Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Can somebody hook a brother up with some Twiglets?

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  • Graeme Edgeler,

    But I think it's the best film Moore has made

    Um ... Canadian Bacon. Hands down.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    I find the mini pretzels in the bulk buy bins at the supermarket are a reasonable substitute for a twiglet. Its nice to see that British Marmite is widely available though.

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Yes, Canadian Bacon, especially for the scene where the Mountie demands that the infiltrators write their illegal graffiti in both English and French.

    I have not eaten Twiglets for years - they are Worcester Sauce on a stick. Yum.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Ray Gilbert,

    I think you should be able to find them at the English Shop at the bottom of Victoria St, Onehunga. It's stuck on a light industrial lot but is the supplier for most of the supermarket English goods as well as a retail outlet in it's own right. Cheapest supplier of Walkers Crisps, Sarsen's vinegar etc in town that I know of.

    Since Nov 2006 • 104 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    Promise me none of you picked up the Brown Sauce habit? Although I guess NZers can't talk, the BBQ sauce habit is equally vile

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • james cairney,

    Wow, that Moore clip on CNN is astounding. I am not suprised they normally avoid showing him live.

    I await for the usual suspects in our own little country to start discrediting the film before they view it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 25 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    But I think it's the best film Moore has made

    It helps that he sets himself such a low bar.

    I thought Malcolm Gladwell's The Moral-Hazard Myth was a quite refreshing and insightful analysis of the problems with the US heath system

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Kennedy,

    Promise me none of you picked up the Brown Sauce habit?

    So you haven’t succumbed to the joys of HP then. No traditional British breakfast is complete without it.

    Check out http://russelldavies.typepad.com/eggbaconchipsandbeans/

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • Sharon Topliss,

    Re insurance and autism - you may be interested in this:http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/06/29/ed.col.whitfield.0629.p1.php

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    If you haven't smothered your black pudding in brown sauce in Northern greasy spoon (well any greasy spoon) , then you haven't lived...

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • james cairney,

    The thread trickles on intertwining comparative sauce commentary with health policy. Nice.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 25 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    If you haven't smothered your black pudding in brown sauce in Northern greasy spoon (well any greasy spoon) , then you haven't lived...

    ooooheerrr! Double Entenres anyone?

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    HP sauce - bad.Watties Homestyle Tomato Sauce - good. And on other matters, I've always enjoyed Moore's films (and books). As long as you recognise that he has an agenda, and take into account that some figures will not be entirely accurate or obtained in an objective manner, you're good to go, I always think.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Jason Kemp,

    That CNN piece on Moore was quite extraordinary. That it is still available for viewing is even better. For all the criticism - Moore still hist the targets like no one else.

    Thanks also to Neil for the link to Malcolm Gladwells piece on the Moral Hazard-Myth. Even though it is 2005 - still a worthwhile piece.

    Recently I watched a series of videos from the New Yorker Conference videos

    which included an piece with Dr. Safi Bahcall of Synta Pharmaceuticals talking with Malcolm Gladwell about how mistakes lead to great scientific discoveries and how big drug companies hamper innovation.

    And a number of other medical related discussions. This gives an even wider view of the US medical landscape.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac,

    Mmmm, HP Sauce. It's the only thing to have with proper rosti-style hash browns and eggs, or in your bacon sarnie. I have no excuses, I had the habit before I went to the UK.

    Also, I'm the person who paid 5 quid in that Kiwi shop by Trafalgar Sq for Watties' tomato sauce so that I could have a proper sausage sammie, and about the same amount for Maggi Onion Soup and Reduced Cream so I could made proper retro chip dip.

    Obviously, I'm a food slut (although I didn't get hooked on British Marmite - I stuck to Vegemite from Sainsbury's).

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    ooooheerrr! Double Entenres anyone?

    My girlfriend asked me for a double-entendre once.

    So I gave her one.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Re insurance and autism - you may be interested in this.

