Posts by BenWilson
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I guess they don't know until they try. You're right about the amateurism, my point was really that their other opinion columnists have set the bar so low even this doesn't seem too bad to me.
By inherently interesting I meant talking about dating has wide appeal. But any particular person's driveling on the subject doesn't necessarily, that's true.
It's the first of their non-newsy lifestyle stuff to even get me to click on it. I'm sure there are people out there who give a shit about a column on restaurant reviews, but it ain't me. Their tech stuff is aimed at people who aren't sure if a mouse is a foot pedal. But I won't knock that stuff any more than I'd knock Russell for talking at length about bands I'll never hear. People have their interests, and that's great. I happen to be vicariously interested in other people's dating experiences, it being something I used to do.
It's a tough subject to deal with seriously, though. I'm not surprised they've simply ripped off the Sex and the City approach. There's no right and wrong about basically anything in it, just opinion. Of course they choose a female columnist, since men will just use it to lie, brag, and say misogynist things. That women will do the same thing just seems funnier for some reason. I guess it's the inherent tragedy involved, the sheer desperation, that leads them into situations that are really only amusing in hindsight.
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A couple of examples...but yes, it would make Lord of the Flies look like Club Med if the Herald was the only paper on my island.
I'm not quite prepared to write off the blonde yet. The topic itself (local dating) is inherently interesting. If you're not interested, why write such a long article on it?
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Well, much as it lacks originality, I'd much rather read it than Garth George or Deborah Coddington. Takes a few secs, is actually about Auckland, albeit obliquely, and does fondly remind me of how tragic the Auckland bar scene is. I don't think it's entirely because of the drunken old sleazes, either. The girls might need to have a look at their attitudes also.
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"I'm open to being convinced of the merit of a lowering, but I get antsy about being bombarded with factoids."
Likewise. Dressing opinion up as fact, just because a cop said it, is weak, even if the opinion is good. I feel the same way about cops and guns. If they could show that more cops are getting more injured on the job, that would be much more convincing than just because the cops, as they always have, want them.
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Russell, did I misread you? When you say "there's a pitch" you aren't backing it, just saying "this is what they're aiming at", they being the Herald and it's mates the cops. If so, excuse me.
Not that I especially disagree with a lowered blood alcohol rating. These days having a designated driver is becoming so common that insisting on a stone cold sober driver is probably not a bad idea.
Sam, I've heard that the flash lawyer was none other than David Lange, but the way I heard it he said "my client couldn't possibly have been drunk in charge of a vehicle, since he wasn't even in control of his own bladder". All hearsay.
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"Drink driving attitudes have changed enormously in a generation and although there will always be a hardcore group of idiots who keep at it drivers and particularly young ones can be proud over how much less drink driving goes on nowadays compared to our quite recent past."
Indeed. My impressionable young cousin, who I confess to converting towards boy racerism, just bought himself a Legacy GT. He showed it off to me with the most responsible driving I've seen in a kid, like, ever. And when I asked him about drinking and driving he said that drinking was for old folks. His buzz is surfing.
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"I actually think there's a pitch for a lowering of the alcohol/driving limit behind this"
How do you figure? Not that I disagree, just want to know what claims of non-uncertain merit you formulate that thought from.
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Craig, sure, cops have a hard job, which they freely chose to pursue. It doesn't mean their opinion is more correct or even relevant than anyone else's.
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Yes, it's pretty clear that the total number of drunks netted will mostly be a reflection of how much the cops focussed on catching them, not how many there are.
Statements by senior coppers on the current perils facing society seem to have about as much credibility as any conservative with an opinion. In other words - just an opinion.
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Finn, I'd hire you. Just for someone to argue with :-). If I hired a kiwiblogger it wouldn't be for a sparring partner, it would be for a punching bag.
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