Posts by steviant

  • Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to Julian Melville,

    I think people can more easily be coached to handle an aggressive interviewer than they can to simply talk at length on a subject without prompting, because you can distract the viewers by behaving in a way that makes the interviewer seem rude or pushy.

    I believe it's known as "giving someone enough rope to hang themselves". I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that Key is competent at monologues.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2011 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: When "common sense" isn't,

    That bit of metal above your head when you drive a car is utterly insufficient to prevent head injuries in the relatively common occurrence of roll-over accidents, yet I don't see anyone advocating the compulsory fitment of roll-cages, nor the compulsory wearing of helmets in cars, not even ones with a higher chance of roll-over (SUVs and vans).

    There are no calls for fluorescent coloured cars, despite the fact that visibility issues feature massively in car accident statistics as well as cycle and motorcycle accidents.

    It's a simple case of picking on those who have made themselves vulnerable to legislators by electing to become part of a minority group, follow the herd and you'll be fine, stick your head out and it will be bitten off.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2011 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: We ... WHAT!?,

    I look forward to the equally warm and well reasoned response from the Taleban to our soldiers.

    Thanks a lot to whoever transcribed this...

    Auckland • Since Feb 2011 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: What PACE actually does,

    It's painful to see right-wingers put unemployed people through the wringer for a number of reasons, principal among them the fact that they know that without a large margin of the population unemployed, scarcity will drive up wages and that doesn't sit well with employers, who will in turn will use their vast resources to punish the government at the next election.

    Despite this rather obvious fact, it seems that the same people who benefit (no pun intended) from this situation show no hesitation in bashing the unemployed and insinuating that they are in the position they are in because it's a "lifestyle choice", a claim that most people I know who are unemployed find offensive, given their weekly struggles to pay for food and rent.

    The only people on the dole as a lifestyle choice are criminals using a benefit to cover their otherwise unexplained income, or fraudsters with more than one benefit.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2011 • 4 posts Report Reply