    Useful, but only in Oregon, only because a rep. with an autistic son was prepared to sponsor it, and only until the child is 18. So at that age the autistic spectrum adult - who will have enough to cope with - will specifically be denied access to any care related to his or her condition, including low-dose SSRI anti-depressants, which are the difference between functioning and not functioning for some AS adults.

    What a fucked-up system. But so long is the world is safe for the likes of Dr Helen to mouth "no free lunch" slogans, that's all that matters, right?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    While we’re on the subject of UK delicacies; why is it so hard to but Mulligatawny soup in this country?

    I can’t find a supermarket that sells it, and the Wishbone product is a pretty weak imitation.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    **SNAP!!**
    I also happened to watch Sicko on the weekend and I was also rather taken with it. Moore really is the consumate documentary maker in that he makes them entertaining. He does need to be fact-checked (based on some past manipulations) but as RB says this is possibly his best yet.

    Two notable parts were: the 9/11 worker who cried when she found the inhaller she pays $200 for was available in Cuba for 5¢. And also the cheque Moore writes out at the end of the film (I won't spoil it by saying more). I was also unaware that the HMO's were given their start by Nixon.

    I'm surprised that the film hasn't been more controversial in America, or received as much publicity as Farenheit 9/11 did. Moore lays out the case for Universal Healthcare very well, and proves that many other countries manage it without problem. Americans should be outraged, but instead they remain subservient to the Healthcare Industry.

    Another doco recommended by my friends abroad is this one. I've only watched the start but I'm hooked. Just watch the first minute and you will be too (or not - what do I know about your tastes?).

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    But I think it's the best film Moore has made

    It helps that he sets himself such a low bar.

    Not just himself

    For all the criticism - Moore still hist the targets like no one else.

    That's an indictment on the state of US political documentaries.

    I find myself generally aligned with Moore's views and horribly unimpressed by his presentation of them. It's like hearing something you've known for years explained to you by a teenager who's just heard about it. Perhaps that's his target audience. Totally unsubtle and hamfisted is how I'd describe the ones I've seen before and it puts me off this one. Who but American teenagers isn't already well aware of how crap the US health system is?

    Good on him for saying it, though, someone's got to.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Ben,

    Isn’t the teenager angle Moore’s strength though? You can have all the earnest , ground-breaking Panorama style documentaries you like, and they’re likely to sail over the average US –MTV person’s head.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I find myself generally aligned with Moore's views and horribly unimpressed by his presentation of them. It's like hearing something you've known for years explained to you by a teenager who's just heard about it. Perhaps that's his target audience. Totally unsubtle and hamfisted is how I'd describe the ones I've seen before and it puts me off this one.

    Yep, you'll probably hate this one too then. Same training-wheels ironic tone and folksy humour. But he's a magpie for found footage - Nixon's White House tapes, for example - and the stories told on screen are extremely salutory.

    Who but American teenagers isn't already well aware of how crap the US health system is?

    American adults, probably. The snippets from the PR campaign against Hilary Clinton's plan are amazing. And I submit that even you might be astonished by some of stories: a fully-insured woman who couldn't get treatment for cervical cancer because she was too young to have cervical cancer, for instance.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Around Bowling for Columbine someone reported a conversation with some American friends. The gist was that Moore's simplifications, inappropriate statistics and whatever else should been seen in the context of US poltical commentary, where the right has any number of crazies who just lie for a living.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Fox,

    Just as an asside, Dr Wakefield is about to go up before the beak. This from the UK sky News site:

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1275151,00.html

    Since Nov 2006 • 114 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    It's like hearing something you've known for years explained to you by a teenager who's just heard about it.
    That's how I felt after reading his book Stupid White Guy. And he may lay it out all rather simply in Sicko but it's still worth a peep. Obviously it's of greater relevance to Americans, but it serves as a cautionary tale for us too. Privatisation of Healthcare is always lauded as a solution to spiralling costs (ie taxes) but this film shows what you get when you hand it over to commercial (ie capitalist) interests.
    And these are global interests looking for new markets outside of the US.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

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