Posts by Richard Llewellyn
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Firstly, my condolences to Sophie and the rest of Finns family. Sad sad sad.
Without knowing anything about this specific situation, other than what has been disclosed here and in the paper, while I can easily summon plenty of anger at any systemic failures in our health system that lead to unnecessary death, I am loath to condemn those individuals who are actually out there on the front line doing a bloody tough job.
For every burn-out who has seen too much and has just had enough, there are many more good people doing their damndest for all the right reasons under stressful conditions (not always with the right tools at their disposal). The current situation with the staff shortage of cancer and oncology services provided for the Wellington region is a good example where good people are being stretched too thinly.
As has been suggested by others, maybe the support services for those individuals need to be reinforced and strengthened. But that requires yet another resource in a situation where resources are already taxed. Health is a no-win game - as our population ages the task of providing adequate public healthcare for all becomes less and less possible. I don't know the answers, I just know its a hellava difficult thing for any society to manage.
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So we dedicated our sumptuous repast to him, calling it the ‘Bobby Sands Memorial Dinner’.
Unrelated to the thread, but this reminded me of attending a Rangers versus Celtic game in Glasgow in the early 1990's, and one crowd was singing to the other, to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain" a charming ditty called "Could you go a chicken supper Bobby Sands, could you go a chicken supper Bobby Sands, could you go a chicken supper, go a chicken supper ...".
You get the drift. My story of not joining.
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Anyone got the Youtube footage of Mike's presentation?
Isn't it already embedded in David's post?
Mike, what can I say? - nice suit.
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Stick around Ian, have a good look. You might find you enjoy it.
Heh - yeah, jump on in Ian (and then Andrew or I won't be mistaken for you anymore :).
I thought this thread would have caught your attention.
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I always feel affirmed when someone says that. Because so many people rave about how bloody brilliant it is, and I stopped watching it because I couldn't be arsed carrying on
Heh - well, on the Magnolia front I'm obviously somewhere between the fad-boys and Danielle - I enjoyed it as an entertaining sub-Altman ensemble piece, thought he had done better movies, and promptly forgot all about it. Just couldn't muster enough oomph to get mightily enthused or outraged.
But I digress, as much as TWBB is more deserving of a violent reaction, the real highlight of the weekend was the Phoenix Foundation and friends at the zoo. Love those zoo concerts.
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Heh - I think I'm with you now Danielle :) - after the Magnolia experience, did you bother subjecting yourself to Punch Drunk Love?
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I am so wary, because my hatred for Magnolia knew no bounds
Well ...... while its fair to say There Will Be Blood is very different to Magnolia, there are a few similar themes.
Myself, I think TWBB is a landmark film that will still be causing arguments in 50 years time, whereas Magnolia - for all that I personally enjoyed it - struck me as pre-packaged forgettable Robert Altman-lite.
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And also, yay for the Auckland zoo, kazoo solos, bopping around to 'Bright Grey', and note-perfectly badass covers of 'Love is the Drug'. Lumber up, limbo down.
Ditto. A perfect end to a great weekend, starting with an early viewing of There Will Be Blood (and there was, and DDL was positively barking - well masticated scenery dripping from his mouth) and finishing with The PF at the Zoo ..... as Mark says, dancing like a loon with the kids. Hope Finn returns.
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Affordability ... hmmm a complex issue.
Could you not also argue that NZ, lacking a compulsory superannuation regime, is lagging in the building of the necessary capital depth to pay for baby boomer retirement?
Add this to a tax/regulatory environment heavily biased in favour of property investment as the default retirement fund vehicle (and with those same baby-boomers being told in no uncertain terms they need to save in order to pay for themselves), and pressures on house prices continue to grow?
Or to put it another way, is this issue not solely about the supply and demand of land; but rather an inevitable end-product of a wide range of long-term social, economic and environmental forces, all contributing towards trends of declining affordability and home ownership?.
These demographic and economic trends might include;
The increasing wealth of baby-boomers,
Younger generations holding off on having children and buying houses, thus accumulating greater personal wealth,
A sustained period of relatively low interest rates and high immigration numbers
An increasing ability (due to greater wealth and low interest rates) to service debt, driving house and rent prices up
A scarcity of affordable land – some argue this imbalance between supply and demand is primarily because of restrictive land supply and ‘artificial’ urban limits. Others argue this is representative of the global issue of city-drift – simply put, people want to live in cities, and demand will always exceed supply. In a world of land shortage, the land owner becomes the major beneficiary.
A tax and regulatory environment that favours property investment which in turn drives up house and rental costs
Spiralling costs of housing development and planning compliance (which ultimately gets passed onto the end-purchaser). These include production costs of labour & materials, design costs of compliance & regulation, and finance costs.
Increasing costs associated with environmental sustainability
A dual income stream of those linked to the global economy whose income rises with the market and those linked to annual CPI increases who lose ground every year. In per capita terms those tied to the local economy are finding houses less affordable by the day.
The increasing desirability of urban centre for living (this is a global problem) and the associated demographic change and growth. For example Auckland is expected to hit 2million by 2050 (a conservative estimate) with housing supply and land availability insufficient to meet this growth in demand.
The deficit and the cost of infrastructure to service out-reaching areas
I think, perhaps, its a mixture of all of the above .....
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Nearly, Jesus saved
But Torres knocks in the rebound (boom boom)