Posts by Craig Ranapia
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The Prime Minister’s abrupt discovery of the issue a press conference led swiftly to a response from his Education minister that might in itself be seen as a bullying one. Take your pick of the headlines: Principals meet minister for bullying talks, or Tolley tells schools to toughen up on bullying, or Tolley tells school boards to combat bullying
First Russell you might take your own advice re: Tizzard-mania: Get a grip. First, Tolley isn't responsible for the headlines in newspapers not exactly know for pushing the hyperbole button, hard. (And as I pointed out in my PAR piece this week, fatuous editorials like the New Zealand Herald's effort on Wednesday -- basically "expell 'em all, and let God sort 'em out" is hardly adding much to the discussion.)
Meanwhile, here's a direct quote from Tolley in the last story you linked to.
Education Minister Anne Tolley told TV ONE's Close Up tonight that bullying by students either in or out of school should not be tolerated.
"That's why I'm saying to boards of trustees that you might have policies and strategies in place, talk to your school community and find out if they are effective," she said.
Wow, what a bitch.
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Hard News: Time to get a grip, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I guess some of Mediaworks $40mln government bailout will go to pay his wages.
Quite possibly – but you really want the Government dictating who media organisations hire? Think about that very carefully before you answer. Meanwhile, I’ve got one more reason to give Three’s news and current affairs content a swerve.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm a contributor to Public Address Radio, and thank New Zealand on Air each and every time I submit an invoice for my services.
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Radiation: Signing off, moving on, in reply to Emma Hart,
Yeah, wanna picture how their ‘gosh we’re all still renovating our houses’ cover went down in Christchurch?
Better or worse than the disaster porn?
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Radiation: Signing off, moving on, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
Is there a curse involving writing about television on Public Address? It’s sad to see the end of Radiation, but is Muse also headed for a similar fate – it hasn’t been updated in almost a month!
Creative constipation and neurotic self-criticism are two flavours that do not go together; especially with some serious dental work and the only holiday I'm going to get this year (it's pretty bad form to vanish to your host's spare room and blow out their broadband cap).
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Hard News: Time to get a grip, in reply to BlairMacca,
he couldn’t face the questions of former National candidate Henry in the morning. Boy.
No, she couldn’t stomach his relentless twatcockery, or so I've heard. Have you been living in some Fringe-style alternate universe where Paul Henry isn’t a bigoted troll? Back on this planet, might have done public discourse in this country a lot of good if more people (and not only politicians) had pulled the plug on Henry long ago. The only unforgivable sin on breakfast television is dead air.
FWIW, Blair, this National party member of long-standing wasn't terribly distraught when Henry vanished after getting trounced by a trans-gendered ex-prostitute in a highly conservative rural electorate twelve years ago. So was there actually a point to your "former National candidate" routine beyond a bit of distract trolling?
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Busytown: A new (old) sensation, in reply to Carol Stewart,
Interesting you say that. My mother says that in her early days of motherhood – in the 1960s – it was seen as wildly self-indulgent and feckless and lazy to be seen reading novels.
Well, Jane Austen seemed to think having your nose constantly in a book was not always a good thing -- they turn Mary Bennett into a sanctimonious prig, who has a fatuous tag for every occasion. And every time Catherine Moreland attempts to apply Mrs. Radcliffe's Gothic fictions to real life, the results are farcical -- and almost ruinous when she gets the idea in her head that General Tilney tortured, if not murdered, his late wife.
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Shorter Plato: Damn kids, get the Hades off my stoae.
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Busytown: A new (old) sensation, in reply to Jolisa,
True… but I think the spell that a really good novel casts is built up via a slow accumulation of attention over a long period, culminating (in my case at least) in a need to barricade myself behind a pile of pillows and/or a closed door as soon as I reach a point approximately 50 pp from the end.
Much as I love Anthony Trollope, I don't know if I'd want to make the argument that The Last Chronicle of Barset (854 closely printed pages in my copy) is a better novel than The Warden (which is downright anaemic by his standards). I'm not much of a size queen about my reading, but my God I've become increasingly impatient with narrative fiction where the narrative is badly structured, paced or pretty much non-existent. Seriously, if you want to write an essay about what a shitbag George Bush is or whatever sociopolitical hair you have up your arse at any given moment, go to -- just don't call it a novel.
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Hard News: Time to get a grip, in reply to BlairMacca,
Sure its Breakfast, but it was kind of telling that at the beginning of this term Kaye was put up as one of the ‘Young Guns’ they chat to. She was replaced by Simon Bridges after about 2 weeks.
Well, Blair, I heard she walked because she couldn't face Paul Henry first thing in the morning -- which is a considerable mark of character and good judgement, in my book.
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Hard News: Time to get a grip, in reply to Grant McDougall,
I'm not so sure. Some of Tizard's comments last week did come across as petulant and as sour grapes.
And loathe as I am to stand up for Tizzard, she was perfectly entitled to get pissy at Andrew Little running around the media expressing a "preference" for her to stand aside. Who the frak voted for Little again?
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