Posts by simon g
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Last year truckies, this year bikes.
Next year I want to see horses.
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Craig
I do not believe, and have not said, that Rankin's marriage is a problem. I think Rankin is a problem.
When Rankin's appointment was announced, I had no idea of any of this personal stuff. Had never heard of it. To me, she was the WINZ woman, who had kept popping up on TV since then, irritating the hell out of me. I thought she was a stupid appointment, and I still do. Am I politically biased? Guilty. But that's your lot.
But Rankin is successfully pushing the line that if you're agin her, it's because of the tabloid muck-raking. That is her self-absorption, her victim status.
The idea that people just might not think much of her even if she'd had blissful monogamy with her high school sweetheart doesn't seem to have crossed her mind.
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Rankin's statement now up on Stuff:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2418356/Christine-Rankins-full-statement
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Surely her appointment has to be withdrawn now?
As she was reading her prepared statement, I thought she was going to step down. She could have moved on from her explanation to say something like "because I am passionate about children I do not want to be the centre of attention, the distraction from what really matters", etc. It looked like she was going to make a dignified exit, and fight her corner as a private citizen.
But of course I misunderstand her. She is the cause, and the cause is good, ergo she cannot be the problem.
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Christine Rankin was interviewed about this just now, on TV One's Sunday. I guess it will be on their website soon.
Short version: I am a heroine burnt at the stake.
But still ... gripping television.
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Waterview is a local issue being thrown out over the national news. It only affects people that drive around Auckland.
The two imperatives: TV must cut costs, but must have a live cross. Hence, anything a short drive from the Auckland studio is a story.
I wish long life and good health to the MP for the West Coast (whose name escapes me), but if he happens to keel over and there's a by-election, I doubt it would be getting saturation news coverage, even if National's candidate said crims were driving over from Nelson.
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Tze Ming: Well, I do, of course (talk). All the time. But you know, anecdotal versus analysis and all that. "My wife's from Singapore" isn't a substitute for research. (You know all this better than me, I'm sure). I'd like the people paid to report this city/country, to at least try harder.
Anyway, glad you're still here, even if you're over there.
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I wonder if about 3 million NZers are going to get pretty tired of the Waterview motorway issue some time soon.
That's nothing. You've got over a year until Auckland's Super-Duper council elections, filled by an ongoing fight between the members for Epsom and Helensville and Mt Roskill and Tamaki Makaurau and weekly speculation about mayoral candidates, half of whom are Very Important because they work in the media (here, therefore everywhere), and ... well, you get the picture. Enjoy.
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Please come back, Tze Ming!
One of the many 'matters arising' from all this is how little the MSM (generally Pakeha, male, etc) bother with analysing the views of various minority groups in politics. Melissa Lee = Asian + TV + hot = good. That's as much as we got, before this week (and we haven't got much more now).
If Lincoln Tan at the Herald isn't telling us what teh Asianz are thinking, we got nothing. All the various media in Chinese, Korean, Hindi etc, all the forums, the newspapers ... a huge source of information and opinion, and a mystery to the rest of us, and evidently a matter of complete indifference to the political pundits, who trot out their comfortable assumptions as if they had never seen a census.
For all I know there could be a huge groundswell of support for Melissa Lee, or a secret war going on with Ravi Musuku's gang. There are thousands of Aucklanders arguing every day, whose voices people like me never hear. Who's going to tell us? Not the press gallery, certainly.
So, Tze Ming, please come back. We need you. Otherwise I'm going to start getting my insights from Garth George instead. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?
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Gaffe-fans (we have a club, meets every third Monday) know what's coming next.
At the same time that Lee will be trying to "move on", she will suffer the worst kind of support - from people who wish she'd gone further.
Your views will be humming.