Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Undie Wankers

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  • Just thinking,

    In the early 90s dunnies was a riot and they cops were hit with darts.
    I wasn't there but the next day the "Dunedins a Riot" Tee Shirts had already been printed including darts.

    And remeber kids "There are no bystanders in a Riot".

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    My son starts Uni next year, at Otago .... I think we're going to have aloud readings from the court news and other salient parts of the paper over the next few weeks ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'd also get him regularly nurturing your upholstery, to be safe.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    well we do have this couch that's seen better days ...

    it's got a foldout bed built in, weighs a tonne, he'd never get it out the door ...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Hokitika citizens & police are not unknown for being very creative in their dealings with outoftowner wankers.

    Thing is, it isn't the out of towners that are being wankers; it's the Dunedin students. Which is rather the interesting point; the problem's not the Ensoc people, for once; it's something entirely to do with Dunedin,

    Which is a problem because I really do not see Ensoc giving up rights just because Dunedin students can't handle their liquor --- and, you know, see all the guff about students turning into pillars of the community? The guys running Ensoc are pillars of the community already; the chair of Ensoc is an ex officio member of the Canty IPENZ branch c'ttee, they organise charity events, etc, They aren't your idiot dickhead students exactly.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    @Paul Yes indeed, McDonalds. And I forgot, papers from last night's fish and chips.

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

  • Peter Ashby,

    @Matthew Littlewood

    As someone who went to Intermediate and then secondary school in Dunedin, it always boggled the mind how small the students from outside the place (and they are of course the large majority) had such a small view of the place. Many of them scarcely go out anywhere past the Octagon in the three or four years they study here. I remember writing an article on South Dunedin as a features writer partly because Dave Large (the editor) and myself realised many students would have never got that far out of the place. And the way the flats have been arranged plays a huge part in it.

    Absolutely, lots of people I knew as a student at Otago might as well have been living on a small Pacific Atoll for all that they got about the place. I came to Uni from Auckland but I had lived in Dunedin from 6 to 11yo, so knew it well enough to be comfortable moving about the greater Dunedin area either when I went for a run or when I got my motorbike. A blat out to Middlemarch or some nice quiet contemplation at Aramoana or Alan's Beach were part of my relaxation. To those for whom an evening at the Normanby was an exotic outing I feel pity.

    Dundee, Scotland • Since May 2007 • 425 posts Report Reply

  • John Farrell,

    An interesting sideline on the undie 500.....on Monday I searched google blogs for postings on that subject. I found this listing:

    HTML1DocumentEncodingutf-8StephenFranks.co.nz » Blog Archive » Courageous
    kids
    21 hours ago by admin
    My daughter tells me she and 11 other girls have a van to take on the Undie 500 to Dunedin this
    weekend. I feared the Undie 500 had been crushed by Police and University threats. While working in
    Hamilton last week Jonathon Carver of ...

    but when I went to the blog, there was no post.......

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 499 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    The guys running Ensoc are pillars of the community already; the chair of Ensoc is an ex officio member of the Canty IPENZ branch c'ttee, they organise charity events, etc, They aren't your idiot dickhead students exactly.

    Well...exactly. They can on occasion do quite a good impression.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    but when I went to the blog, there was no post.......

    Priceless. It did get scraped and re-used by this spammy site, so here's the full post:

    Courageous kids

    I love the remnant New Zealand kids who defy the prune faces, clucking and sourness of our official culture to do what the best and most vital kids of every generation have done - test their daring with feats that could kill them if they go wrong. of the officials out to squash any lingering insubordination or signs of animal spirits. My daughter tells me she and 11 other girls have a van to take on the Undie 500 to Dunedin this weekend. I feared the Undie 500 had been crushed by Police.

    Perhaps a journalist should call Franks, just for a laugh.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    "Dunedin North" - is a very inappropriate, inaccurate description of the area in question.

    The student area is basically the area within a 1km radius of the university. This is the university residential area, nothing more, nothing less.

    To describe it as "Dunedin North" is akin to describing a 1km area on Devonport as "Auckland North". In other words, it implies a big, extensive area, when it isn't.

    "Dunedin North", e.g anywhere north of the uni includes North-East Valley, Dalmore, Pine Hill, Normanby, Signal Hill, etc. These are all residential suburbs with a sprinkling of students in them, unlike the heavy concentration immediately around the uni.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    @Grant,

    Agreed, but I've never really heard a better description for it.

    Leith Flat?
    Castle Cook?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Courageous kids

    I wonder if that news will appear in the Marsden old girls' newsletter?

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I did my first year of uni in Dunedin. That was in 93, so I saw the registry office biffo - when riot police waded into a big group of students protesting outside the registry and put the bash on them. This was in the presence of the president of OUSA, who had about a week earlier convinced a mob of drunk students outside the Captain Cook to disperse prior to being baton-charged by said police. The fact that the police didn't give him a chance to repeat the act, plus anecdotal evidence about the behaviour of the police immediately prior to the beatings, suggests that there was at least a faction within the Dunedin police at the time that regarded the ability to kick shit out of students as a perk of the job.

    So I'm saying that I think the police probably escalated it more than they needed to.

    That said, I think that the people pointing out that it's a cultural issue are correct: there is now, like it or not, an expectation that there will be a riot, and people are starting to arrive with precisely that in mind. The trick is to defuse the riot aspect of it, while keeping the event transgressive enough that it'll let people "blow off steam". The problem is that if you have a crowd of 300 people happily drunk, and 10 of them want to throw things at the police from the safety of a crowd, it's pretty easy for them to start a riot. And once the biffo starts, a lot of people who would otherwise wouldn't go near it with a yardstick are going to get drawn in.

