role in the tories' election win rather than his sterling work promoting big tobacco.
The local equivalent would be smarmy John bestowing honours on Slater, Ede, Glucina, Odgers and Graham for their dedication to undermining democracy.
UKIP is strongly denouncing Cameron's gongs-for-chums mentality.
Knighthoods should be for those who've served the UK with distinction. Lynton Crosby served the Tories with distinction. Not the same thing!
Labour MP Paul Flynn also expresses his disgust.
I welcome this appointment because it will drive the honours system into deeper disrepute. The more it is abused, the more people will come to regard it as at best arbitrary, and at worst corrupt.
Mind you, PM Pig Porker has form in this area. He gave his barber an MBE last year for "services to hairdressing".
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Hard News: Incoming: Summer, in reply to Farmer Green,
My ancestral home is the village of Pennan, in Aberdeenshire. My grandfather was born there and his dad built clinker fishing boats in a shed on the bankhead. It's famous as the main location for Bill Forsyth's film Local Hero.
The first time we stayed there we overheard two farmers in the pub speaking Buchan, and while the Scots' accent is usually quite broad, this dialect is impossible for any mere sassenach to understand. I doubt there are many fluent speakers left now.
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Our xmas was a little unusual because we drove our little girl to Christchurch and put her on a 5am plane to Germany. Much happiness / sadness / emotion all round.
We stayed with friends in Swannanoa (north of ChCh) and ended up at a ride-on mower race on xmas eve. The event was won by the old guy on a Yike bike with a strimmer cleverly bolted to the frame. Technically it could almost cut lawns.
Driving back to Dunedin early on xmas day was pleasant because the roads were almost empty. Now happily gardening, popping over to the beach to cool down and still laughing at Ian’s tui joke.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
But oh, my, god, the comments!
Stuff... a venue where village idiots are free to voice their opinions and air passionately-held prejudices.
I must admit that I've had all Stuff comments turned off in Ghostery for ages and rarely see them anymore. I like it that way.
A quick peek with a different browser shows that, rather than representing any genuine exchange of views, the majority of comments probably stem from a coordinated call to action from the low-IQ wing of the Young Nats.
Dirty Politics is still alive and kicking. Because to some people, kicking comes more naturally than intelligent debate.
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While austerity reigns over at Mediaworks, somebody decided they could just about afford a shiny new logo. Julie Christie's experience on the flag panel has proved that you don't need designers any longer, so they ended up with this!
While the symbolism is still a mystery, I can see an obvious reference to the business unravelling. Other interpretations welcomed.
At least we can be thankful that they didn't steal the design from a Weetbix packet.
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Rachel Stewart has written a great piece in the Taranaki Daily News -- You can't unknow what you know John Key -- on the national embarrassment of having a PM who thinks rape jokes are funny. And other stuff.
It's refreshing to read some journalism from the heart in our MSM.
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Envirologue: 1080, "eco-terrorism" and agendas, in reply to Kumara Republic,
We know that the man is (was?) involved with a pest control business and I'd imagine that people working in that area would have access to raw 1080. However the list of people with that level of access to the pure version of the chemical would be extremely limited, and that may have provided a viable line of enquiry for the Police.
The sentencing date is to be announced after the facts hearing in February. I guess we shouldn't expect to hear any more details until then.
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Paula Bennett, our new minister for climate change has announced that New Zealand has achieved its first round of emissions reduction targets. She says we're "on track to meet its 2020 target."
The public has a right to be skeptical, keeping in mind the fact that the minister has no scientific background and freely admits that she knows nothing at all about climate change. If you're either a hardcore nat or the type of person who supports fossil fuel development around our coastline, she's the perfect person for the job.
Over at No Right Turn, I/S has an excellent post pointing out that our government's "solution" to the problem so far has been to buy fraudulent credits from Russia and the Ukraine. The Guardian story linked to in that post explains the fraudulent process which uses some very dodgy and self-certified accounting, and boils down to "disposing" of "coal waste" by burning it in power plants. It's not clear exactly how that saves the planet.
So our government is subsidising the Russian mafia as their main contribution to climate change. Nice one John.
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Bomber Bradbury claims to have insider information on TV3’s failure to secure $10m+ of funding from NZonAir for their new soap.
TV3 were privately assured that the funding for this was going to happen as the 5.30pm soap was the lynchpin behind Weldon and Christie’s plans to reinvigorate the TV network.
Rumours are that the decision not to fund the new 5.30pm soap were mostly to do with the way MediaWorks had treated 3D and Campbell Live. The resentment NZ on Air feel about promises made in the past to promote 3D and the way Campbell Live was handled has left a bitter taste in NZ on Air mouths.
It’s not just NZonAir experiencing that bitter taste, as recent ratings prove only too well.
However NZonAir seem to disprove that assertion by awarding $400k to TV3 for Minority Reports – 30 half hour Māori current affairs shows presented by Mihi Forbes. I guess TV3’s sterling record in the current affairs arena must have impressed somebody, huh.
