Hard News: The new establishment
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Moz,
Had an amusing discussion with City of Sydney staff at the opening of the construction site for the new library about bike parking. The train station opposite is privately run and initially had zero bike parking. Fortunately they have lots of poles and suspension wires and all the other knick-knacks that are popular with architects. So there was a period of tension, where they would issue "tickets" to "illegally" parked bicycles, people would challenge them and discover that they didn't have the power to issue them or enforce them, and so it went. Then suddenly a set of bike racks appeared and the "bicycles must not be parked in this area" sign vanished.
The new library has been approved by the council's bicycle mafia because it has decent parking and some end of trip provision. The main thing the underground library lacks is a link to the underground walkway to the adjacent station. Apparently no-one ever thought things might be built around the station so no provision has been made to allow it. Instead people walk up stairs out of the library, along 20m, then down stairs to walk under a busy road into the station. It is very silly.
But NSW has similar reasons for that as Auckland does... right wing government building roads, left wing council trying to make the city liveable.
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Sacha, in reply to
Unlike the trusting citizenry whose submissions, given for no reward, were supposedly what Share an Idea was all about.
Yet Chch voted this govt back in. Twice.
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Bill Bennett, in reply to
This is an excellent point, well articulated and it goes way, way beyond transport policy. It's as if we punish political leaders for not having pyschic powers.
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LOL- a blue supporter on another site has accused Paddy Gower of having an orgasm on live TV;
Ah, well, game on. Wonder what kind of note in an envelope he'll be getting in the Parliamentary foyer tomorrow?
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Gower is like a homeless beaver, who always states the bleeding obvious.
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Meanwhile, The Chchch Progressive Network also works to keep the issues to the fore.
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High paid lobbyists and advisers are no guarantee of anything:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/08/tories-paid-crosbys-firm-millions-advising-mays-disastrous-election-campaign?
- nice work if you can get though eh, Lynton? -
Now that's interesting. Apparently, according to Newshub this evening, there's a hefty female gender gap tilt that favours Jacinda Ardern. A predecessor of which kept Helen in power for most of the Noughties.
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Moz, in reply to
Apparently, according to Newshub this evening, there's a hefty female gender gap tilt that favours Jacinda Ardern.
And we can pay her less, too. Don't forget that :)
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Moz, you do realise that at the rate Oz is going, we’ll probably be legislating for legal recognition of polyamory by the time our western nutbars- oops, neighbours :/ eventually get around to marriage equality…? And that we’ve had two female Prime Ministers while Oz has only had one, and this may herald No.3?
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Craig Young, in reply to
Geoff, that's needlessly insulting to beavers ;)
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
there’s a hefty female gender gap tilt that favours Jacinda Ardern.
Reckon this could be spot on. Looking at eg the student population, there's a lot of soft National vote in young women. Many could be double-happy to vote for not just a woman, but someone under 50 who looks to understand and articulate the world as they see it.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Gower is like a homeless beaver, who always states the bleeding obvious.
Praised by feint dams?
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Moz, in reply to
Moz, you do realise that at the rate Oz is going, we’ll probably be legislating for legal recognition of polyamory by the time...
I wish.
Australia... sigh. Morals, laws, ethics... don't come here for those.
I just did a feedback form for my bank and the question "would you recommend BankWest to your friends" got a 100 word comment along the lines of
I'm not even willing to admit to using BankWest to my friends, let alone suggest that they involve themselves with the criminal cartel that owns BankWest. I am balancing my dislike of the paperwork and cost involved with changing banks against the moral and legal horror that is your parent company.
Bankwest is owned by the Commonwealth Bank who have regular criminal problems which they claim are due to incompetence rather than malice. (links are representative rather than exhaustive)
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Craig Young, in reply to
Well, they were settled by convicts. Problem is, their descendants are proving true to their genetic heritage and behaving in a similar manner.
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linger, in reply to
You're really saying that criminal behaviour is genetically based?
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
penal envy...
(Australian) criminal behaviour is genetically based
Maybe it's more of a societal imperative...
...they do seem to have a thing about prisons.... -
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Holmesburg prison
great photo reminds me of a panopticon
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Moz, in reply to
their descendants are proving true to their genetic heritage and behaving in a similar manner
I think it's cultural heritage rather than genetic. Australia was set up by a bunch of toffs on the basis that "I stole it, it's mine now" (seriously, look at Torrens Title) and anything else they could get away with. They also brought actual criminals along, presumably in the hope that they'd look better by comparison.
I think that has produced a culture of "get away with anything you can" and disrespect for the rule of law. Not primarily obeying the law, but about seeing the law as important and something that's a product of the people working together to produce a decent society. Australia worships fraudsters and thieves (Alan Bond, Kerry Stokes, Ned Kelly) as much as sportspeople (the cult of Bradman!), with intellectuals and lawmakers way down the list. Aotearoa has David Lange at the Oxford Union speaking powerfully and passionately about nuclear weapons. Australia has Rhodes Scholar Tony Abbott completely lost for words. Things are different here.
Aotearoa isn't perfect, but geez there are things in Australia that have to be seen to be believed. You think the terrorism raids on Tuhoe were bad, read up about "The Intervention" (don't blame me if you start crying when you read that). It's not a civil war if one side isn't fighting, you know.
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Craig Young, in reply to
Judging by the level of state and federal government and corporate corruption across the ditch, what do you think? (NB: Anti-Australia joke) ;)
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Craig Young, in reply to
No thanks- I was in Oz in 1995 during the sledging of Koorie and Murrie women over Hindmarsh Island land claims. In Queensland. Ugh. My parents live there and I love them dearly but I never could :/
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an ACT of madness…
David Seymour takes the cake with his claim that Labour’s plan to teach kids Civics at school is an ‘Orwellian’ and ‘dodgy’ way to indoctrinate young people to Left-wing views!!
Maybe it challenges his beloved Charter Schools.
Or maybe he realises his ‘Market- driven’ policies won’t stack up to young minds. -
Ya don’t need to be a weatherman/woman to know which way the wind blows…
Interesting to note that while TVNZ wants to use Mike ’subliminal National billboard’ Hosking for the Leader debates – their weather dept is running with subtle Labour / Green imaging, ending the bulletin with a red fanfare! -
mark taslov, in reply to
…they do seem to have a thing about prisons….
yeah about that...
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