    But the low-grade drunken dumbfuckery was certainly pretty endemic in that part of Dunedin back in 93. You kind of knew that if you didn't want to be part of it, you probably shouldn't flat on Castle St. I can only recall one or two couch burnings, but there was certainly a couch in the Leith for quite a while. In the end, it was probably that attitude that was the reason I moved up to Wellington to finish my degree.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    I'm perennially late to the debate... but I agree Russell's original points and want to like to echo the comments above that:

    I think you’re being too generous, there are still protesters, and most protesters I know have to have self-discipline and a commitment to the larger issues.

    My experience with OUSA organised events is that they're extremely well organised and disciplined (UCSA too but this wasn't them right?), protests particularly so.

    Earlier this year the Courts found in favour of students who were mistreated by the Police in 1997 (at Parliament and because of a stupid decision by the Speaker, Doug Kidd) at an NZUSA/VUWSA event. From memory, in1994/5 there were no arrests at WSU protests, NZUSA or constituent association events either (I could be wrong on this last part).

    The behaviour of this bunch taints all students and pisses me right off as it plays into the hands of those that think universities are one large tax-payer funded piss-up.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Prince,

    Ah! Generation Y.
    Venting their anger at being so white, so rich and so privileged.

    "Poor diddums. Never mind, Mummy's here now, we'll ask the nice judge to discharge without conviction. It's the fault of the Police; if they hadn't been there, the riot would not have happened. And the Council, if they had organised some entertainment then diddums would have had somewhere to go to party. Mummy's here now, she'll make it all better."

    Sadly this is not the reality for Bazza the builder's labourer from Brockville. He will get a conviction. However, this will not stop him from helping to build some fine houses and possibly part of the new stadium.

    Just to dispel a myth; there is plenty to do in Dunedin of an evening. We have TWO major movie theatres now, as well as a couple of arthouse cinemas. There is the ice disco, several cafes and a range of trendy pubs with lots of nicely dressed girls in uncomfortable shoes. You can even get a taxi home. When the stadium arrives you'll be able to see all the biggest popstars; U2, Britney Spears and the Rugby World Cup. So you need never be bored again.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 12 posts Report Reply

  • Leopold,

    As others may have wondered - how many 2nd hand couches are there in Dunedin?
    Is it worthwhile for some entrepreneur to set up a couches-for-burning business in Dunedin? Or to manufacture especially made Inflammable Couches?

    Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    Or to manufacture especially made Inflammable Couches?

    That would probably be regarded as a challenge. Remember, with enough accelerant, you can get most things to burn.

    I'd also like to say that the only time I had an even vaguely close encounter with a burning couch, was when my neighbour dragged her old couch into the back garden, poured petrol on it, and set it alight. She and a group of teenage boys then danced around it. Foam rubber cushions make a hell of a lot of black smoke. But this wasn't drunk students in Dunedin, this was a 35-year old woman in Cambridge (UK, not Waikato). So clearly the problem is wider spread than you may have thought.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Simon J Taylor,

    "The white kid will still find a goodish job I'm sure,"

    In relevance to New Zealand 2009, I find the colour bar assumption a little questionable (but it seems to be very fashionable on this group). More questionable still is the assumption of plentiful employment, jobs in fact being extremely difficult to find these days, even for those with qualifications.

    Mt Eden, Akl • Since May 2009 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    She and a group of teenage boys then danced around it. Foam rubber cushions make a hell of a lot of black smoke.

    I recall once shouting at some numbskulls who'd thought it was a good idea to chuck a foam mattress onto the bonfire in the backyard of a barely-in-control house party I was helping manage in Brixton once. They just looked blankly at me.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    After the post-Superbowl riots in Pittsburgh in February the (29 year old) Mayor banned couches on porches throughout the city. Seemed like overkill to stamp out a practice confined strictly to one neighbourhood.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Petra,

    In relevance to New Zealand 2009, I find the colour bar assumption a little questionable (but it seems to be very fashionable on this group). More questionable still is the assumption of plentiful employment, jobs in fact being extremely difficult to find these days, even for those with qualifications.

    Sure, these are not the best of economic times, and jobs are thinner on the ground than they used to be, with many more layoffs expected. But TradeMe currently has 5 pages of jobs listed for Dunedin alone. Not all of them are what you might call a "good job", but so what? On my travels, as young'un, I cleaned toilets, worked in bars and hostels, did shop work, fruit picking, flower planting, factory work, whatever was available. Those jobs were quite character building, I thought.

    And why should these guys get off so easily when they've caused a fair bit of public property damage and terrorised the less belligerent locals?

    I stand by my view that they should be expelled until such time that they can re-enter Varsity as adult students.

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Foam rubber cushions make a hell of a lot of black smoke.

    My parents scared me off any furniture arson early with a precautionary story about a friend of theirs who'd fallen asleep smoking on a vinyl couch and died of asphyxiation from the toxic fumes. Not that normal smoke can't kill you (or that I was ever going to be inclined to couch-burning), but it left an impression.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    There is a lot of anger towards these morons in this thread. I certainly have no interest in defending their actions - let the police/prosecutors/courts deal with them.

    But where did the angle that these kids are some kind of upper-class oiks come from? I have no idea about their backgrounds, but these are Otago Uni students (and/or Canty ones) we're talking about - not Oxbridge or Harvard students. (I only mean that in a cost per degree way - not in quality of education).

    Sure, not everyone can afford a university education, but referring to these students as white, rich and privileged only seems to vent anger against a strawman stereotype.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Leopold: actually there's probably more money to be made hitting the council up for protection money "for every $100 you give me I'll ship a couch to Chch and sell it to students there"

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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